He wasn’t born in Springfield and he didn’t spend the majority of his life here, but longtime Price is Right host Bob Barker, who died Saturday at the age of 99, has close ties to the Queen City.
Barker, who was born December 12, 1923 in Washington State and raised on a South Dakota Indian reservation, was a teenager when he moved to Springfield with his mother.
He worked as a summer bellhop at Lake Taneycomo and graduated from Senior High School (later named Central High School).
Barker attended Drury College (now Drury University) on a basketball scholarship.
He joined the U.S. Navy Reserve in 1943 during World War II, where he trained as a fighter pilot, even though he didn’t see active combat.
In 1945, while on leave from the military, Barker married Dorothy Jo Gideon, who he met while attending Senior High. The two began dating when they were 15 years old.
After the war, Barker returned to Drury, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1947, with a degree in economics.
Barker worked at radio station KTTS before moving to south Florida and then to southern California, where he was discovered and began hosting the Bob Barker Radio Show.
Barker then went on to television fame, hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975, then began a long run on The Price is Right in 1972, hosting the daily game show until 2007.
Barker made numerous appearances in Springfield and at his alma mater over the years, and has a street, Bob Barker Boulevard, named after him.