Sportscaster. Given name: Donald C. Gross. For more than 50 years, four-State area sports fans were treated to the dulcet tones of Don Gross and his signature sign off line, "This is Don Gross reminding all to be good sports". Gross came to Joplin in 1950 when he was hired to broadcast sports at the radio station KFSB. He also broadcast baseball games for the Joplin Miners, a class-C New York Yankees farm club with a young player from Commerce, Oklahoma named Mickey Mantle. During the next 12 years, Gross narrated the play-by-play action for at least 95 games a year in addition to other duties at the station. When KFSB changed owners and format in 1971, he took a job at KODE Radio, which led him to his debut as a television sportscaster. Later Gross worked doing sports news for KSNF and was eventually promoted to news director. In addition to his duties as KSNF, Gross continued to broadcast Missouri Southern State College sports events. During his lengthy broadcasting career, Gross served as the sports voice of many area teams, including MSSC, the Joplin Eagles, Parkwood Bears, Memorial Eagles and Joplin Junior College.

The Voice of the Lions was inducted into he Missouri Southern Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 and was a charter member of the Joplin Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.


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He also had a brief career in baseball, I believe playing in the farm club of the St. Louis Cardinals.

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I did his wife's hair, and that of his mother-in-law's, Elizabeth. When we did Elizabeth's hair, we would call Don's house and tell him that she was finished so he, being the great son-in-law that he was, would come pick her up. One time one of the girls called and told him, "Martha is done, you can come pick her up." And they hung up. "Martha" was not a name in his family but he came anyway to pick his mother-in-law up. =)