Inductees

Jerry Anderson came to Missouri State University from Marshfield and lettered four years each in basketball and track between 1951 and 1955.

He was a standout track performer as a broad jumper, high jumper, and sprinter. But it was in basketball that he achieved the most acclaim, both for himself and for his school. He played for SMS in three NAIA national tournaments, including the SMS national championship teams in 1952 and 1953.

He was named the Most Valuable Player in the national meet in 1953 and 1954 and received the NAIA Sportsmanship Award in 1955. Anderson was twice selected to the All-MIAA team as a guard and was the SMS basketball captain during the 1953-54 season. He was selected to the NAIA Basketball Hall of Fame in 1966 and in 1971 he was named to the NAIA all-time all-tournament team.

In fact, Anderson was only the second SMS cager ever to score 1,000 points in a career and currently ranks 11th on the all-time SMS career scoring list. He played in 106 SMS games, second on the all-time list, and is third on the all-time list with 320 free throws.