The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame’s second annual Outdoor Sports Luncheon presented by the Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Company is set for February 25 at the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center in Springfield.
President & Executive Director Jerald Andrews announced the event on Wednesday, and unveiled the honorees: The Roper Racing Family, amateur golfer Wayne Fredrick, angler Rick Emmitt, tennis player and coach Jim Klousia, fishing media’s Don Berry, horse trainer Geno Middleton, water skiing national champion Erin Kalkbrenner and Lincoln University track and field coach Victor Thomas.
A sponsorship table of eight is $400 and includes an autographed print, recognition in the printed program and at the table. A head table ticket is $100 and includes the same perks. An individual ticket is $50, or $60 at the door. Numerous sponsorships are available, including congratulatory ads. Call 417-889-3100.
The Hall of Fame is following Springfield-Greene County Health Department and city guidelines and requiring face masks to be worn on site. Temperature checks will be conducted at the door, and hand sanitizer will be available at each table.
“We are excited to be recognizing these honorees. They’ve made tremendous impacts in their sports or fields,” Andrews said. “We also will do everything we can to make this as safe as possible for all of our guests.”
The Roper Family – Auto Racing
The Roper Family of Fair Grove has been one of the most recognized on the car racing scene of southwest Missouri going back to the 1960s.They consist of Dale Roper, Sr., his brother, the late Dean Roper, as well as Dale Roper, Jr. (“Pee Wee”) and the late Tony Roper. Dale began racing in 1965 and won roughly 200 races, including seven track championships at three different tracks – Bolivar Speedway, I-44 Speedway in Lebanon and Fort Wood Speedway near Waynesville. Dean, who passed away in 2001, was a professional driver and finished 15th in the 1983 Daytona 500. He also won at Valley Park Speedway and the Ozark Speedway in Joplin, plus drove for John Childs in St. Louis as well as the Mueller Brothers in Wisconsin. Dale Jr. began racing in 1979, won at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds in 1980 and was his dad’s crew chief for years. Tony, Dean’s son, began racing in 1986 and eventually competed in the American Speed Association short-track series and was the runner-up in 1992 as ASA Rookie of the Year. From 1995 to 2000, he drove in 60 races in the NASCAR Truck Series, two steps below the Sprint Cup level, and had one second-place and eight top-10 finishes, earning nearly $488,000. Tony scored three Top 10 finishes in 16 races in the Xfinity Series, NASCAR’s second-highest tier. Sadly, he passed away while racing at the Texas Motor Speedway in 2000.
Wayne Fredrick – Golf
A 1980 Glendale High School graduate, Fredrick is the only player to have won all six men’s state championships in the Missouri Golf Association: the Missouri Amateur (1996), Missouri Stroke Play (2001), Missouri Mid-Amateur (2007), Missouri 4-Ball with Kory Bowman (2014), Missouri Senior Amateur (2018, 2019), and Missouri Senior 4-Ball with Brian Haskell (2020). He also was medalist at the 2015 Missouri Amateur. Fredrick was the MGA Senior Men’s Player of the Year in 2019 and 2020. Additionally, he has won 10 Springfield City Championships (Regular and Senior) and eight invitational titles in the Midwest. Nationally, Fredrick has competed in three USGA national championships, most recently qualifying for Match Play in the 2019 USGA Senior Championship. A former Missouri State University golfer, he runs See the Field Consulting, a real estate consulting company, and has long served on the Executive Committee of the Missouri Golf Association, which voted Fredrick to be its next president.
Rick Emmitt – Bass Fishing
Emmitt has more than 35 years of experience in the fishing industry, including 13 years as manager of the Bass Pro/Nitro Pro Fishing Team as well as marketing manager for angler programs and pro staff for Bass Pro Shops/White River Marine Group. He also appears on countless radio shows and podcasts, plus is a co-host of a weekly fishing tips segment that airs 13 weeks each spring on KY3 TV. Additionally, he is in his sixth year as the head coach of Drury University’s bass fishing program, which has become one of the top programs in the country. In 2019-2020, the Panthers cracked the top 10 nationally, finishing eighth in the Bass Pro Shops School of the Year rankings. Drury also was 30th among more than 300 programs in the country in the points race for the previous two seasons. They are now ranked ninth nationally.
Jim Klousia — Tennis
Klousia coached the Missouri State University men’s tennis program for 27 years (1977-2005), which made him the second-longest tenured coach in MSU history at the time, and is in his 34th year as the Director of Tennis at Hickory Hills Country Club. He guided MSU to 10 conference championships and was one of only two MSU coaches to win championships in three difference leagues: 1979 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Association, 1982 & 1984-1990 Mid-Continent Conference and 2005 Missouri Valley Conference. The 1979 team finished seventh in NCAA Division II, and the 1981 team was 13th nationally. Klousia was a six-time Coach of the Year (five in the MCCC and 1993 in the Valley), and his teams had a 324-271 dual meet record. A Monett native and 1975 graduate of Southwest Baptist University, he was a four-time NAIA District 16 selection for SBU, played in nationals all four years and ranks second all-time in singles wins (105).
Don Berry – Fishing Media
This year marks Year 21 since Berry founded Don Berry Pro Fishing LLC Productions. A graduate of Advance High School, he hosts “Don Berry’s Fishin’ Radio Show” on 96.9 FM and 99.9 FM in Springfield. He also enhanced the company with ReSpoolin’ Magazine, a fishing magazine, where he wrote numerous fishing articles. In 2007, he established Ozark Mountain Team Trail, which has paid back more than $2 million in cash and prizes to fishing tournament anglers. Berry played high school basketball for Carroll Cookson (MSHOF 1997) before playing at the University of the Ozarks. He later earned a master’s degree and specialist degree in education at Southeast Missouri State University. He also served as a basketball coach, counselor and administrator in the Van Buren and Willard school districts. At Van Buren, his 1978 team was 27-1. Berry was inducted into the Willard High School Hall of Fame as the “Voice of the Willard Tigers,” and for starting the Willard Four State Tournament and promoting fishing. Berry also has competed in local, regional and national fishing tournaments.
Geno Middleton – Professional Horse Trainer
Middleton is a nine-time World Grand Champion horse trainer in the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association (MFTHBA), headquartered in Ava. With a Howell County farm in Pomona, just north of West Plains, he is currently in his 40th year and continues to train professionally. Middleton was the youngest trainer to win a World Grand Championship, doing so at age 18 in 1986 with Madam Sensation. His other World Grand Championships were Missouri’s Bobbie Sue (1989), Missouri’s Charming Princess M.(1994), Travelers Red Alert (1995), Pancho Villa A. (1996), Prince Jester (2003), Cardinal’s Gunslinger A. (2004), Gunslinger’s Guns & Roses A. (2008) and Oh Yeah (2020). It’s quite a career, considering the MFTHBA features open and amateur qualifying classes for 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-year-old horses – meaning hundreds enter competitions, with a possibility of 20 entries advancing to each championship division for a Gelding, Mare and Stud faceoff. Middleton is also a 2015 inductee to the MFTHBA Hall of Fame.
Erin Kalkbrenner – Water Skier
Kalkbrenner has won 14 national championships in the U.S. Water Ski National Championships, plus holds two Missouri state water ski records. The Kansas City native won national titles in the Women 2 Division in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. She holds the Women 1 Division record (ages 18-24 inclusive) jump of 119 feet, set in 2009. In fact, her 2015 national title was historic, as she and her husband, Cole, became the first husband and wife team to win a national title. She also established the Women 2 trick record in the 25-34 inclusive age category with 3,890 points, set in 2012. In 2019, Kalkbrenner was the Volunteer Coach of the Year by USA Water Ski & Wake Sports. In recent years, she and her husband are members at Mystic Lakes Ski Club near Wichita, Kan., with the site hosting several major events. Kalkbrenner is currently the coach of the U.S. U21 World Waterski Team and the U.S. Pan-American Waterski Team and will be competing in the 2021 Senior World Waterski Championships.
Victor Thomas – Lincoln University Track & Field Coach
Thomas is in his 19th season coaching the Lincoln University Track and Field Program (MSHOF 2013). He has guided 14 women’s teams to NCAA Division II national titles: nine D-II Outdoor titles and five D-II Indoor championships in addition to five MIAA Indoor titles and four MIAA Outdoor championships. On the men’s side, the Blue Tigers finished No. 2 nationally in 2012 in the D-II Outdoor and, in 2016, won their first MIAA Indoor title since 1981. The 2017 Lincoln men won the MIAA Outdoor, and the 2020 indoor team was ranked No. 1 before the pandemic led to the season’s cancellation. Thomas has coached Lincoln athletes to 882 All-American performances (top eight finishes at national meets). That includes 92 individual national championships and 38 relay titles. A multiple conference and national Coach of the Year and native of Jamaica, Thomas also has led the Jamaican Junior Pan American Games National Team.
