Inductees

Perhaps the most memorable moment of his storied career was not on the court but just several feet from it.

At halftime of the NCAA Division II national basketball championship game in 2013, with Drury University having trailed by 17 points at one point, Alex Hall was dead set on changing the narrative.

“I remember walking from the locker room to the court and (Brandon) Lockhart and I looked at each other,” Hall recalled, “and said, ‘This is going to be one hell of a second-half comeback.’”

Hall made sure of it, cementing his legacy as one of the best small-college basketball players in the history of the Show-Me State. What a career it was, and it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Hall with the Class of 2021.

In essence, Hall is basketball royalty in Springfield, where the shooting guard ranks 10^th all-time with 1,055 points at tradition-rich Kickapoo High School and third all-time with 2,200 points at Drury.

As a Kickapoo senior, he averaged 24 points, was a McDonald’s All-America nominee and a Show-Me Basketball finalist, plus was selected to the Lions Club All-Star team – all after the Chiefs won the Greenwood Blue & Gold Tournament and placed fourth at the Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions.

Career-wise at Drury, he also ranks first in both 3-point field goals made (389) and points in the postseason (189). He also set single-season records for points (711) and 3-pointers made (125) in 2013, when he earned numerous postseason honors, including First Team All-American.

In other words, Atlanta was one heck of a going-away party. Drury rallied to beat Metro State 74-73 in front of nearly 7,800 spectators at the NBA’s then-Phillips Arena in Atlanta – the largest crowd to see a D-II title game in 42 years. Hall finished with 21 points, with Drury ending the season on a 23-game win streak.

“Behind the national title, that win streak leading up to the championship is what sticks out to me and I am most proud about,” said Hall, who earned MVP. “That’s a stat that will be hard to beat.”

In Springfield, the sport of basketball develops a special hold within many kids, and Hall was no exception. In fact, Kickapoo’s 2003 state championship team remains almost mythical in his eyes. And those Chiefs fueled his fire.

However, Hall makes clear that he was not an overnight success, that he spent his high school years learning how to become creative to get his shots off.

Even then, he wasn’t a complete player upon arriving on the Drury campus. For that, he credits Drury coach Steve Hesser as well as Lockhart.

“I’ve had many great coaches over the years, but Coach Hesser deserves a lot of credit for my success,” Hall said. “He pushed me harder than anyone and demanded the best. And, after a fair amount of resistance, I bought in and my game really made a turn for the best from my freshmen year to my sophomore year.”

Hall had chosen Drury despite receiving letters from NCAA Division I programs such as Nebraska, Northern Iowa, Saint Louis University, Missouri State University and Missouri-Kansas City. The appeal was that he could stay close to home, on a campus where several friends already were attending.

At the time, a St. Louis recruit would become his best friend and the team’s point guard. That was Lockhart, and close followers of Drury basketball would argue that, without Lockhart, the Panthers may not have threatened a national title. He was a quiet wizard.

“Lockhart, it goes without saying, was the captain of the ship,” Hall said. “I tell everyone there isn’t a point guard out there at any level I would have rather played with than him. He’s selfless, extremely intelligent, and has the same will to win as I do. We clicked the day we stepped on the court together.”

He also thanks many others: his parents, Greg and Terri, sister Whitney and brother Tyler, as well as teammates.

“I think back on all the hard work and dedication, sweat and tears I put into the game of basketball and sports in general and hope along the way that, somehow or someway, another young athlete will do the same whether it’s basketball, football, soccer or track,” Hall said. “Enjoy the process and put in the work and, at the end, you will also have something to look back on and be proud of.”