Inductees

In the early 1960s, while attending Drury University in Springfield, Nolan McCaulley walked into a sports officiating class and found his calling.

In order to pass the class, students were required to join the Missouri State High School Activities Association and the local association for umpiring and refereeing.

That semester, classmate Emry Dilday (MSHOF 2019) asked him to sub for him at a game in Skyline.

“I got there, and I said, ‘Guys, I’m Emry Dilday tonight.’ They said, ‘Wait until we get ahold of him,’” McCaulley said, laughing. “And that’s what started it. I liked it.”

What began in 1962 became a passion, as McCaulley was a baseball umpire, football referee and basketball official for nearly 50 years in the Springfield area. And it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted him with the Class of 2025.

And that class? Twenty-two of the 23 students went on to work in athletics, some as officials.

In baseball, McCaulley not only umpired high school and American Legion games but also emerged in the mid-1980s as the main coordinator of officials – including those in the Southwest Missouri Baseball Umpires Association.

He also served as commissioner of the local American Legion baseball league and served on the board of the National Federation of Interscholastic Officials Association (NFIOA) in the early 1980s.

In 1984, McCaulley was named the Missouri High School Umpire of the Year and, a year later, was the NFIOA’s Regional Umpire of the Year.

Additionally, McCaulley served as director of Springfield’s Fourth of July Holiday Baseball Tournament from 1978 well into the 2000s. He officiated in MSHSAA state championship games in almost every class in football, basketball and baseball, and was coordinator of officials for MSHSAA state baseball.

McCaulley also worked college baseball games in the MIAA, NAIA, Missouri Valley Conference, NCAA Division II College World Series, and some Big 8 Conference and Southwest Conference games.

In basketball, he officiated 36 Greenwood Blue & Gold Tournaments from 1969 to 2004, more than any other official in tournament history. That tournament began in 1947. His total of 178 Blue & Gold games is second only to Jim Ewing’s 237. He also called a record 39 Nixa Invitational Tournaments beginning in 1966.

“It’s always been fun for me,” McCaulley said. “It’s never been work. And I never threw anybody out.”

As the 1970s spilled into the 1980s, McCaulley earned respect, especially among high school athletic directors. At the time, they were hiring their own umpires. So at a meeting one day, somebody asked McCaulley to do the assigning, and so he took it on.

“It was (a challenge) in the end,” McCaulley said. “We ended up spread out. Folks from like Osceola were calling on us. We started out with two umpires a game and then they went to three. And then they started baseball in junior high.”

For McCaulley, being around the game – or the basketball court or football field – just came naturally.

“I’ve always had a ball in my hand of some kind. We used to have a brick wall in the backyard (in Iowa), and I’d throw a ball against it for hours,” McCaulley said. “When little kids started coming up, I’d coach them.”

In baseball, he said he had a generous strike zone.

“I loved to call Missouri State games because I don’t think they’ve ever had a bad catcher,” McCaulley said.

The Blue & Gold was special, too.

Because it is held during the Christmas break in Springfield, McCaulley acknowledged that it felt like calling state championship games because of the tradition, with the stands always packed on the campus of Missouri State.

“A lot of it did. When it was in McDonald (Arena), it was like working a Bears basketball game, with people hanging from everywhere,” McCaulley said.

McCaulley always kept up with rules changes and never forgot those who helped him. Among his mentors were Hillcrest baseball coach Dick Birmingham (MSHOF 2002), as well as Missouri State coach and athletic director Bill Rowe (MSHOF Legend 2016), and equipment manager Bud Turk.

In many ways, McCaulley, the dad of Scott (MSHOF 2020) and Skip (1981 Greenwood Football Team, MSHOF 2017), helped teens fulfill their dreams.

“I coached little kids and then all of a sudden, they’re in college for (MSU), and I’m umpiring them. And they’re going on to be doctors and lawyers,” McCaulley said. “I was walking into church and a guy said, ‘Hi, Nolan! He was a catcher at Branson 40 years ago. It just makes you feel good.”