For more than 40 years, the name Warren Turner has been linked with baseball in Southwest Missouri. In 1976, after 11 years of coaching baseball, football and basketball in high school, Turner was named head baseball coach at Missouri Southern State University where he would collect 852 wins. After two years at the helm, he took his team to the NAIA World Series. The Lions finished second, and Turner was named National Coach of the Year.
His teams made several more trips to the World Series, and he was named District 16 Coach of the Year and Area IV Coach of the Year numerous times. In 1990, Missouri Southern joined the NCAA ranks, and during the 2005 season, Turner's team handed him his 800th victory.
He has been a member of ABCA, NAIA and NCAA committees and served as chairman of the rankings committee for his area. He has been inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame (2004), the Missouri Southern State University Hall of Fame and the Joplin Sports Hall of Fame.
During his tenure at Southern, Turner also has earned the rank of Professor, received the Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and been named a March of Dimes Man of the Year.
His dedication and service to baseball has earned him the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Greater St. Louis Major League Baseball Scouts Association and recognition from the Missouri House of Representatives and the Missouri State Senate.
Turner also has enjoyed a long relationship with USA Baseball. He was a member of several Olympic Festival task forces and served as general manager of the Junior Olympic Baseball Team for many years. He also has traveled with the USA Senior Team and has represented Missouri Southern and USA Baseball on athletic fields in Mexico, Nicaragua, Sicily, Italy, Taiwan, Brazil, Canada, England, Japan and Cuba.
In 2005, he was named to the technical commission of the International Baseball Association. He assisted with the World Games in Taiwan.
In addition to his leadership in baseball, Turner is involved in many civic events. He and his teams have been volunteers for Kiwanis apple delivery, Children's Miracle Network, United Way, Chamber of Commerce projects, Missouri High School Christian Association, NALA and Special Olympics. Turner also is a motivational speaker for civic, business, athletic and youth leadership conferences. He has been recognized for his work by Boys and Girls Clubs of Southwest Missouri, Little League of Missouri and Kansas, American Cancer Society and Kiwanis International.
