The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame will celebrate hunting, fishing, motorsports and a new category – competitive barbecue – at its upcoming Outdoor Sports Luncheon presented by Bass Pro Shops.
President & CEO Rob Marsh on Monday announced the luncheon, set for 11 AM on Thursday, March 12 at the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center in Springfield. It marks the fifth such ceremony since 2020 celebrating sports whose roots date to the state’s rich history of conservation, dirt-track racing on rural ovals and more.
Additionally, Mark Stahlman of Highland Springs Country Club will be bestowed the Ace Award.
“This should be a fun group to welcome into our Class of 2026,” Marsh said. “Each one has made a tremendous contribution to sports in Missouri.”
The Class of 2026 features:
- Mooneyham Racing Family – Motorsports
- Brad Leighninger – Barbecue Champion
- Richard Clark – Cross Country & Track Coach
- Steve Leivan – Dirt Bike Racer
- Grant Woods – Deer Hunting
- Lost Creek Bass Club
- Missouri State University Equestrian Team
- Bill Davenport – Fisherman
- Jason Farley – Pro Rodeo Clown & Barrelman
- Willow Springs High School Boys & Girls Cross Country Era of 1994-1999
- Mark Stahlman – Ace Award
A sponsored table of eight is $450, and includes recognition at the table and in the printed program. A head table ticket is $100 and is right up front. An individual ticket is $60 in advance, or $70 within five days of the event. Numerous sponsorships are available, including associate sponsorships and congratulatory ads. Please call 417-889-3100.
Mooneyham Racing Family
If there was ever a book written about southwest Missouri’s rich tradition of race car driving, a thick chapter would need to be devoted to the Mooneyham Racing Family of Republic. Specifically, Randy Mooneyham spent more than 47 years in auto racing, including 38 years operating the Monett Speedway. Overall, he promoted more than 2,500 shows covering 54 tracks in 10 states. Monett Speedway, a 3/8-mile oval built in 1970, became known as the Grand Ol’ Lady, with Mooneyham purchasing it in 1980. It is believed to be the longest-running, continuous weekly racing dirt track in Missouri and one of the longest-enduring weekly tracks in the country. Monett Speedway has long hosted MLRA, MARS and other regional late model series. Additionally, it has been home to the Four-State Dirt Track Championship since 1971. Mooneyham operated Monett for all but three seasons since purchasing the track in 1980. He then sold it in 2017. He also promoted tracks at Bolivar and Lebanon over the years and was the original promoter of the Midwest Latemodel Racing Association (MLRA) when it formed in 1989, and promoted MARS from 2008 to 2017. The family of racers includes his brothers Darrell, Terry and Glen, as well as a brother-in-law, Bob Childress. Terry’s son, Lake, and son-in-law, Brad, and grandson, Payton Looney, also race. Darrell and Glen won several late model championships, and Terry ran in the sportsman’s class. Payton won the Show Me 100 in 2000, becoming only the second Missourian to achieve the feat (the other was Terry Phillips).
Brad Leighninger – Barbecue Champion
The world’s No. 1-ranked barbecue smoking champion can be found in southwest Missouri. The title was bestowed by the Kansas City Barbecue Society two years ago on Leighninger, whose success has punctuated that barbecue competition is its own sport. He has won the KCBS national championship four times (2018, 2020, 2021, 2025) and last year appeared on the Food Network’s BBQ Brawl. He owns Gettin’ Basted, a restaurant in Branson and Nixa, and has won more than 80 Grand Championships. That includes winning Grand Champion at the 2021 Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational BBQ. He also won the 2002 Memphis in May World Championship BBX Grand Champion with Blues Hog, the 2018 King of the Smoker Invitational and the 2025 Grand American BBQ Witld Championship Open. Along the way, he has wins in 30-plus states and multiple countries. Leighninger also is the co-founder of The BBQ League, an online platform offering barbecue education and insider access. He has taught more than 1,000 aspiring pitmasters around the globe about his competition methods, leading to hundreds of grand championships. Overall, he is known for popularizing the “hot & fast” method on the competition barbecue circuit. He is originally from Stanberry in northwest Missouri and graduated from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, later playing football at Washington University. His degree is from Missouri Southern State University.
Richard Clark – Cross Country & Track Coach
A 1960 Thayer High School graduate, Clark was a four-sport athlete at Missouri State before going into coaching. He spent a majority of his career at MSU, coaching from 1979 to 2000. He led the Bears cross country teams to the 1979 and 1980 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships and guided MSU to five Mid-Continent Conference cross country titles in the eight years MSU was in the league. He was the conference Coach of the Year five times, and his tenure produced three individual conference champions in cross country and 28 all-conference performances in the three leagues in which he coached. Clark also started the Southwest Cross Country Coaches Association and ran it until 2020. It has held a season-opening meet annually since the mid-1980s and is called the Richard Clark Invitational. Hosted at several courses in the area, the event has grown from a dozen teams to now 2,400 athletes representing 80 high schools. As an athlete at MSU, he was a distance runner in cross country and track, and also played a season of football and two seasons of basketball. He then assisted Aldo Sebben as an unpaid graduate assistant. Clark then coached what’s now Cherokee Middle School for four years, Parkview High School from 1969 to 1976, and was a physical education teacher in elementary schools until taking on the MSU head coaching job. He has been a longtime bus driver and driver’s education teacher for Springfield Public Schools.
Steve Leivan – Dirt Bike Racer
With a professional career spanning nearly 30 years, Leivan is a Missouri boy turned motorcycle racing legend. He has amassed 36 regional overall championships, won 18 amateur national titles, earned a ranking in the World Enduro Championship (38th in 2007) and finished on the podium in 16 of 19 Endurocross rounds (Vet class 2008-2010). Additionally, he brought home a silver medal at the International Six Days Enduro in New Zealand (2006), finished Red Bull Last Man Standing (2005), earned top five and podium finishes in National Hare Scrambles, National Enduro, OMA National, and WORCS competitions, and finished the famous Blackwater 100. He also was selected as one of the top 100 off-road riders by Dirt Bike magazine. The Golden City resident, 54, also gives back as a promoter through the MORE series (Midwest Off Road Events), which hosts seven races throughout Missouri yearly, along with the Off-Road Cup, a nine-hour, three-man team race held annually. All this from an 1989 graduate of Eldon High School.
Dr. Grant Woods – Deer Hunting
A 1979 graduate of Republic High School, Dr. Woods is a wildlife biologist specializing in deer management and research, with his work centered on increasing deer herds. He earned degrees at Missouri State University, the University of Georgia, and received his doctorate from Clemson University. His success at conducting wildlife research, educating hunters about advanced hunting and management techniques, and designing site-specific management plans to improve deer herd quality is well known throughout the whitetail world. In 2001, he and his wife bought an abandoned cattle ranch, a 1,500-acre spread known as the “Proving Grounds,” and transformed it into a lush habitat for wildlife. He eradicated invasive species and used controlled burns to stimulate the germination of native seeds, ultimately adding food plots to provide forage and cover. He has since moved on to “Proving Grounds 2.0.” Additionally, he shares his passion on a weekly web show called GrowingDeer.tv and through events at Bass Pro Shops stores as part of the RedHead Pro Hunting Team. He has earned numerous awards, including two notables honors from the Missouri Department of Conservation – the 2019 Master Conservationist and the 2023 Pat Jones/York Spirit of the Wilderness National Conservation Award.
Lost Creek Bass Club – Fishing
Outdoor Sports such as fishing have long been the fabric of the Show-Me State, and among the significant contributors in furthering the sport are bass fishing clubs. Among the most notable is the Lost Creek Bass Club, which is celebrating its 50th year in the Ozarks in 2026. The organization was founded in Sparta by a group that included Johnny Walker, Randy Workman, Herb Luttrell and Terry Thomas. Kirby Wilson joined in 1989 and served as the club president for 30 years, before Chris Selsor stepped up in 2023. Lost Creek has a maximum of 24 members annually – in many years, there was a wait list – and competes once a month throughout the year. The club at one point joined the Missouri Bass Association and then Missouri B.A.S.S., which it still belongs to today. Members compete at Table Rock, Bull Shoals, Taneycomo, Stockton, Pomme de Terre and Truman lakes in addition to Lake of the Ozarks. In the 1990s, Lost Creek organized the Take A Kid Fishing Tournament fundraiser for Make-A-Wish, drawing 216 boats as a boater would take a school-age kid out for a fun day of fishing. All members of the club since 1976 will receive a personalized plaque and also will be invited on stage, where we’ll announce you by name.
Missouri State University Equestrian Team
With roots dating back to 1980, the Missouri State University Equestrian Team has successfully furthered the mission of horse and farm sports through the Darr Agricultural Center, or Pinegar Arena. In fact, it is the first equestrian team ever to be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and joins a unique list of program honorees that include the Ozark Shooters Complex, the Fast Break Club of Lady Bears Basketball, the Mizzou Football Chain Crew, the All-American Red Heads Women’s Basketball Team, and the Show-Me State Games. The MSU Equestrian team was started by Lara Walker and joined the IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association) in 1989, the demarcation of when the program began entering competitions. Penny Wheeler coached from then until 2000, and then Sue Webb took over from 2001 to 2019 before Natalie Mook was promoted to head coach. In that time, numerous riders have advanced to nationals, a journey that’s incredibly difficult because riders must advance through two stages first. Additionally, at each meet, they ride horses that they have not ridden at the Darr Agricultural Center. In recent years, the 2024-2025 season saw the Western team win High Point team of the region, Rider of the Region, with seven advancing to semifinals, the team to semifinals and two individuals qualifying for nationals. One rider won three events, and the current team has more than nine riders qualifying for regionals. All members of the Equestrian team since 1980 will receive a personalized plaque and also will be invited on stage, where we’ll announce you by name.
Bill Davenport – Fishing
A 1963 graduate of Waynesville High School, the 82-year-old Davenport is known around Lake of the Ozarks as “The Legend,” in part because he has won more than 161 tournaments of various types and sizes – club tournaments and team tournaments. In fact, a 2024 issue of Lake of the Ozarks Fishing Guide — a popular area tabloid — has a photo of the affable angler on the cover with a blurb that reads “The Legend: Bill Davenport.” Additionally, Chompers, a bait company based in Missouri, named a jig skirt color after him in 1995. It’s called the “Davenport Special,” and it’s a combination of brown and green flash. That basic pattern has been responsible for 90 percent of his 161 wins over the years, with most of those coming on the Chompers’ skirted brush jig. Davenport won three Charger bass tournaments, earning new boats each time and thousands in prize money. His victories have not been confined to Lake of the Ozarks, either. He’s also won at Table Rock Lake and Truman Lake, proving that Davenport knows how to adapt and compete on lakes where he’s not a regular.
Jason Farley – Pro Rodeo Clown & Barrelman
Just a few years after the induction of KC Wolf of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Hall of Fame will induct another important entertainer whose work has furthered the growth of the rodeo circuit. A resident of Rogersville just outside of Springfield, Farley is now in his 35th year of being a pro rodeo clown/barrelman, having risen to the PRCA, or Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association. The Colorado transplant has competed in the National High School Rodeo Association and the National Little Britches Rodeo Association in bullriding and bareback riding. He has been named a two-time PRCA Bullfights Barrelman of the Year (2017 & 2018). He also was the PRCA Turquoise Circuit Finals Barrelman in 2023. Just as impressive, Farley is a five-time Showcase Barrelman Champion in the IPRA, the International Professional Rodeo Association (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020).
Willow Springs High School Boys & Girls Cross Country Era 1994-1999
One of the most impressive stretches in state cross country history could be found in Howell County, in the southwest Missouri community of Willow Springs. There, the Marvin Hatley-coached Bears & Lady Bears Cross Country teams of 1994-1999 fielded highly competitive runners. They were assigned to Class 3 the first two years and then Class 1-2 in the subsequent seasons. Overall, they combined for nine Top 12 finishes at the state meet, including three state championships. The boys won state in 1997 and 1998, after earning state runner-up honors in 1996. They were 11th in 1994 and fifth in 1994. Scott Smith won individual state honors in 1997 and 1998. The Bears also won districts in four of those six seasons. On the girls side, the 1996 team won it all – the first state championship of any kind in school history – and later placed third in 1998 and fifth in 1999. All members of the teams will receive a personalized plaque and also will be invited on stage, where we’ll announce you by name.
Mark Stahlman – Ace Award
In 2023, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame began recognizing individuals who make a meaningful impact in the local nonprofit community with the Ace Award. This year, the honor will be bestowed on Stahlman, the longtime General Manager of Highland Springs Country Club. He is a 1982 graduate of Kickapoo High School and attended Missouri State University. Since Highland Springs opened in southeast Springfield in 1989, its leadership has included Stahlman. He served six years as Assistant General Manager before becoming General Manager, a role he has held for the past 31 years. Overseeing a club with more than 700 members, Stahlman has managed one of the most demanding operations in the Ozarks. Highland Springs hosts numerous internal tournaments, including the Highlander and Tartan Classic, while also welcoming a wide range of outside events. These have included major fundraising initiatives such as Missouri Sports Hall of Fame events, the Price Cutter Charity Championship, and many additional charity and corporate tournaments. Throughout his tenure, Stahlman has overseen every aspect of club operations, including the clubhouse, dining, golf course, pool, and tennis facilities, as well as the hiring and leadership of all executive positions. His responsibilities have also included management oversight of the Highland Springs Community Association.
