On Wednesday, November 30th, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inducted 7 individuals and one sports program during its inaugural regional Enshrinement in St. Joseph. A group of almost 400 people were in attendance.  This was the first time that the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame conducted an enshrinement ceremony away from its home base of Springfield. The event was held at the Holiday Inn Riverfront in St. Joseph. Hillyard, Inc. served as the presenting sponsor of this event and serving as an associate sponsor was the St. Joseph Convention & Visitors Bureau.  

Julius Hochman was inducted posthumously. Mr. Hochman founded the first Youth Baseball League in St. Joseph in 1954. Over 2,000 ball players have come through the St. Joseph Youth Baseball System that Hochman pioneered.  

Herb Webster is the girl’s basketball coach at Kearney High School. Coach Webster is entering his 45th year of coaching high school basketball and has accumulated 882 total wins. 721 of those victories have come while coaching the girl’s program, making him the all-time wins leader in the state of Missouri.

Harold “Doc” Childress makes his home in St. Joseph.  Childress has 17 years of shooting experience and has earned multiple national championships in sporting clays.  He has also earned two medals, a silver and bronze, at the World Sporting Clays Championship, becoming the first American to earn a medal in World competition. 

Vic Eaton was born in Savannah and attended high school in St. Joseph. He went on to play football at the University of Missouri as both a quarterback and a punter. He was selected in the 11th round of the 1955 draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers.  

Richard Flanagan served both as a coach and the athletic director at Northwest Missouri State University for 22 years. During his stint as the athletic director, he began the Hall of Fame at Northwest Missouri State and has since been enshrined into that Hall of Fame in 1996.  

Nan Carter is a retired school teacher from Trenton, MO. She has devoted the last 45 years of her life to advocating for and coaching girl’s and women’s softball. She received the Sprint Spirit Award presented by Women’s Intersports Network in 2007.  

Doug Minnis is a long-time resident of St. Joseph. Mr. Minnis was the first baseball coach in the history of the program at Missouri Western. During his 30 years at the helm, he guided the Griffons to 689 victories.  

The Mound City Football program is an eight on eight powerhouse. They have won state titles 5 out of the last 6 years, including the last 3 years straight. Mound City became the first eight man football program to win three consecutive state titles.

The Enshrinement ceremonies started at 5:30 p.m. on the evening of November 30th with a reception at the Holiday Inn Riverfront in St. Joseph. The banquet began at 6:30 p.m. and the festivities concluded at 9:00 p.m.