Community Spotlight: Ky Turner
Ky Turner has been with the Mustangs since the very beginning. Beloved by the entire St. Joseph community, he started in 2008 with a role in promotions and is now the owner of the successful summer league team.
Turner always knew he wanted to work in sports but where he belonged always eluded him. After doing multiple internships in college with teams in Missouri, including the Kansas City Chiefs, he was left looking for his first real job. When he caught wind that a baseball team was coming to St. Joseph he knew he needed to be a part of it.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I just wanted to get started,” Turner said. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do or what I was asking for but I just wanted to work. I knew St. Joe, it was a baseball team, it was sports. I just wanted to be involved somehow in some way. I didn’t know what it was or what it would be but I just wanted to try something.”
Another man that’s been with the Mustangs from the beginning is Director of Stadium Operations, Stan Weston. He can remember the first time he met Ky and how much energy he had on day one.
“Ky was very outgoing and different,” Weston said. “He just had a different personality and he got along with everybody. He wasn’t worried, and still isn’t worried, about doing something that embarrasses somebody, especially himself.”
The original general manager, Rick Muntean, hired Turner and helped propel him into his first official job in the world of sports.
“Rick gave me the job of the Director of Promotions. I had no idea what that meant, he could’ve asked me to do anything I probably would have said yes,” Turner said. “I was doing on-field entertainment, emcee, between-inning games. I did not know what the games were gonna look like, what they were called, how much time I’d have, prizes, sponsorships. No idea.”
It’s safe to say that Turner did a good job because his role changed to General Manager in 2014. With the change came more responsibilities, one of those responsibilities was handling the summer interns.
Assistant general manager, Tyler Lupfer, first met Ky in 2017 when he took part in the summer internship program. He’s been working in the front office for a year now and can speak to the insane energy Ky brings to the job every day.
“He is sometimes off the wall, I mean you never know where we’re gonna go. We can just be sitting here during the day, he’ll get this crazy idea and we’ll just run with it,” Lupfer said. “It always makes things fun and I think that’s important because not everybody comes to baseball games just to watch baseball. We’re able to provide a great experience for everyone and he’s instrumental in doing that. He comes up with so many cool things and there are more things to come.”
The Mustangs have been an integral part of the St. Joseph community since its inception and no one better represents that than Ky.
“It’s so easy for everyone, especially when it comes to St. Joe to have a negative connotation. I don’t want to be a part of the problem, I want to be a part of the solution,” Turner said. “What I’m trying to do is something cool and something fun, just to do it. The floodgates are opened and all these ideas that I want to do, let’s do it.”
As many people know, Ky Turner was announced as the new owner in early 2022. Those around him are very pleased with the transition. Group sales manager, Stephanie Hyatt, feels honored to be a part of the new era of Mustangs baseball.
“Ky is the perfect fit for being the owner of the Mustangs,” Hyatt said. “Knowing that he is from the area, his ability to make everything fun and how open he is to new ideas to make the atmosphere memorable. There are multiple things coming to make St. Joseph an even better place and this is one of the best first steps.”
The praise for the new CEO continues on and on beyond the front office. The community’s beloved Mustangs couldn’t be in better hands.
“There’s a great family atmosphere down there. There’s so much going on and I really think that he will expand on that,” Weston said. “His imagination is unlimited as far as what he can do for the fans and he’s not concerned about something that doesn’t work. He’s gonna keep trying until he gets stuff. He’s not afraid to try anything.”
Turner hopes that his unique and ever-evolving leadership style will aid him in forging ahead into this new chapter of his life. He always wants good channels of communication to and from his employees and never wants to stop learning, he wants to set the expectation.
“I’ve done every job here. I won’t ask you to do something that I wouldn’t or haven’t done myself. I hold myself to the same standard that I hold someone else to. I’ve stayed the late nights, the early mornings, cleaned up stuff I didn’t want to clean up and done the jobs that just aren’t fun. I don’t think it would be fair to ask someone to do something I wouldn’t do.”
The hard jobs are continuously done by a group of people hired by Turner himself. Years of summer interns have passed through the gates. One of the most rewarding things for Ky is to see where his employees go after their time with the Mustangs comes to end.
“Our staff has been unreal. I’ve started putting these pictures of people up on the walls just because the years fly by. We’ve had people meet here and get married… and divorced. We’ve had people go on to some incredible careers,” Turner said. “People who are coming here from a small town of 50 people and now they’re working for a major SEC DI school in their athletic department, a mascot for an NBA team. And then we have the coaches, the teachers, nurses and business owners, people in the normal jobs per se. It’s just crazy to think about the different levels of staff we’ve had here.”
Before Ky bought the team he did have other offers elsewhere that he considered. The Mustangs, Phil Welch Stadium and the people of St. Joe were just too special for him to leave without seeing the purchase through.
“It’s the bittersweet part because we see people pass every year, people move away, it’s hard, but then you see kids grow up,” Turner said. “I equate it back to a big family reunion every opening day. It’s people that you haven’t seen since July 30th of the previous year. Then they sit next to each other for 30 nights of baseball and they know everything about each other. There are so many things that make this place what it is, all of that and beyond.”
Above all else, it’s the community that keeps this team going. Turner wants to continue helping his community thrive and wants the St. Joseph area to know how appreciative he is.
“You think about all that has happened, all because of a baseball game. If that wasn’t here, the community would be missing something,” Turner said. “For the community and the people in it to embrace us the way they do has been incredible and they continue to do so. Whether it’s been stripped away from us or it’s our own different experiences there’s a lot that makes this place special and we hope to continue to grow on that.”
Turner’s great grandfather helped build Phil Welch, the very stadium he now works in every day. Even if there is a time that Turner moves on, the legacy he’s built and the expectations he’s set will be felt in the organization long after his last day at the field.
