Inductees

Roth has given much to the game of basketball. He is Chairman of the Board at Hillyard, Inc., the leader of basketball flooring products in the country. In his life, he was also the first president of the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame in 1986 and the initial president of the John Q. Hammons Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.

Hillyard began in 1907 under the leadership of Newton S. Hillyard, Roth’s great-grandfather. The company for decades has supplied the non-skid gymnasium flooring that has been used across America, from the National Basketball Association to universities and all the way down to high school and middle school courts.

For Roth, it’s led to opportunities that most fans only dream about. For instance, Hillyard hosts the hospitality room for the National Association of Basketball Coaches during the Final Four.

A 1966 graduate of Central High School in St. Joseph and a 1973 graduate of Missouri Western University, Roth also served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1969. He then parlayed his love of basketball into far more than he ever envisioned.

Years ago, he befriended Gary Filbert, a former Missouri Tigers basketball player from St. Joseph who went on become a successful coach at Mexico High School, Missouri Western and also assisted coach Norm Stewart in Columbia.

Filbert and Bob Vanatta, a former coach for several college teams, in the mid-1980s approached Roth about launching the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame. It opened in 1986 at Columbia College.

Roth served as the basketball Hall of Fame president for 10 years and eventually led the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

“Hillyard has been one of our strongest supporters, and he’s been instrumental in making that happen,” Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Executive Director Jerald Andrews said.

Roth’s other basketball endeavors have not been overlooked, either.

In 1997, Roth received the Carrie Franke Award from the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association.

He also remains an active business member of the National Basketball Coaches Association, which bestowed quite an honor on Roth in 2003 – the Guardian of the Game Cliff Wells Appreciation Award.