Inductees

There’s no other way to say it. He was on his death bed, stricken by a severe case of West Nile virus.

Doctors sent him to one hospital after another, and friends back home in the Ozarks feared the worst as news reports and social media updates scrolled across their smartphones.

This was the fall of 2022 and early 2023, and yet the Voice of the Missouri State Bears — Art Hains (MSHOF 2017) – refused to quit, soldiering on despite the long odds.

“On behalf of people who have gone through challenges,” Hains said, “I hope I brought some inspiration.”

He certainly did, willing himself back to the radio both in the fall of 2023. That’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly bestowed its inaugural Inspiration Award on Hains during the 2024 Enshrinement presented by Wilson Logistics. In fact, it was announced during the ceremony that it is now the Art Hains Inspiration Award.

Hains has since called Bears football and men’s basketball home games, and returned as studio host of the Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network.

All in all, what a comeback story.

And there is no better summary of it than what appeared last August in the Springfield Daily Citizen, by longtime sportswriter Lyndal Scranton (MSHOF 2023):

Stricken on Sept. 17, 2022 during a Bears football road game, Hains landed in the hospital two days later and listed in critical condition. Within weeks, doctors shipped him to the University of Kansas Medical Center and then two rehabilitation facilities in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The diagnosis? West Nile virus from a mosquito bite, which left him paralyzed and battling numerous side effects.

As Hains explained to the Daily Citizen, only 700 people worldwide get the virus annually.

“The first place in Lincoln, they were kind of negative about my chances,” Hains said. “I mean, my chances to live.”

In those first few months, word spread back to friends and fans in the Ozarks. Along the way, fundraisers were held to help cover medical expenses, and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame donated proceeds from an October 2022 auction.

“When we were in Nebraska, we got so many cards,” Hains said. “And several people came up to visit, which is unbelievable because it’s a five-hour drive.”

That’s how much folks love Hains. A native of Marshall in north-central Missouri, Hains been a part of the Springfield radio airwaves since 1977 following his graduation from Southern Methodist University.

He briefly left for the Dallas market – covering SMU football’s famous Pony Express, as well as the Dallas Cowboys – but returned in 1985.

Sadly, many here in the Ozarks naturally feared Hains would never return to the booth. Not Hains, who was powered by positive thinking.

“Throughout this thing, I’ve been very positive that I’m going to come back from it,” Hains told the Daily Citizen. “I never gave up getting back to Springfield and hopefully getting back to doing some things on the radio. I’ve thought that all along.”

He returned to Springfield in late May 2023 and steadily regained use of his arms and fingers. He remains in a wheelchair, although he’s not stationary. Hains’ rehabilitation includes a focus on his legs five days a week. He doesn’t have use of them, but has steadily regained some feeling in his feet.

The hope is that he can walk again. The plan is for two more years of rehabilitation.

Fortunately, his wife of 43 years, Lisa, and their daughter, Kathleen, have been right there with him. For Chiefs broadcasts, Kathleen has prepared games notes.

“I couldn’t do the games without her,” Hains said.

For his return to Bears football and basketball, he did do test-runs before game days. However, he wasn’t quite prepared for the adrenaline rush – or the welcoming from media, fans, players, coaches and administrators.

In basketball, he’ll never forget wheeling his chair through the halls of Great Southern Bank Arena en route to the mic.

After all, it was there where Hains called the 2011 Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title. In fact, he was on the call when the arena opened in 2008 with a rousing victory against the University of Arkansas. Next door sat Hammons Student Center, home of so much history.

“That was really cool,” Hains said of traveling through the arena again in 2023, before laughing. “They did a PA shoutout when I was in the middle of reading the starting lineups on radio.”

A special Art Hains Day celebration was held there, too, in mid-December. “A beautiful ceremony,” Hains called it.

All in all, he’s fought the good fight, inspiring us all.