Locals to be enshrined in Missouri Sports Hall of Fame

1 week ago 2

A number of teams, athletes, coaches and trainers with ties to Southwest Missouri will be enshrined into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame class of 2026.

Included in the list are Jeff Starkweather, former Joplin High School athletic director and coach; former Webb City basketball coach Eric Johnson; Crowder softball teams from 1982-1992; the Mercy Sports Medicine athletic sports medicine trainers and support staff; and golfing brothers Glen, Joe and Gary Borland, from Carthage.

The ceremony will be at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1, at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds in Springfield.

According to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame:

• Starkweather spent 31 years in public education, including 22 years at Joplin High School. That span included six seasons as Joplin boys basketball coach, five as the boys and girls golf coach, and then 11 as the athletic director (2006-2017). He oversaw 50 sports and 85 coaches for the Joplin School District and led Joplin athletics through one of the most challenging times following the May 2011 tornado. Starkweather earned several awards: 2014 AD of the Year and District AD of the Year by the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Directors Association, 2014 State of Merit Award from the National Association, and 2025 Gerald Linneman Lifetime Achievement Award from the MIAAA. During his tenure, two teams brought home state trophies (2014 girls golf, third, and 2015 softball, fourth), and two tennis individuals won state championships. In 2017-2018, he was the interim AD for Springfield Public Schools. Starkweather is a 1982 graduate of Parkwood High School, where he played basketball. After a season at Midwestern State, he played his final three seasons at Missouri Southern State University and was a senior on the 1987 team that beat Oklahoma State University before qualifying for the NAIA tournament. Starkweather also was a two-year graduate assistant at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and then spent five seasons at Missouri Southern.

• Eric Johnson coached Webb City High School boys basketball from 1984-2008 and, combined with his nine seasons in Southeast Kansas, earned a 681-537 record. He took three teams to the final four, with the 1997 Webb City boys winning Class 3 after beating Chillicothe 46-41 and finishing 26-4. The next season’s team returned and placed third in the state. His 2008 team sent him out on a great note, winning the third-place game at the state tournament. Johnson’s squads captured 10 conference titles and 11 district championships.

Johnson was named District Coach of the Year in 1986, 1992 and 1997, and the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association honored him as Coach of the Year in 1997. He also spent 13 years coaching basketball and golf for New Heights Christian Academy in Joplin. He previously coached in Kansas, at Horton and then Columbus high schools. Johnson graduated from Pittsburg High School in Kansas, earning Honorable Mention All-State in basketball, and then played at Highland Junior College and Pittsburg State University, where he was all-conference.

• Glen Borland graduated from Carthage High School in 1959 and was a junior on its state third-place golf team and a part of three Big 9 conference championship teams. As a senior, he was the No. 1 player on the Big Nine Conference champion Tiger team. After high school, he played for Joplin Junior College and was runner-up in the state junior college golf championship, shooting 62-67-129. Later he and his partner finished sixth in the junior college national championship. Years later, he won the senior division of the Missouri State Amateur Tournament when it was played at Twin Hills in Joplin, and tied for fifth in 1993. His best score at Carthage Golf Course was 62, before the new nine was built, and he held the course record for many years.

• Joe Borland, who died in 2018, was a member of Carthage’s Big 9 Conference championship teams (1957, 1958, 1959). After graduating in 1960, he went into the service, making the golf team at Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka, Kansas, and becoming base champion twice. In 1977, he was the Missouri Amateur low qualifier at 71. He won the Carthage pro-am championship four times and placed an additional 13 times. Joe finished first in the Center Creek Open in 1979, 1980 and 1981, as well as first in the Lamar Open in 1987. He won the Dick Mansfield Championship a record five times in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. He also was named Carthage Men’s Golf Association Player of the Year in 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2012. Additionally, he finished first in CMGA stroke play in 2004, 2005 and 2008, as well as senior stroke play in 2011 and 2013. To this day, he holds the Carthage Golf Course record of 59, set in 1998. In his career, he has 39 individual first-place finishes and 50 team first-place finishes, as well as 32 second-place finishes in individual and team play.

• Gary Borland was a member of the Carthage Tiger Big 9 Conference champions of 1964 and a member of Carthage’s 1964 and 1965 state qualifiers. He was a member of Missouri Southern Junior College national qualifiers in 1968. He was a multiple Carthage pro-am champion (1968, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1983); won the 22nd annual Joplin Globe city championship, 2003 Nevada senior championships; the CMGA titles of 2006, 2007 and 2010; and the Dick Mansfield championships (2003, 2010 and 2011). He also held first places in CMGA stroke play (2010) and CMGA senior stroke play (2012).

• The Crowder softball teams from 1982 to 1992 advanced to six NJCAA tournaments, with the 1986 team capturing the program’s only national championship. Crowder was national runner-up in 1984, 1991 and 1992 and placed fourth in 1983. Additionally, the team won four district titles and seven regional championships in that time. The era began with a 53-win season in 1982, when Crowder won the region just two years after the program was founded. Annie Westfall coached the team from 1983 to 1987 (222-32 record). Millie Gillion coached from 1988 to 2000 (496-141). The 1986 team earned 63 wins, with 40 shutouts, and both figures are school records.

• When the Mercy Sports Medicine Athletic Training program began more than 30 years ago, it was based on a vision of maximizing the profession while improving the overall care and well-being of athletes and active people across our state. It has grown to include the Interstate 44 corridor from Joplin to St. Louis. This group now works with many colleges and universities, including Southern. Its athletic trainers cover more than 40 high schools and multiple club teams, and work with the Missouri State High School Athletic Association.

Other inductees:

• Dustin Colquitt — Kansas City Chiefs.

• Bill Mueller — Missouri State University an MLB player.

• Richard Hackett — Drury University diving coach.

• Missouri State University 1989 and 1990 football playoff teams.

• J.P. Sell — fishing.

• Tom Beck — Lexington High School track and field coach.

• Kevin Kelly — Jefferson City sports radio.

• Tonya Peck — Fair Grove High School volleyball coach.

• Bill Barton — State Fair CC basketball coach.

• Stan Melton — Ice Bears founder.

• Thompson Sales — John Q. Hammons Founder’s Award.