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Missouri Sports Hall welcomes 2018 induction class

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The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame ushered in its Class of 2018 on Sunday night during its Enshrinement presented by Killian Construction, inducting a group highlighted by Heisman Trophy winner & former Kansas City Chiefs running back Mike Garrett and St. Louis Cardinals closer Lee Smith.

President & Executive Director Jerald Andrews presided over the ceremonies, which drew more than 1,500 to the University Plaza Hotel & Convention Center. Associate sponsors were Advertising Plus, Hiland Dairy, Hillyard, Inc. and White River Valley Electric. Overall, the Class of 2018 featured 15 individuals, the Lamar High School Football Program, sports media giant Learfield and the Springfield-Greene County Park Board. Independent Printing, Inc., was bestowed the John Q. Hammons Founder’s Award, and Rick Todd of Herschend Family Entertainment was honored with the President’s Award. The Hall of Fame also recognized Leon Combs for his years of service as Chairman of the Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2017.

Additionally, 110 Special Achievement Award winners were recognized for either earning First Team All-American honors, winning national championships or receiving national awards in 2017 on Missouri teams.

“We are proud to welcome the Class of 2018 into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. All enjoyed significant careers that have enhanced sports in our state and inspired younger generations,” Andrews said. “We also want to thank every business and individual who rallied to support this Enshrinement. Their generosity helped to make it a memorable night.”

The Class of 2018 features:

Mike Garrett, Kansas City Chiefs running back
Lee Smith, Louis Cardinals pitcher
Howard Richards, University of Missouri football standout
Jim Otis, Louis Football Cardinals & Kansas City Chiefs running back
Martin Mac Donald, a conservationist, outdoorsman & runner
Gary Barnett, a former Mizzou player and successful college football coach
Holly Hesse, Missouri State University softball coach
Doug Elgin, Commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference
Brian Mahaffey, a doctor with the St. Louis Cardinals & a former MSU baseball standout
Christian Cantwell, Eldon native & U.S. Olympic silver medalist in the shot put
Kerensa Barr Cassis, West Plains High School & Mizzou basketball standout
Dan Lucy, KOLR 10 TV Sports Director
Tony Severino, Rockhurst High School football coach
Steve Tappmeyer, a longtime basketball coach for Northwest Missouri State University
Rick Grayson, PGA teaching professional named one of the sports’ top 100 teachers
Learfield, a leading sports broadcasting company in the United States.
Lamar High School Football Program
Springfield-Greene County Park Board
Independent Printing – John Q. Hammons Founders Award
Rick Todd of Herschend Family Entertainment – President’s Award

Mike Garrett, Kansas City Chiefs Running Back

The 1965 Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Southern California and a 20^th-round selection of the 1966 American Football League draft, Garrett played five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs (1966-1970), helping the franchise to the game’s first and fourth Super Bowls. Garrett ranks No. 7 all-time in team history in rushing yards (3,246) and was the running back who scored the TD on coach Hank Stram’s famous “65 Power Trap” in the Super Bowl IV victory against the Minnesota Vikings. Garrett, who was All-AFL in 1966 and 1967, is an inductee of the Chiefs Hall of Fame (1978) and College Football Hall of Fame (1985). He went on to serve as athletic director at Southern Cal (1993-2010).

Lee Smith, St. Louis Cardinals Pitcher

Smith pitched 18 seasons (1980 to 1997) in the big leagues for eight different teams, becoming one of the game’s most feared closers with 478 career saves. That mark stood as Major League Baseball’s best until Smith was overtaken by the New York Yankees’ Mariano Rivera and the San Diego Padres’ Trevor Hoffman in the mid- to late 2000s. Smith pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1990 to 1993. In that stretch, he recorded 160 saves – including league-bests of 47 and 43 in 1991 and 1992 – and held the franchise saves record until topped by Jason Isringhausen. Smith also pitched for the Cubs (1980-1987), Red Sox (1988-1990), Yankees (1993), Orioles (1994), Angels (1996), Reds (1996) and Expos (1997).

Howard Richards, University of Missouri & Dallas Cowboys Lineman

A St. Louis Southwest High School graduate, Richards was a Missouri Tigers right tackle from 1977 to 1980, with his final three seasons highlighted by three bowl games and 23 wins, including victories against Notre Dame and Nebraska. Richards never missed a game in college and, beginning with the final four games of his freshman season, began a streak of 40 consecutive games as a starter. In 1980, he was a co-captain and named All-Big Eight Conference. Richards was a first-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 1981 and played seven years in the NFL (six with the Cowboys, one with the Seattle Seahawks) as he helped Dallas to three playoff berths, including two NFC East Division titles.

Jim Otis, St. Louis Football Cardinals & Kansas City Chiefs Running Back

A former All-American fullback who helped Ohio State University win the 1968 national championship, Otis was a running back in the NFL for nine seasons, playing for the New Orleans Saints (1970), Kansas City Chiefs (1971-1972) and St. Louis Cardinals (1973-1978) and rushing for 4,350 yards. Otis helped the 1971 Chiefs win the AFC West and played an even bigger role on St. Louis’ 10-, 11- and 10-win seasons from 1974 to 1976 under coach Don Coryell. Otis earned a Pro Bowl invitation in 1975, when he led the NFC with a career-best (1,076 yards rushing on a career-best 269 carries. All this came after Otis played fullback for Ohio State from 1967 to 1969, leading its team in rushing all three years.

Martin Mac Donald, Conservationist, Outdoorsman & Runner

The Director of Conservation of Bass Pro Shops, Mac Donald coordinates Bass Pro Shops conservation programs including overseeing its key pillars of protecting wildlife and habitat, connecting audiences to the outdoors and advocating for sportsman’s rights. He helped found and serves on the James River Basin Partnership and is a board member of the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium. He works with the National Association of Fish and Wildlife agencies on conservation and is active with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, plus competed in eight marathons to raise awareness about leukemia. Mac Donald is a founding member of the Upper White River Basin Foundation. In 2016, he received recognition from the National Association of State Park Directors for his deep commitment to promoting the outdoors in his two decades-plus working with Bass Pro founder Johnny Morris. An avid runner, Martin is Chairman of the Bass Pro Shops Fitness Series and founded Outdoor Days, promoting health and wellness, outdoor adventures, and wildlife conservation.

Gary Barnett, Northwestern University & University of Colorado Football Coach

A 1964 graduate of Chesterfield’s Parkway Central High School and a former University of Missouri receiver, Barnett was a successful college football coach. His 1995 Northwestern Wildcats won the Big Ten Conference outright and earned the program’s first bowl berth (Rose Bowl) in 47 years, then followed that season with a co-Big Ten championship and Citrus Bowl invite. At the University of Colorado, he was an assistant on the 1990 national championship team and then was 42-33 as head coach (1999-2005), winning a Big 12 title (2001) and four Big 12 North crowns (2001-2005). He was a multiple National Coach of the Year in 1995 and a four-time Associated Press Coach of the Year (1995, 1996, 2001, 2004). These days, Barnett is an analyst on Colorado football broadcasts.

Holly Hesse, Missouri State University Softball Coach

Holly Hesse, who in 2018 will begin her 30^th season as Missouri State University’s softball coach, is the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference history and the winningest coach in MSU softball history. Her record stands at 749-747-2 and includes two regular-season Valley championships, five Valley tournament championships and five NCAA Tournament appearances. Her Bears teams own a Valley tournament-best 72 wins. A former pitching standout of Waukon (Iowa) High School and later Creighton University, Hesse has coached 33 First Team All-Conference players and nine MSU Athletics Hall of Fame inductees. Additionally, she has been heavily involved with grooming coaches, writing a book titled “The Diamond to Success” and working closely with the NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy and True North Sports.

Doug Elgin, Missouri Valley Conference Commissioner

Elgin is in his 30^th year with the Missouri Valley Conference and is its longest-serving commissioner in its 111-year history. In the 1990s, he oversaw the league’s realignment and stabilization in Valley membership and also brought women’s sports programs under the conference’s umbrella. Elgin also established St. Louis as the long-term site for the Valley men’s basketball tournament, which in 2018 will mark its 28^th year there. In the early 2000s, he led Valley men’s basketball in securing multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament, including four in 2006. Under his leadership, the Valley also has hosted 12 NCAA basketball events in St. Louis since 1998, including a men’s Final Four in 2005 and women’s Final Fours in 2001 and 2009.

Dr. Brian Mahaffey, Missouri State University Baseball & Sports Medicine

Brian Mahaffey is Medical Director of Mercy Sports Medicine, having earned his doctorate at the University of Missouri. He was the Head Physician for Missouri State Athletics for 16 years and has since worked with the St. Louis Cardinals medical team, first as the franchise’s Minor League Liaison for 10 years while overseeing Double-A Springfield and, since 2013, as a member of the big-league staff. Mahaffey was an All-Mid-Continent Conference slugger for Missouri State’s baseball team (1985-1988), including its 1987 NCAA Tournament squad. At one point, he held seven program career records, including home runs (42) and RBI (175). He has been inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame and the MSU Athletic Academic Hall of Fame.

Christian Cantwell, Eldon High School, University of Missouri & U.S. Olympian

A 1999 Eldon High School graduate who went on to the University of Missouri, Cantwell is a world champion shot putter. He won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and finished fourth at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In other international competition, Cantwell also won a gold at the 2009 World Outdoor Championships and is a three-time World Indoor champion. Additionally, he has won seven championships (four in outdoor, three in indoor) in the USA Track & Field Championships. Previously, Cantwell was a seven-time NCAA All-American at Mizzou and a five-time winner of the Big 12 Championships, winning four shot put titles and one weight throw championship. He also holds Mizzou records in the indoor and outdoor shot put.

Kerensa Barr Cassis, West Plains High School & University of Missouri Basketball

Cassis was Miss Show-Me Basketball for West Plains High School in 1999, a year after helping the program win the Class 4 state championship. She played for the Mizzou women’s basketball team and was a three-year captain, including on its Sweet 16 season in 2001, and was later voted to the All-Decade Team. She scored more than 1,000 points and held program career records in assists (489) and free-throw percentage (.812). Cassis also was part of the Big 12 All-Star European Tour and invited to the 2001 USA Basketball tryouts. She was a Sporting News/March of Dimes Socrates Award finalist and a Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year semifinalist. Cassis is an attorney at law with Shook, Bacon & Hardy in Kansas City.

Dan Lucy, KOLR 10 TV Sports Director

A University of Missouri graduate, Lucy marked his 34^th year in sports broadcasting in 2018. He spent his first four years at Columbia’s KOMU TV and, since 1988, has worked at KOLR 10 TV in Springfield, including the past 25 years as its Sports Director. Lucy has been a part of the Missouri State University TV broadcast crew, hosted the MSU football and basketball coaches shows and is a correspondent for the Missouri Valley Conference. A prostate cancer survivor, he has covered eight World Series, a Super Bowl, a PGA Championship, two Major League Baseball All-Star Games, an NHL All-Star Game as well as NCAA basketball tournaments and, for 20 years, has emceed the Boys & Girls Club’s Steak & Steak Dinner.

Tony Severino, Rockhurst High School Football Coach

The 2017 season marked Severino’s 48^th coaching high school football and his 41^st as head coach. He owns an overall record of 370-106-1 and eight state championships. He has spent the past 35 seasons at Rockhurst High School, where he is 326-85-1, including seven state championships (1983, 1986, 1987, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2010). With a state championship at Shawnee Mission Northwest in Kansas, Severino is the only coach to win state football titles in both states. Overall, his teams have made 35 playoff appearances in the past 38 years and played in 13 state championship games and 19 state semifinals. Severino is a seven-time Missouri Coach of the Year and the 2000 USA Today National Coach of the Year.

Steve Tappmeyer, Northwest Missouri State University Basketball Coach

A Gerald native who played on the 1974 Owensville High School state championship team, Tappmeyer compiled a 460-238 record (.659) coaching NCAA Division II men’s basketball from 1988 to 2013. That covered 21 seasons and a program-best 408 wins at Northwest Missouri State, where his teams reached 10 NCAA Tournaments, with two appearances in the Elite Eight (2002, 2004), and won seven MIAA championships. They also had a stretch of 11 consecutive seasons with 19 or more wins, and his teams surpassed 22 wins in nine of his final 12 campaigns. A four-time MIAA Coach of the Year and the 2001 South Central Region Coach of the Year, Tappmeyer also has coached at East Central Juco and Missouri-St. Louis.

Rick Grayson, PGA Teaching Professional

A part of Springfield’s golf scene since 1976, Grayson has been a Professional Golf Association (PGA) teaching professional for 30 years. He has worked the past 17 years at Rivercut Golf Course following a combined 20 years at Bill & Payne Stewart Golf Course and Tri-Way Golf Course. Grayson has been a Golf Magazine Top 100 instructor the past 20 years as well as the 2005 Midwest Section’s PGA Professional of the Year, its Teacher of the Year five times and Junior Golf Leader four times. He has written golf articles for numerous publications, published Inspire Junior Golf, co-founded the Heart of the Ozarks Junior Golf Foundation and was the lead instructor at the PGA Junior Ryder Cup.

Learfield

Launched in 1972 by Clyde Lear and Derry Brownfield under the name Missouri Network, Inc., Learfield has grown to become one of the most successful sports marketing companies in the country. Learfield has been the radio rights distributor for the University of Missouri Athletics since 1975. It now employs 1,500 nationwide as a diverse media enterprise anchored by its core collegiate business managing multimedia rights and sponsorship initiatives for nearly 130 institutions, conferences and arenas. The company has grown dramatically over the past few years, adding capabilities in licensing, branding, ticketing platforms, stadium video displays, food and beverage hospitality and digital marketing.

Lamar High School Football Program

The Lamar Tigers have surged to become one of the premier high school football programs in the state, winning an unprecedented seven consecutive state championships (2011-2017), all in Class 2. It’s a stretch that has seen Lamar compile an incredible record of 98-5, including a 43-0 mark over the past three seasons. Since the arrival of 1985 Lamar graduate and now-coach Scott Bailey in 2006, Lamar has reversed its fortunes, compiling a 129-36 record. That followed a stretch from 1927 to 2005 when the program was 37 games under .500. In the state championship run, Lamar has had 52 players earn All-State. It also has won three conference championships, including 2015, the program’s first since 1932.

Springfield-Greene County Park Board

The Park Board celebrates its 105^th year in 2018. It combined Springfield’ and Greene County’s parks in 1996, and is responsible for 104 park sites, with 2.9 million users annually, and hosts 50 national, regional and state events a year and helps pump $15 million into the local economy annually. Among its facilities is Cooper Park, home to the Killian Softball Complex, Lake Country Soccer fields, youth baseball facilities and the 29-court Cooper Tennis Complex. The tennis facility features 2,500-seat Mediacom Stadium, home to a professional World TeamTennis franchise. The Park Board is affiliated with the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Community Olympic Development Program and accredited through the Committee for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies.

Independent Printing, Inc. – John Q. Hammons Founder’s Award

The John Q. Hammons Founder’s Award is presented to a company that supports the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Established in 1945, Springfield-based Independent Printing, Inc., was one of the first corporate sponsors of the Hall of Fame, dating back 20 years. Wally Hemingway took the helm in 1971, and it is now led by Jason Hemingway. Independent Printing, Inc. supports the Hall of Fame numerous in ways by participating in Celebrity Golf Classics as well as by publishing the Hall of Famer magazine, Enshrinement and luncheon programs and attending numerous functions. Independent Printing also supports the PGA Web.com Tour’s Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper, which has gifted nearly $14.7 million to children’s charities since 1990.

Rick Todd – President’s Award

Rick Todd recently retired after 51 years with Herschend Family Entertainment Corp., which owns Silver Dollar City, and was bestowed the President’s Award for supporting sports in the state and especially supporting the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. For nearly 20 years, he led the Silver Dollar City Foundation Pro-Am. It’s a part of the PGA Web.com Tour’s Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr. Pepper, which has gifted almost $14.7 million to Ozarks’ children’s charities. At HFE, he began as a 15-year-old parking attendant and finished as Senior Vice President of Enterprise Risk Management and Business Administration. Todd is Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for Cox Medical Center Branson and a board member of Central Bank of Branson.