Photo day for the SMSU Bears in 1988

When the Bears began practice on Aug. 12, Beth Riaff photographed John Seratin at Briggs Stadium. Expectations were high on campus for a winning season. A preseason poll predicted the Bears would finish second in the Gateway Conference.

Forty-five players returned to a team that finished third the year before. Head coach Jesse Branch believed that depth on both offense and defense would help them improve.

The Bears finished the season 5-5, but were 4-2 in the league, which put them in a tie for second place.

This image is part of a much larger collection of historically rich photographs from the News-Leader photo archive. Each week, the Springfield-Greene County Library will tap into this vast collection and feature an interesting image “from the darkroom” and share its history. This image is presented in partnership between the Springfield-Greene County Library District and the Springfield News-Leader. For more historical images of the Ozarks, visit: thelibrary.org/fromthedarkroom.