The 2016 induction class into the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame includes a varied group of five individuals whose competitive and coaching accomplishments extend over half a dozen sports and a half century of achievement in Springfield and beyond.
The 2016 class was announced Tuesday in a luncheon at the O’Reilly Family Event Center at Drury University and includes Springfield Glendale, Missouri State and Houston Astros standout Mark Bailey, Parkview and Drury basketball star Virgle Fredrick, auto racing champion Terry Phillips, standout local boxer John Pinney and longtime Glendale football and wrestling coach Bob Price.
The new inductees will be enshrined during the SASHOF annual induction banquet on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at University Plaza Convention Center.
The Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame was founded in 1985 by Bonus Frost to honor those individuals from Springfield or with a Springfield connection whose accomplishments merit consideration for the shrine. This is the 30th SASHOF induction class and will bring the total membership of the hall to 120 people.
Selections are made by the 30-member SASHOF Board of Directors which meets monthly to plan the year’s activities.
SASHOF is a not-for-profit organization and the proceeds from annual induction banquets are made available to local youth groups for the purchase of sports equipment. Since its establishment, SASHOF has provided some $300,000.00 to some two dozen local youth groups and organizations.
Profiles of the 2016 Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame induction class:
Terry Phillips
Terry Phillips has, and continues to be, a dominant force in the auto racing world. Growing up and raising his family in Springfield, Phillips has produced quite a career since he began in 1986. Racing as number 75 on the track, Phillips has had 109 Midwest Late Model Racing Association wins and has competed all over the country. Some of these wins include the “Doug Murphrey Memorial,” a $10,000 victory at the Ark-La-Tex Speedway in Louisiana, the “Topless 100” a $40,000 victory in Batesville, Arkansas, the “Wes Hurst Memorial,” a $15,000 victory at the USA Arizona Raceway, the “Duel in the Desert” a $7,777 victory in Las Vegas Motor Speedway (three times), the “Open Wheel Modified” a $100,000 victory in Batesville, Arkansas, the “Xtreme Modified Super Nationals” a $25,000 victory in State Fair Oklahoma, and the “Show-Me 100” in West Plains, Missouri which was a $33,000 victory. Phillips won the Midwest Late Model Racing Series Championship in 1994, 1996 and 2015 accumulating approximately $534,831 in featured racing wins alone. Phillips has also won the Midwest Auto Racing Series races 87 times with the next closet winner having 35. This dominance on the track has awarded him the points championship in the Midwest Auto Racing Series in 2000, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Phillips is the son of racing legend and 1996 Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame inductee Larry Phillips and is supported by his family including wife Lisa, daughters Taryn and Presley, son in-law Kyle Beard and grandson Jensen Beard. Phillips owns and operates Terry Phillips Racing and he is sponsored by Don Babb and Andy’s Frozen Custard along with many others.
Virgle Fredrick
Virgle Fredrick excelled in all sports growing up in Springfield and burst into the limelight for the first time as a sophomore on the Parkview High basketball “Jolly Green Giants.” Parkview captured the Class L state title when Fredrick was a junior in 1965 and finished as state runner-up his senior season. He was a Class L Missouri all-state first team selection as a senior and earned high school All-America (Coaches and Athletes Magazine) honors as well. Moving across town to Drury University, he was a four-year starting guard for the Panthers of coach Bill Harding. Drury won three Missouri College Athletic Union titles and two NAIA District 16 crowns to go to the NAIA national tournament in Kansas City when Fredrick was a sophomore and senior. Drury claimed two victories in each of its national tourney trips before falling in the meet quarterfinals in both 1968 and 1970. Fredrick won a host of honors for his play with the Panthers, including NAIA All-American Second Team and USA Olympic trials selection in 1968 as a sophomore. He was a third team NAIA All-American in 1969 and was back on the NAIA second team honors list in 1970 in addition to capturing tournament Most Valuable Player honors as Drury won the Quincy College Holiday Tournament. Fredrick poured home 1,794 points in four seasons with the Panthers and was Drury’s career scoring leader at the time of his graduation. He was inducted into the Drury Athletics Hall of Fame in 1970. After Drury, Fredrick was drafted in 1970 by the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association and was also claimed by the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association.
Bob Price
Bob Price is the winningest head football coach in Springfield public high school history. A native of Mountain Grove, Mo., Price enrolled at Missouri State in 1951, did a four-year stint in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, and returned to MSU and Bears football in 1957. In 1959 he became an assistant coach at Lebanon High School, and took over as Yellowjackets’ head coach in 1961. He guided LHS to a 16-4 record in two seasons, then joined the staff at newly-completed Springfield Glendale High in 1963 as an assistant to head football coach Bob Lechner. After Lechner guided the Falcons through their first decade, Price took over as head coach in 1973 and stayed at the Glendale helm for the next 24 seasons. He fashioned 19 winning campaigns and two years at .500, winning seven or more games in a dozen GHS seasons.
The 9-2 Falcons in 1981 reached the state quarterfinals and got to the sectional rounds in 1988, 1989 and 1996. The 1996 club matched Price’s best previous GHS campaign with another 9-2 log. His teams captured seven Ozark Conference championships, winning league titles in 1978, 1981, 1982, 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1996, and turned out numerous all-conference and all-state selections while sending a number of gridders into collegiate programs. Price retired from the Glendale staff after the 1996 season with a record of 146-95. Price also started the Glendale wrestling program in 1966 and laid the foundation for sustained individual and team success on the conference and state level for many years. He coached track and worked as the head starter at public schools track meets in Springfield for 18 years.
Mark Bailey
Mark Bailey is one of the most versatile and accomplished athletes Springfield has produced, starring in Glendale High basketball and baseball, including playing on a 1978 state baseball championship team. He played three years in both sports at Missouri State playing in 73 basketball games with 503 points, 315 rebounds and 189 assists. On the diamond, he was a switch-hitting power bat in the middle of the lineup and his ambidextrous skills served him well in all sports. He spent one MSU year each at first base, second base and designated hitter. He earned Division II All-America honors as a junior and his play keyed the Bears of coach Bill Rowe to an NCAA regional title and the 1982 Division II World Series in Riverside, Calif. Bailey posted a .369 MSU career batting average and was the Bears’ all-time runs batted in leader with 146 when he was drafted in the sixth round by the Houston Astros in 1982. He became the first Missouri State baseballer to reach the major leagues, joining the Astros in 1984. He was Houston’s regular catcher two seasons and played in 340 major league games with the Astros and San Francisco Giants from 1984 to 1992. He was an Astros’ minor league hitting coach (1998-2001, 2010-2012); with that time wrapped around service as Astros’ bullpen coach (2002-2009). He was in that capacity for Houston during the Astros’ 2005 World Series run, and also was the catcher for Nolan Ryan’s 4,000th career strike-out. He has also worked as a catching coach, instructor and is now the Astros’minor league catching coordinator. Bailey was inducted into the Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995.
John Pinney
If not the best boxer to come out of Springfield, John Pinney has to be on the short list. Pinney attended Hillcrest and Springfield Catholic High Schools and Missouri State University. His amateur career was largely the result of his enduring relationship with the Springfield Boys and Girls Club. Pinney’s amateur record was 87-15 with 10 knockouts and he won 23 amateur tournaments, multiple “Golden Glove” titles and five “Springfield Fighter of the Year” awards. He fought in three “Golden Glove” national championships and was a 1972 semifinalist.
In 1972 he was also a national AAU Championship quarterfinalist. During his amateur career his fights with Joplin native Johnny Copeland, a 2002 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductee, drew the attention of sports fans across the area. Pinney defeated Copeland four times and it was not long before Pinney turned pro, where he was 33-5-4, including 21 KO’s and TKO’s in the early and mid-1970s. He was undefeated in his first 22 pro fights and in 1974 was the Southern Middleweight Boxing Champion, boxing out of Tampa and Louisville. He was managed by Lou Viscusi, former manager of Willie Pep, two-time World Featherweight champion. John’s first pro loss was in Madison Square Garden Nov. 22, 1974, to eventual WBA light heavyweight world champion Mike Rossman. Pinney trained in Paris, France with world middleweight champion Carlos Monzon; fought in Monte Carlo in 1976 (undercard of Monzon/Valdez championship fight); and, was listed in the December, 1976, issue of Ring Magazine as its top pro prospect. After his 1977 retirement from boxing, John became a professional comedian and has lived in Springfield with his wife, Donna, and children Megan, Elizabeth and Ryann.