The 2024 induction class into the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame (SASHOF) includes six individuals and one “Era of Excellence” team entry in a group of inductees whose competitive and energetic skills have set them apart. Their accomplishments extend over several decades in Springfield and beyond.
The 2024 class was announced Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame press luncheon at Drury University. Individual inductees include retiring Missouri State University softball coach Holly Hesse, champion golfer Christie Blasi, hockey legend Stan Melton, Missouri State football standout Dennis Heim, broadcasting legend Rob Evans, and former Missouri State Men’s Soccer Coach Jon Leamy. The Era of Excellence Award will be bestowed on the Hillcrest High School baseball program under Coach Dick Birmingham.
The new inductees will be enshrined during the SASHOF annual banquet and presented by The Cook Family Foundation on Wednesday, October 1, 2024 at the Oasis Convention Center in Springfield.
The Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame was founded in 1986 by Bonus Frost to honor those individuals from the Springfield area, or have a connection to the Springfield area, whose accomplishments merit consideration for the shrine. This is the 38 th SASHOF induction class and will bring the total membership of the hall to 166 people and the 4th Era of Excellence Award.
Selections are made by the 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 organizations for the purchase of sports equipment and opportunities. Since its establishment, SASHOF has provided over $4,640,000.00 to over two dozen youth groups and organizations.
Christie Blasi
Christie Blasi is a native of Sedalia, Missouri, and played on the Smith-Cotton High School golf team from 1982 to 1986, leading the Tigers to a state title in 1985. Her Smith-Cotton team was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. Blasi attended the University of Missouri where she was a four-year letterwinner from 1986 to 1990 and a team captain two seasons. Moving to Springfield in 1992, Blasi has dominated the women’s city golf scene with an amazing array of championships and honors. She has been the city champion three times, Millwood Golf Club champion eight times, Hickory Hills Country Club women’s club champion three times, an MGA Four-State player 1997-2007 and 2017-2023; captain of the FourState team 2007-2010; MGA senior Player of the Year in 2022 and top three finalist in 2023. She has had top five finishes in four senior amateur events, a top 10 finish in four mid-amateurs, including eighth in 2020, sixth in 2021, seventh in 2022 and eighth in 2023; fourth in the MGA senior amateur in 2021, fifth in 2022 and second in 2023. Blasi has been a Missouri Women’s Golf Association board member, 1992-2002, MWGA rules director, 1997-2002; a current MGA board of directors member; selected a regional top amateur by the MGA and the 1999 winner of the Bernice Edlund Award. The United States Golf Association named Blasi a national top amateur, a USGA women’s amateur qualifier in 1989 and 1990; and a USGA senior amateur in the 2022 Final Four in Anchorage, Alaska; a USGA top 32 in Scottsdale, Arizona; and a USGA exempt winner in Seattle, Washington, for September of 2024.
Rob Evans
Rob Evans has been a radio and television sports announcer for some 40 years and has worked at the high school, college and professional levels throughout his time behind the microphone. His play-by-play work has taken him all over the country with a body of work that has covered a variety of sports in many locales. A native of Springfield, Missouri, Evans is a graduate of Missouri State University. His experience in professional baseball has been a notable high point in his long career, as his early work saw him doing play-by-play announcing for the Class AA Beaumont (Texas) Golden Gators club from 1984 to 1986 during a stretch when he was also media relations director for that team. He stayed at the AA level from 1989 to 1991 when he called games for the Birmingham (Alabama) Barons, gaining selection as the 1989 Southern League Broadcaster of the Year. He moved to the Binghamton (New York) Mets in 1982 and also worked for the AAA Norfolk/Tidewater (Virginia) Tides from 1993 to 2001. Evans announced for the AAA Memphis (Tennessee) Redbirds for parts of several seasons between 2002 and 2011, and the AA Springfield (Missouri) Cardinals from 2005-12. He had a fill-in role with the major league Montreal Expos in 2003- 04. Evans did play-by-play coverage for Missouri State University women’s basketball and MSU football from 2008 to 2013. In recent years, he has worked as the football, basketball and baseball announcer for Blue Springs (Missouri) South High School. That assignment earned him the award for best play-by-play work in a large market six years in a row from 2016 to 2021 from the Missouri Broadcasters Association.
Dennis Heim
Dennis Heim was a Missouri State University football standout from 1974 through 1977, playing two seasons each for Bears’ head coaches Don Cross and Rich Johanningmeier. A native of Monett, Missouri, Heim got into all 10 MSU games at defensive tackle his freshman season, then started every game his last three years. An MIAA all-conference second team selection as a sophomore, he led the MSU defense in tackles, solo tackles and sacks. Heim came into his own as a junior as he gained allMIAA first team and finished third on the team in tackles for losses. Heim was named MIAA Defensive Player of the Week for his part in the Bears’ win at Southeast Missouri State as he recovered two fumbles and a blocked punt which he carried into the end zone for a touchdown. As a senior, Heim was a Bears’ co-captain, leading MSU with 133 total tackles, including 45 solo stops. He repeated all-conference first team selection as he broke up four passes and recorded 13 tackles for 99 yards in losses. As a senior, Heim averaged 15 tackles a game in conference play. He finished his four-year career with 338 total tackles with 141 unassisted stops. He recovered seven fumbles and had 41 sacks for 267 yards in losses. He still owns the MSU single season and career records for sacks and was inducted into the Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994. Heim was drafted by the National Football League New York Giants after his senior season, played most of 1978 and 1979 with the Canadian Football League Toronto Argonauts, and was with the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1980.
Holly Hesse
Holly Hesse has concluded the final season of her 36-year career as head softball coach at Missouri State University with the 2024 campaign. Hesse passed the 900-win plateau in the 2023 MSU season and entered her final year 18th among active Division I coaches in total wins, and one of just 19 active coaches with 900 victories. She finished with 922 victories; the second winningest softball coach in Missouri Valley Conference history. A native of Waukon, Iowa, Hesse is a 1982 graduate of Creighton University. Hesse coached two seasons at Waukon High and then two years each at Iowa State University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and earned a master’s degree at UMass. She was an assistant for two seasons at Creighton before coming to MSU, and her pitching helped the Bluejays to three straight NCAA College World Series appearances. Hesse won 161 games as a pitcher at Waukon High and was inducted into the Iowa Girls High School Pitchers Hall of Fame in 1979. Hesse and long-time associate head coaches Beth Perine and Sue Frederick teamed for over 500 wins as a staff and won the MVC regular season title in 1992. The Bears then won three straight MVC tournament crowns in 1996, 1997 and 1998. MSU would go on to claim MVC tourney crowns in 2006, 2011 and 2022, with each tourney crown followed by a trip into NCAA regional tournament play. The Bears’ 40-17 record in 2006 stands as the program’s single season victory mark. Hesse was named the conference Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1994 and was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
Jon Leamy
Jon Leamy guided the Missouri State University men’s soccer team for 30 seasons, taking over what was still a very young program in 1992 and turning it into a conference and regional power and national contender in that span. Leamy’s teams had four losing seasons and three .500 years on their way to a 309-189-66 career log for a .606 winning percentage. Leamy’s Bears collected 10 Missouri Valley Conference regular season titles, winning league crowns in 1997, 1999, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021. MSU followed its regular season log with league tourney titles in 1999, 2019, 2020 and 2021, and advanced to NCAA tournament play in 1997, 1999, 2009, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Leamy’s teams were unbeaten in league play five times. The Bears set a season win record in a 17-1-3 season in 1999 and broke that mark with an 18-1-1 campaign in 2019 before 12-2 and 17-2 records over his final two years. The winningest coach in MVC history, Leamy was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2022. Leamy and his assistants were honored eight times as MVC Coaching Staff of the Year and five times as Regional Staff of the Year. The Bears finished Leamy’s tenure with a 47-5-1 record his last three seasons to advance to the NCAA tourney each year, and reached the NCAA round of 16 in 2020. A native of Ipswich, Massachusetts, who played soccer at Roanoke College, Leamy saw his MSU charges win a host of individual honors, including 157 MVC all-conference selections, 10 All-Americans, and 26 Academic All-Americans. More than 25 Bear players have gone on to professional soccer.
Stan Melton
Stan Melton is a founder of the Missouri State Hockey Club and founder of the Springfield Citizens Committee that advocated for the construction of a recreational ice facility before the Jordan Valley Ice Park opened in 2000 to serve the entire southwest Missouri area. Melton retired as Missouri State Hockey Club General Manager in 2015 after serving in that post the club’s first 15 seasons. He has continued to assist the club in an advisory/consulting position while providing the club financial support. Melton is a native of Cassville, Missouri, and a graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communications degree. He is retired from Mediacom of Springfield after 24 years as assistant general manager. Melton previously served as a radio news director in Springfield and as administrative assistant to Missouri Lt. Governor Bill Phelps. Melton has served on the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau Board, Jordan Valley Park Advisory Commission, Lakes Country Rehabilitation Center Board and as chairman of Greater Ozarks Blues Festival Annual Event Steering Committee. Melton currently serves on the Preferred Family Health Care Company Board of Directors and is a campaign consultant to Jasper County Associate Commissioner Tom Flanigan who previously served eight years as a Missouri State Representative from the Carthage area. Melton is a lifelong fan of a wide variety of professional and collegiate sports and he is an avid hockey fan who attended 20 to 30 professional hockey games a year before devoting his time to the Missouri State program. Stan’s involvement as an athlete after his years in high school sports included 34 years playing in men’s league recreational softball in Springfield.
Era of Excellence Award Hillcrest High School Baseball – Birmingham Era
Springfield high school baseball has long enjoyed a strong presence on the Missouri sports scene and one of the strongest eras of that dominance came from the early Hillcrest Hornets, beginning soon after Hillcrest opened its doors in 1957-58. Hillcrest became the first prep baseball program to gain induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame when that honor came in 2014. It commemorated a run of six American Legion state championships and high school state title teams in 1979 and 1988. The architect of this success came from Coach Dick Birmingham, an Army veteran and former Missouri State quarterback who took over the Hillcrest reins in 1960 and guided the program for 25 seasons. Birmingham also had 15 seasons coaching Hillc
rest American Legion clubs. The numbers tell of the dominance Hillcrest had over that quarter century but don’t fully capture all the respect earned by a dynasty during which Birmingham would go on to coach teams in national and international competition and the family legacy of sons and grandsons of early Hillcrest players who came to play in the program. Birmingham stressed player development during his years at Hillcrest to put his athletes in a position to succeed beyond high school. More than a hundred Hillcrest players earned college scholarships, 19 were drafted by professional clubs and half a dozen reached the major league level. Birmingham started fast at Hillcrest, winning Ozark Conference championships and advancing to the state semifinals his first three seasons. He brought a very structured approach to his preparation, stressed fundamentals and defense, and, early on, players knew what to expect and wanted to play for Dick Birmingham at Hillcrest.
Bonus Frost Founders Scholarship Award Recipients 2024: Isabella Garcia, Greenwood Laboratory School Stewart McDonald, Logan-Rogersville High School.
