Inductees

In far southwest Missouri, in the quaint Newton County community of Seneca, the townsfolk hard work and love their high school football Indians.

To longtime coach Tom Hodge, they are the reason why he enjoyed so much success and why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is inducting Hodge with the Class of 2016.

“We sat down as a staff when we first got the job and talked about making it more than football. We wanted it to be something the community would be proud of,” Hodge said. “The players wanted to work, and that’s the heart and soul of Seneca.”

Seneca has long been near and dear to Hodge, connected to Seneca High School and its football program as a player, coach, athletic director or parent since 1961 when he was a freshman.

As head coach, Hodge owns the state’s fifth-best winning percentage all-time (.809). He was Seneca’s head coach for 17 seasons and compiled a 161-38 record, covering 1981 to 1987 and again from 1989 to 1998. Overall, he was part of six Seneca teams that played in state championship games, with Hodge either a volunteer coach, assistant or head coach.

His teams won two state championships (1987 in Class 2, 1995 in Class 3) and also earned state runner-up finishes in 1983 and 1986. Seneca also won 11 district titles as well as a dozen Big 13/Big Eight Conference titles in his head-coaching tenure. Never did his teams have a losing season. Hodge also has been Seneca’s athletic director for all but four years since 1981.

“A lot of that (winning) has to do with the kids we had. They knew how to work hard and how to win. And not just the great ones. Everybody knew how to work on and off the field,” Hodge said. “Everybody had a role and played a part.”

Hodge, whose family moved from Texas in the late 1950s, was part of Seneca’s undefeated team in 1964. That team featured Greg Cook, who was part of the Missouri Tigers team that beat Bear Bryant-coached Alabama in the 1968 Gator Bowl. Hodge graduated in 1965, went on to play baseball for future Missouri Sports Legend Bill Rowe at Missouri State University but always stayed around football, especially Seneca football.

Hodge was a volunteer coach at Seneca in 1968 when the team placed second in Class 2. His first assistant coaching job was in 1969 at Greenwood Laboratory School, and he earned an undergraduate degree in 1970 from Missouri State. He then coached one season at Seneca and served two years in the U.S. Army overseas, earning a master’s degree from Southern Cal while in Germany.

Upon his return, Hodge was part of Seneca coach Pat Lawson’s staff for nine seasons before being promoted to head coach. The 1975 team placed second in Class 2.

“I didn’t talk about winning but about preparation and focus,” said Hodge, a three-time state Coach of the Year and a 2011 Missouri Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee. “I didn’t want that (winning) to be the focus. The players had enough pressure. I figured if we prepared and had the right mindset, the winning would take care of itself.”

Among the more memorable wins was in 1987 when the Springfield News-Leader billed No. 1 Seneca vs. No. 2 Springfield Catholic as the Game of the Decade, with Seneca winning 56-40. “There was a different hero every minute,” Hodge said.

But which losses did he learn from the most? “I had 38 of them. I didn’t like to lose,” Hodge said. “I always felt like I was letting down the town and the school.” His 1983 and 1986 state runners-up teams were only eight and 10 points shy, respectively, of winning it all.

It’s quite a legacy for a man who has been loyal to Seneca. Several other schools tried to hire him away, and he did take an administrative post in 1988-1989 at Neosho but returned home the next year.

Fortunately for Hodge, his wife of 41 years, Merlene, and their two children, Mark and Marcy, were always supportive. Mark played on the 1995 championship team.

“I had a passion for this community,” Hodge said. “The school’s had a great tradition going back into the 1940s, from what I know in talking to people. … I’ve been lucky to be in the right place at the right time, with all these kids. Some still come around and talk to me. So I’ve been very fortunate.”