The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame ushered in its Class of 2024 on Sunday, and it featured a National Basketball Association player, a National Football League Super Bowl lineman and a Major League Baseball pitcher.
The Springfield Enshrinement presented by Wilson Logistics drew a crowd of 1,000 to the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds for a ceremony which also generated associate sponsor support from Advertising Plus, the Bee Payne-Stewart Foundation, Byran Properties, Great Southern Bank, Hiland Dairy Foods and Hillyard, Inc.
Additionally, the Hall of Fame recognized Hamra Enterprises with the John Q. Hammons Founder’s Award, bestowed the President’s Award on auctioneer David Coutchie and presented the Voice of the Missouri State Bears, Art Hains, with the Inspiration Award. The Hall of Fame also will donate a portion of proceeds to Special Olympics Missouri and the Ozarks Regional YMCA.
“This was just a fun and rewarding enshrinement for us,” said Byron Shive, CEO and Executive Director of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. “It was great to be able to relive so many historic moments and accomplishments of some of Missouri’s best, and we hope that in some way it inspired future generations to go achieve greatness. Plus, with the Hall of Fame’s new charitable initiative and being able to recognize the great work of the Ozarks Regional YMCA and Special Olympics Missouri, it was just a very rewarding day for us.”
The Class of 2024 is as follows:
Anthony Tolliver – Kickapoo High School & National Basketball Association
Justin Britt – Lebanon High School, University of Missouri & National Football League
Lucas Harrell – Ozark High School & Major League Baseball
Bob Belote – Director of Springfield-Greene County Park Board
Steve Boyce – High School Swim Coach
Lindsey Hunter James – University of Missouri Volleyball Player
2003-2006 Kickapoo High School Boys Basketball Era
Tom Ladd – Sports Radio Broadcasting
Jennifer Drum McClaflin – Smith-Cotton H.S. & University of Central Missouri Track & Field
Jim Raynor – Sports Medicine
Scott Sifferman – Cycling
Tammy Williams – Osceola H.S., Northwestern University & U.S. Olympic Softball Player
1988-1995 Warsaw High School Football Era
Paula Wohnhas Wiedemann – Missouri State-West Plains Volleyball
Hamra Enterprises – John Q. Hammons Founder’s Award
David Coutchie – President’s Award
Art Hains – Inspiration Award
Anthony Tolliver – Kickapoo High School/Creighton University/NBA
A 2003 Kickapoo High School graduate, Tolliver helped the Chiefs to the 2003 Class 5 state championship, a 30-1 record and No. 12 national ranking in USA Today. He averaged 15.2 points and 6.5 rebounds that season and was named All-State by both the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association and the state sportswriters and sportscasters’ group. At Creighton, he was a three-year starter in a career that covered 124 games. He scored 1,004 points and grabbed 603 rebounds. In his time, the Bluejays advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and 2007 after winning the Missouri Valley Conference. The team also played in the 2004 and 2006 National Invitation Tournament. He was twice an All-Valley honoree. Following graduation in 2007, he played in the National Basketball Association for 13 seasons, with 11 teams. He played his rookie year with the San Antonio Spurs and then went on to play for the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, Sacramento Kings, Memphis Grizzlies and Philadelphia 76ers. He played in over 700 NBA games, scored more than 4,400 points and grabbed more than 2,400 rebounds. Four teams reached the playoffs.
Justin Britt – Football
Britt played for the Lebanon Yellowjackets, earning All-State honors in football as an offensive tackle and defensive lineman while also going 46-0 as a senior in 2009 en route to winning the state championship. At the University of Missouri, he was a four-year starter in football, and earned First Team All-Southeastern Conference honors in 2013. He played on Mizzou’s first SEC East championship team and also played in the 2010 Insight Bowl, 2011 Independence Bowl and the 2014 Cotton Bowl. He was a second-round selection by the Seattle Seahawks in the 2014 National Football League Draft and spent eight seasons in the NFL – six years with the Seahawks and then two more with the Houston Texans. Britt was a starter throughout his six-year career with the Seahawks; beginning as a rookie right tackle on an NFC Championship-winning team that reached the Super Bowl. He moved to left guard in his second season and, in 2016, switched to center. He was selected as a Pro Bowl alternate in 2016. Britt missed only two games in his first five seasons before a knee injury cut short his 2019 season. Overall, he played in 112 games, including seven playoff games, starting all but one, playing a total of 6,425 snaps throughout his career.
Lucas Harrell – Baseball
Harrell starred at Ozark High School, pitching the Tigers to the Class 3 state championship in 2004. Weeks later, he was drafted in the fourth round by the Chicago White Sox and eventually made his big-league debut on July 30, 2010. Harrell then pitched seven seasons in the big leagues, with the White Sox (2010-2011), Houston Astros (2011-2014), the Atlanta Braves (2016), the Texas Rangers (2016) and Toronto Blue Jays (2017). He pitched 455 innings, striking out 310 batters, and won 21 games. He was an 11-game winner for the Astros in 2012, starting 32 games and pitching almost 194 innings. That season, he struck out 140 batters and issued 78 walks. He led the team in innings pitched, strikeouts, wins and least home runs allowed. Because of his 57.2 percent ground-ball percentage, FanGraphs once dubbed him the “Astros Sinkerballer Supreme.” Harrell later pitched in Korea.
Steve Boyce – High School Swim Coach
Boyce is in his 24th year of coaching high school swimming. He has led nine teams to state championships. Those cover the Parkway South boys (1999, 2000, 2001), the Glendale girls (2013, 2014, 2018), and the Glendale boys (2019, 2020, 2021). Overall, his teams have had 19 top four finishes at the state meet, including state runner-up places with the Parkway South boys in 2002, Glendale girls in 2012 and 2015, and Glendale boys in 2010 and 2018. Boyce is currently the head coach for Glendale, Ozark and Republic, as well as the head track and field coach at Glendale. Overall, he has coached 43 state champions – 26 in individual events, and 17 in the relays, with his athletes taking 237 All-State honors, which are awarded to the top eight finishers in each event. His coaching tenure includes Tulsa Union High School in Oklahoma and Parkview High School in Springfield. He is a graduate of Eisenhower High School in Lawton, Okla., where he earned All-State in swimming during his final three years. He later graduated from Drury University, earning All-American in his three final seasons, when he helped the team to NAIA national titles and was part of seven relay national championship teams.
Tom Ladd – Sports Radio
Ladd has worked in radio in Missouri since 1989, and in Springfield since 1995. He has been the longtime Voice of the Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team. In Springfield, he worked for Meyer Communications and now for Zimmer Communications after it purchased Meyer. Ladd has called 12 different NCAA Tournament teams, including the 2001 Lady Bears’ Final Four season, as well as two Sweet Sixteen teams and the WNIT Championship. His tenure included calling Lady Bears’ Jackie Stiles becoming the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women’s basketball history. Overall, he has called nearly 1,000 games for Missouri State in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, soccer, volleyball and baseball on radio and TV. He won the Missouri Broadcasters Association’s top play-by-play announcer award in 2001 and 2022. A 1981 graduate of Triad High School in Illinois, where he was a three-sport athlete, Ladd started his radio career in Sparta, Ill., and then worked for KTJJ/KREI in Farmington, Mo. He was the voice for Mineral Area College Cardinals basketball and baseball, and twice won the Missouri Broadcasters Association’s play-by-play honor. Ladd later called Drury basketball in 2006 and 2007. He returned to Meyer Communications in 2008.
Inspiration Award – Art Hains
What a comeback story! That’s what we love about sports, whether it’s a player, team or coach. In this instance, it’s one of the folks who make sports all the more fun. The inaugural Inspiration Award will go to Art Hains (MSHOF 2019), who rallied this past year after a long battle after suffering from a severe case of West Nile virus. The Voice of the Missouri State Bears in football, basketball and baseball – and the studio host for Kansas City Chiefs broadcasts – was stricken on Sept. 17, 2022 and nearly died. He suffered paralysis, respiratory challenges and at times long odds for survival. Those close to Hains provided social media updates periodically and then, this past summer, word spread that he may be returning to the booth – and he did. Hains returned as the pregame and postgame host for Chiefs Radio Network in August and then broadcast four home football games this past fall. He also once again is broadcasting Bears basketball games. Hains began calling Bears games in 1977, spent a few years in the mid-1980s covering the Pony Express of Southern Methodist University football along with the Dallas Cowboys before returning to Springfield.
