Bill and Merrill Drummond cheer for their teams at Missouri State games and visit his alma mater regularly. They set up an estate gift to benefit “people who might not be able to go to school without some help.”

If you’re at Missouri State University often, you may have seen Bill and Merrill Drummond.

Most days, they walk across campus after Bill’s morning run.

They stop to say hello to people they’ve come to know over the years, from teachers and students to cafeteria staff and groundskeepers.

“I’m still a runner, and we’re still on campus pretty much every day,” said Bill, who graduated from MSU in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.

Yet for the couple, Missouri State is more than part of their morning route.

The university has been an important part of Bill’s life since the 1960s — and part of Merrill’s since the two got married more than 52 years ago, even though she attended Drury University a few miles away.

That’s why the Drummonds recently chose to establish academic and athletic scholarships to benefit future MSU students through an estate gift.

They are promoting the MSU experience

Bill and Merrill visited Plaster Student Union the first week of the fall 2023 semester.

While there, he said of the college experience at Missouri State: “This has been so positive for so many people. I’d like for it to stay that way.”

An annual academic scholarship in their name will go to a full-time undergraduate student pursuing a degree in sociology, social work, history, psychology, philosophy, political science, criminology, mathematics or English.

Meanwhile, four athletic scholarships will be distributed each year equally between men’s and women’s teams to student-athletes who meet both NCAA and university eligibility requirements.

For both scholarships, the office of financial aid will give preference to students with demonstrated financial need.

“It’ll hopefully be people who might not be able to go to school without some help,” Bill said, remembering when part-time jobs covered his MSU tuition and noting the higher cost of college today.

Merrill agreed. “We just felt scholarships would be a good place to leave our money.”

It’s not the first time they have given back to the university.

“They truly love Missouri State, and they attend about every function there is on campus,” Brent Dunn, vice president for university advancement, said. “They’re good people who have been long-time supporters, and this is something they wanted to do to make a lasting impact.”

Their support of athletes is steadfast Endowments like these make a difference, said MSU Athletic Director Kyle Moats.

Of 400 student-athletes last year, 350 relied on some kind of aid to help cover college expenses.

“Well, we can’t have enough, let’s put it that way,” Moats said of endowments. “We do have quite a few academic athletic scholarships, but really, until we can endow all of them — and that’s a tremendous task — we could always use more.”

Moats has gotten acquainted with the Drummonds through their loyal attendance at MSU athletic events. He said they’re establishing endowments to help students, not to earn recognition.

“They love athletics, and they are very involved in terms of participation and attending our events,” Moats said. “They know our students; they know our coaches.”

Early last fall, the couple’s calendar was already full of games to attend. While the Drummonds make a point to attend a few home football and baseball games every year, MSU men’s and women’s basketball games claim most of their schedule.

During the season, they go to home games several nights a week — and even travel to tournaments as far away as Florida and South Carolina.

“We enjoy it,” Bill said. “It’s good, healthy fun. These kids who come here to play Division 1 sports, they’ve worked hard for that opportunity. They’re just really neat kids.”

They’ve had MSU ties for decades

The Drummonds have gotten to know many student-athletes since they put down roots here more than 50 years ago.

Both Bill and Merrill first came to Springfield to go to college: Bill, from Ferguson, Missouri, and Merrill, from Winfield, Kansas.

Later, after Bill began a career in real estate and Merrill had begun hers in 3M’s transportation department, mutual friends introduced them.

“When I was finished with school and we were married, we didn’t want to leave,” said Bill.

He even went on to teach beginning real estate classes at MSU in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“We’ve enjoyed Springfield, and it’s been good to us.”

The couple continue to enjoy an active lifestyle here. Bill, 76, is a former Boston Marathoner who completed an Ironman competition at age 60.

In recent years, he took an eight-day bicycle ride on gravel paths between Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.

Merrill, 80, is also a cyclist who has accompanied her husband on more than a few “century rides” of 100 and “two hundreds” of 200 miles.

For Bill, at least, the lifestyle they enjoy began during those college years.

“College has been a positive influence in my life,” he said, “and I think it’s a really important part of Springfield.”