The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday night will induct former St. Louis Cardinals speedster Vince Coleman, former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Bill Kenney, plus 13 other individuals as well as a college baseball program and a high school baseball program and its late coach. Jack Henry & Associates will be honored with the John Q. Hammons Founder’s Award, and Leon Combs will be honored with the President’s Award.
It is all part of the Enshrinement in January 2017 presented by Killian Construction at the University Plaza Hotel & Convention Center. Associate sponsors are Advertising Plus, Hartman & Company, Inc., Hiland Dairy, Hillyard, Inc. and White River Valley Electric Cooperative. An 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. reception presented by Meek’s The Builder’s Choice is at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. A second reception is at 4 p.m. at the University Plaza Convention Center in Springfield, with the ceremony to begin at 5 p.m.
Tickets remain available by calling 417-889-3100.
The Hall of Fame inducted: the Voice of the Missouri Tigers, Mike Kelly, Houston Astros owner Jim Crane (University of Central Missouri baseball), former Mizzou football coach Warren Powers, Missouri State volleyball coach Melissa Stokes, Mizzou head athletic trainer Rex Sharp, B.A.S.S. champion Rick Clunn (Ava), motocross champion Jeff Emig (Kansas City), Missouri State basketball standout Kelby Stuckey, NFL referee George Hayward (St. Joseph), the Voice of the Missouri State Bears, Art Hains, track coach Rod Staggs (St. Louis Berkeley), Penney High School football coach David Fairchild and Glendale High School soccer coach Jeff Rogers. The Hall of Fame also will induct the New Bloomfield High School Baseball Program and its coach, the late Rod Haley, and the University of Central Missouri Mules Baseball Program.
Former Kansas City Royals outfielder Amos Otis, who had been announced as part of the Class of 2017, will be inducted at a later date. Otis informed the Hall of Fame on Friday that, due to an unforeseen family matter, he could not attend.
Meanwhile, the Hall of Fame will present Special Achievement Awards to a number of individuals, mostly high school and college athletes from state schools, who earned national recognition in 2016.
Vince Coleman, St. Louis Cardinals Outfielder
Vince Coleman, a big-leaguer from 1985 to 1997, owns the sixth-most steals in baseball history (752), the sixth-most in National League history (660) and second-most in St. Louis Cardinals history (549). He led the NL in stolen bases for six consecutive seasons while with St. Louis (1985 to 1990) and is one of only four big-leaguers ever to steal 100 bases in a season. The first three years of that stretch featured seasons of 105, 107 and 109 steals – with his 1985 season leading to the NL Rookie of the Year award. Coleman went on to play for the New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers.
Bill Kenney, Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback
Bill Kenney quarterbacked the Kansas City Chiefs from 1980 to 1988 and led the franchise to the 1986 playoffs, when the Chiefs finished 10-6. It was part of quite a career for Kenney, a 1983 Pro Bowl selection whose name still appears 26 times in the Chiefs’ all-time quarterback statistical rankings. He ranks third career-wise in passing yards (17,277), games started (77), passes attempted (2,430), passes completed (1,330) and touchdown passes (105). Additionally, Kenney’s 603 pass attempts in 1983 are still the most ever by a Chiefs quarterback in a single season. He also ranks in the top three in single-season passes completed (346) and passing yards (4,348), which remained the record until Trent Green broke it in 2004.
Mike Kelly, Voice of the Missouri Tigers
Mike Kelly, the longtime Voice of the Missouri Tigers, has broadcast more than 1,000 Mizzou games and is a three-time winner of the Missouri Sportscaster of the Year award. He was the play-by-play voice of Mizzou basketball prior to the 1991-1992 season and added Missouri football in 1994. Since then, he has broadcast every Mizzou football game, a string of 283 consecutive broadcasts. Kelly also hosts “Tiger Talk,” the weekly talk show for Mizzou’s football and basketball coaches. In April 2014, Kelly rejoined KMOX Radio and hosts “Sports Open Line” and “Sports On a Sunday Morning.” He has called games for the St Louis Cardinals, the Kansas City Chiefs as well as in the NFL and NCAA for Westwood One.
Jim Crane, Houston Astros Owner & Central Missouri Baseball Pitcher
Jim Crane is a St. Louis native, University of Central Missouri graduate and, since 2011, the owner of the Houston Astros. At Central Missouri from 1973 to 1976, Crane was 21-8 with a 2.42 ERA and ranks first in career complete games (23) and shutouts (7) and third in career strikeouts (215). Additionally, Crane was the primary underwriter of a $1.2 million renovation in 1998 of the Mules’ baseball field, now named the James R. Crane/Robert N. Tompkins Field. In Houston, Crane has led a revival of Astros baseball, with big-league club enjoying 86- and 84-win seasons in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Under Crane’s leadership, the Astros have re-energized the Astros Foundation, raising millions to support the people and community of Houston.
Warren Powers, Mizzou Football Coach
Warren Powers played at Kansas City’s Lillis High School for coach Joe Minter before graduating in 1958. He then was a three-year letterman for the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 1960 to 1962 and went on to play six seasons (1963 to 1968) in the National Football League as a safety with the Oakland Raiders, including their Super Bowl team that lost to the Green Bay Packers in January 1968. Powers then became a college football coach who led the Washington State Cougars (1977) and Missouri Tigers (1978-1984). At Mizzou, Powers was 46-33-3, leading the Tigers to five bowl games. His teams beat Kansas four times, Oklahoma twice and, in 1978, beat defending national champion Notre Dame and Nebraska.
Melissa Stokes, Missouri State Volleyball Coach
Missouri State University volleyball coach Melissa Stokes is 464-222 (.677 winning percentage) in 21 seasons, through 2016. Under her leadership, the Bears have earned nine NCAA Tournaments berths since 2003. Along the way, Stokes became the Missouri Valley Conference’s all-time winningest coach, and currently has 271 league victories. She set the record in September 2011 in a week when she won her 200th MVC match and her 350th overall victory. Stokes added her 400th career victory in 2014, becoming the 46th active head coach to reach that milestone. She has guided six All-Americans, 74 All-Valley selections and 52 players of the week, plus the program has produced three Academic All-Americans and 54 All-MVC scholar athletes.
Rex Sharp, Mizzou Head Athletic Trainer
Rex Sharp became the head athletic trainer for the University of Missouri athletics in 1996. He now directs the Dr. Glenn L. McElroy M.D. Sports Medicine Center, Mizzou’s primary treatment and rehabilitation facility, and oversees a staff of 13 assistant athletic trainers, four certified graduate assistant athletic trainers and almost 80 undergraduate student athletic training interns. He was given the title of Associate Athletic Director/Sports Medicine in 2011. Sharp also serves as an adjunct faculty and teachers two courses in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. He served an eight-year tenure as one of 10 collegiate athletic trainers in the nation on the prestigious College and University Athletic Trainers’ Committee, and was Chairman of the Big 12 Conference Medical Aspects of Sport Committee.
Rick Clunn, B.A.S.S. Champion
Rick Clunn, of Ava, has been a longtime winner in B.A.S.S., short for Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, and is tied with Kevin VanDam for most wins (four) in the Bassmaster Classic. He has competed in 427 tournaments, with 32 Classic appearances and four Classic wins. Some 281 times he has finished in the money, including 121 Top 10 finishes and 187 Top 20 finishes. That includes 15 championships and 14 second-place finishes. All told, he has winnings of more than $3 million, and his catches have totaled 11,918 pounds and one ounce. Clunn, the first angler to win $1 million in competitive fishing, is an inductee of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame and the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.
Jeff Emig, Motocross Champion
Kansas City native Jeff Emig was one of the top AMA Motocross and Supercross riders of the 1990s. In all, he won four AMA national championships, an FIM World Supercross title and was a six-time member of the U.S. Motocross des Nations team. During his 11-year career, Emig earned 37 AMA National wins. When he retired, he was fourth on the all-time AMA 250 National Motocross wins list, sixth on the all-time AMA 125 Motocross list and tied for seventh on the combined AMA Motocross/Supercross wins list. In 2004, he was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame and, in 2013, named No. 11 among the Top 30 Motocross racers of all time by Race X magazine.
Kelby Stuckey, Missouri State Basketball
Kelby Stuckey played in more winning games (87) than any other player in Missouri State men’s basketball history. A native of St. Louis, Stuckey started all 93 Bears games over his last three seasons in a career which ran from 1985 to 1989. He played on the Bears’ first four Division I postseason teams for coach Charlie Spoonhour. Stuckey finished his career with 1,188 points and 661 rebounds and still ranks 15th in scoring and 10th in rebounding. Stuckey won the Guy Thompson Award in 1989 and shared the SMS Coors Player of the Year Award as a senior. He was on the Mid-Continent all-league twice and was All-American as a senior.
George Hayward, NFL Official
George Hayward in January 2016 retired after a 25-year career and 425 games as an official in the NFL. He officiated 19 playoff games, including the January 2007 Super Bowl between Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears, four conference championships and four wild card games. Hayward is a 1970 graduate of St. Joseph’s Central High School, where he was all-city and all-district at offensive guard. He went on to play defensive end and linebacker for Missouri Western University. After graduating in 1974, he became an official, working in the Heart of America Athletic Conference and Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the Missouri Valley Conference (I-AA) and in the Big Eight Conference from 1984 to 1991.
Art Hains, Voice of the Missouri State Bears
Art Hains has been the Voice of the Missouri State Bears since 1985. A Marshall High School graduate and 1977 graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Hains was sports director at KGBX Radio in Springfield from 1977 to 1980, when he called Missouri State games with the late Vern Hawkins. From 1981 to 1985, Hains worked for KRLD Radio in Dallas, handling studio host duties for Dallas Cowboys broadcasts and the Southwest Conference Football Network. He also worked on SMU football and basketball broadcasts. Overall, he has called more than 2,200 Missouri State events. Since 1995, Hains has hosted the “Sportstalk” radio show and, in 2008, added studio host duties for the Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network.
Rod Staggs, Track Coach
A Kirksville native and 1966 Truman State University graduate, Rod Staggs led track and field programs to 19 high school state championships, guided 58 state champion relay teams, 143 individual state champions and 28 All-Americans. He was the head coach at St. Louis Berkeley High School for 32 seasons, with the program winning 16 state championships. He also won a pair of NAIA national track and field championships at Lindenwood University and coached in Loveland, Colo., winning two state championships at Loveland High School and one at Mountain View High School. He went on to serve as a coach for the USA national team, which competed in the World and Pan-American championships in Australia, Argentina, Poland, the United Kingdom, Qatar and Mexico.
David Fairchild, Penney High School Football Coach
David Fairchild spent 39 years in public education, including 31 as a head football coach as he compiled a 240-104 record. That featured a 231-84 record at Penney High School in Hamilton, including three state championships (2009, 2010, 2012), six state semifinal appearances, nine quarterfinal berths and 12 district championships. The first state title was in Class 1, while the repeat state championship was in Class 2. Fairchild was named Associated Press Coach of the Year for Missouri in 2009 and 2010, and was the St. Joseph News Press Coach of the Year in 2010. He was inducted into the Missouri Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1999.
Jeff Rogers, Glendale High School Soccer Coach
Jeff Rogers has coached the Glendale Falcons boys soccer team since 1990 and the Glendale girls soccer program since its beginning in 1996. Overall, he is 826-304-66, which ranks fourth overall in the state. In boys soccer, his record is 474-164-32, which is 10th best in state history, while his record in girls soccer (352-140-34) is third-best in state history. Rogers’ boys teams have two state runner-up finishes, three fourth-place finishes, five state quarterfinal championships, 12 state sectional championships, 20 district championships and 13 conference championships. The Lady Falcons have placed third in the state in 2011 and fourth twice (2009, 2012). They also have six state sectional championships, eight district championships and nine conference championships.
New Bloomfield Baseball Program & Late Coach Rod Haley
Coach Rod Haley and the New Bloomfield High School’s Baseball won six Class 1 state championships (1986, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996) and also placed third in 1985, 1987 and tied for third in 1995. The team was fourth in 1988. The program won its seventh state title and first in Class 2 in 2011 under then-coach Brandon Talbot, and was the Class 2 state runner-up in 2015 for coach Justin Forsythe. Haley, who passed away in March 2015, was 409-106 at New Bloomfield. He also is a 1998 inductee of the Missouri State High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.
University of Central Missouri Baseball Program
The University of Central Missouri Mules Baseball Program is 1,832-723-9 record in 61 seasons, with NCAA Division II national titles in 1994 and 2003. The Mules also have won 17 regional championships and 25 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association titles. Along the way, they have produced 23 first team All-Americans, as well as five national Players of the Year. Among notable coaches have been Bob Tompkins, Dave Van Horn and Brad Hill, with notable players being Houston Astros owner Jim Crane and Nick Webber. Tompkins was 258-164-1 from 1965 to 1980. Crane was a record-setting pitcher in the mid-1970s. Van Horn in 1994 and Hill in 2003 led the Mules to national titles, while Webber represents 74 Mules who have signed pro contracts.
Jack Henry & Associates, Founder’s Award
Jack Henry & Associates, recipient of the 2017 John Q. Hammons Founder’s Award, has played a significant role in the advancement of sports in the state of Missouri and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Founded in 1976, the Fortune 400 company has become the elite in financial services and also has supported numerous charitable causes all across the Ozarks. Jack Henry & Associates has been a longtime sponsor of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame as well as the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper, a PGA Web.com Tour tournament. By supporting both efforts, the Hall of Fame has continued to grow, while the PCCC has gifted more than $13.7 million to Ozarks children’s charities in its history.
Leon Combs, President’s Award
Leon Combs, a Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Board of Trustees member since 2000 and its Chairman since 2009, is the recipient of the President’s Award, given to someone who promotes sports in the state and greatly assists the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. He is a 1953 graduate of Bradleyville High School, a former Marine and 1960 graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. Combs worked 25 years for Jostens, a yearbook publishing firm. He later owned Sanford-Brown College, the largest proprietary school in St. Louis, and founded the AMTEC Truck Driving Schools. Combs, who retired in 1994 and serves on numerous charitable boards, also authored “Bradleyville Basketball: The Hicks from the Sticks” in 1999.
