The History of UMKC Debate

The 1936 Kansas City University yearbook offers the first record of debate on the Volker campus. On page 22, ten young men in suits are pictured next to the caption "Debate" with a description that reads "The debate teams engaged in a number of non-decision debates." which was the norm for that era. Until the 1940's, around the time of the first National Debate Tournament (NDT) in 1947, very few schools participated in "intercollegiate" debate tournaments. Most debates occurred within debating societies, or between different organizations from the same school.
K.C.U.'s debate program doesn't appear again in university-archived material until an article in the January 25, 1957 issue of the Kansas City Star quotes Dr. Jack W. Murphy, "the team's director," as saying "This is the first [debate] team the university had organized." But once initiated, the university apparently supported the intercollegiate program efforts by hiring Dr. Walter Murrish, an accomplished coach from Southern Illinois, in 1959. Dr. Murrish led the program to much success over the next decade.
In July 1986, the Communication Studies Department hired then practicing attorney, Linda M. Collier as the part-time director of its newly reinstated debate program. Te squad that won the 1987 Brady Garrison Award, the National Championship for New Programs in the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA), and launched the UMKC debate renaissance.
In 1991-92, Chris Riffer and David MacDonald became the first nationally dominant UMKC debate team of the contemporary era, setting the stage for the national championships.
1994 was UMKC Debate's Championship Season. The 'Roos advanced an unprecedented 5 teams into elimination rounds at the 1994 CEDA National Tournament. Tracy Gonos and Owen St. Amant went undefeated and were the tournament's top seed; Elaine Maag and Devon Reese made it to the round of 32; Michelle Keck and RJ Carlson made it to the "sweet sixteen"; and Kieran Ringgenberg and Paul Hayes bowed-out in the semi-finals to the eventual winners-UMKC's Brian Johnston and David Genco. Keck, Genco and Johnston also won 3 of the top twenty speaker awards. 1995 from most perspectives topped 1994. Ringgenberg and Hayes won 11 tournaments, and helped UMKC set a new record as it won the CEDA National Sweepstakes Championship. At the national tournament, Maag and Reese advanced to the sweet sixteen and Ringgenberg and Hayes again captured third place. Maag, Ringgenberg and Hayes all won speaker awards.
1997 was the first year NDT and CEDA debated the same resolution. UMKC became the first school in history to top BOTH the CEDA National Sweepstakes and the NDT National Ranking Report. Since the merger of CEDA and the NDT, UMKC has continued to be a nationally-competitive program. UMKC has qualified teams to the National Debate Tournament each year, and many years it has qualified two teams.
In the late 90s, the team of Matt Baisley and Josh Coffman qualified three times to the NDT, advancing to elimination rounds twice. They also were semi-finalists at the CEDA National Tournament. Matt Baisley won UMKC's first speaker award at the NDT, placing 17th.
In the last four years, UMKC has qualified 6 teams to the NDT, and has been in the elimination rounds all four years. Malcolm Gordon and Bryce Dietrich advanced to elimination rounds in 2004. The following year, Malcolm Gordon and Austin Case advanced to the elimination rounds and upset the Harvard team that was ranked second coming into the NDT. Malcolm followed up this performance with partner Andy Culp the following year. They were the eighth seed out of prelims and Malcolm was the 10th Speaker.
The 2006-7 season was an exceptional year. The team of Malcolm Gordon and Amy Foster were in the elimination rounds at every tournament racking up a plethora of speaker awards including top speaker at the Kentucky tournament. They also received a First Round At-Large Bid to the National Debate Tournament. At the CEDA National Tournament, Amy Foster was the 6th overall speaker, and Malcolm Gordon was the top speaker at the Tournament. At the National Debate Tournament, Malcolm and Amy compiled a 7-1 record and the fourth seed. They beat teams from Berkeley, Northwestern, and Wayne State on thier way to the final round and a second place finish.

The history of UMKC Debate is based on a commitment to excellence by the University and the Debate Program. Come be a part of our Winning Tradition!

 

 

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