What’s the history of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame? There was a Missouri State Sports Hall of Fame founded in 1951 in Sedalia by Don Faurot and Bob Broeg. They had some plaques and pictures that they hung on the walls of the state fair administrative offices. In the early 1960s, those items … were placed in the basement of the state capitol in Jefferson City. … In 1988, a new secretary of state’s office building was built just west of the capitol, and a conference room in that building was designated the Missouri State Sports Hall of Fame. … In the early 1990s, Norm Stewart, Gary Filbert and Dave Porter approached (developer John Q.) Hammons about building a Missouri basketball hall of fame. He started looking at what it was going to cost to renovate (a donated) facility in Columbia and everyone decided he’d be better off to build a new building. … There was quite a bit of debate over where he would put it. Obviously, he chose here, and … the decision was made to (make it) an all-sports hall of fame. When it opened in 1994, it was called the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. We see about 48,000 (visitors) a year.
How are the inductees chosen each year? Anyone can nominate someone for the Hall of Fame. There are some basic criteria. The person’s either got to be from Missouri or have played in Missouri, or is currently contributing to Missouri sports in some way. We’ll get 250 letters of nomination a year, (which) are typically kept active for three years. Then there’s a committee of people across the state that takes those nominations (to develop) a slate of candidates for the class. Then they charge me with the task of contacting those people to see if they can come for the induction ceremony. … Including the 103 from the Missouri State Sports Hall of Fame, there are about 350 inductees.
What is the hall’s role in the annual Price Cutter Charity Championship, presented by Dr Pepper? We manage the tournament. Anytime you have a PGA event, you have to have a 501(c)3 not-for-profit foundation that signs the contract with the PGA to do the event. In this case, it’s the John Q. Hammons Foundation. The foundation has contracted with the Hall of Fame to run the tournament, and we run it year-round (with help from) 1,000 to 1,200 volunteers.
What’s new about this year’s tournament, which runs Aug. 5–16? There’s a new charity this year, the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks Children’s Fund (which will) receive money from the tournament. … Championship Sunday is going to be called Pink on the Greens, presented by Morelock-Ross Cos., Kathy and Wayne Morelock. That day, any breast cancer survivor or anyone currently battling the disease will be admitted free of charge (and) we’re doing everything we can to paint the course pink.
Is it uncommon to add new charities? No. When I came, there were four. My critics would tell you that I’ve got too many involved, and it splits the pie up too much. I think there are 43 charities that we’re helping this year. All of our charities relate to kids in some way. For the last several years, we’ve allowed new charities to come in, but they have to bring a new investment, (such as) a new sponsor to the table or make an investment themselves of some sort.
How much did the tournament raise in 2009, and what do you hope for this year? Last year was an all-time record for us, and we gave away just more than three-quarters of a million dollars. … It’s a tough year, more difficult than I anticipated it being. … I don’t know where we’ll end up, but we are running a little bit behind a year ago. I don’t believe we’ll be able to hit that this year. [[In-content Ad]]
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