The Missouri Basketball Coaches Association is proud to release their 2015 Hall of Fame class.
Jay Blossom -- CLICK HERE to view speech
Blossom recently completed his 21st. season as a head coach. Following brief stints at Northwest (Hughesville) and Waterloo, Illinois, Blossom took over the Webster Groves program building the Statesmen into one of the basketball powers in the Show-Me State.
This season Blossom earned his 400th victory, he has guided his teams to a 77% (401-171) winning percentage, and he earned MBCA Coach of the Year honors in 2008 as his Statesmen earned the Class 4 state championship.
11 times named conference coach of the year, Blossom has guided his teams to 13 consecutive Suburban Conference titles and his teams built a state record 83 consecutive victory streak in league play. Six times a district champion, his teams have advanced to four quarterfinal appearances.
Named St. Louis metro coach of the year in 2008, Blossom has served overseas as a clinician with USA Basketball in the Canary Islands and with Nike Basketball in Hong Kong. Blossom is a longtime MBCA member, he served a two-year term as President and helped start the MBCA fall clinic.
Brad Boyer -- CLICK HERE to view speech
Brad Boyer is being inducted as a contributor for his years of service as a radio broadcaster and promoter of the game of basketball in the state of Missouri.
Born and raised in Northeast Missouri, Boyer attended Scotland County R-1 and is a 1986 graduate Moberly Area Community College.
Brad has been employed for the past 30 years by the KWIX-KRES-KIRK-KTCM radio group in Moberly, Missouri and during this time he has broadcast approximately 2000 sporting events. He not only covers Mid-Missouri high school basketball but also college basketball. He just completed his 20th season as the voice of the Truman State Bulldogs. He has won 12 awards from the Missouri Broadcasters Association, including a 1st place award for his call of the Truman State Men’s Basketball Team triple overtime victory over St. Rose (NY) in the Elite 8 of the 1999 NCAA Division II Tournament. He also has served for over 20 years as the President of the Northeast Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, representing the region during the media All-State Selection meetings. In 2008, Boyer was recognized by MSHSAA as the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. He is also in his third year of a term on the MSHSAA Media Advisory Committee.
Brad also gives back to the community. He is a 1992 graduate of the Randolph County EXCEL Community leadership program. He has served the last eight years as a facilitator of the “Ethics in the Workplace” program, mentoring 300-400 high school seniors each year.
A proud family man, Boyer and his wife Kristi have been married for 27 years. They are the proud parents of three children, Brett, Lindsey and Brandon.
Robert Corn — CLICK HERE to view speech
Corn ended his illustrious career on the sidelines at Missouri Southern after 25 seasons with the most wins ever by a coach at the school (413). He has the fourth-most wins amongst coaches in MIAA history and led the Lions to 16-straight trips to the MIAA Tournament, 21 overall, and in his final season (2014) was named the MIAA Coach of the Year, his fourth overall, after picking up the ninth 20-win season in his career at Southern.
In 2014 the Lions made the program's fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament under Corn after going 25-6 overall. Corn returned to his alma mater following 10 years as an assistant under one of the game's most respected coaches, Gene Bartow, at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
During his stint there, Corn helped UAB to a 217-110 record, two Sun Belt Conference titles, four league postseason tournament crowns and nine NCAA or NIT trips.
In the summer of 2006, Coach Corn was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and Corn was recently elected in the spring of 2010 to the Joplin Area Sports Hall of Fame.
Denny Hunt -- CLICK HERE to view speech
Hunt has spent the past 39 years coaching men's basketball at the high school and college levels. Hunt has spent time coaching at Fair Play, Hartville, Republic, Buffalo, Central, Kickapoo, Drury, and currently at Southwest Baptist University.
Hunt is one of the most respected basketball minds in the Ozarks after compiling a 353-259 record as a head coach. In his time as an assistant coach with the Kickapoo Chiefs, his junior varsity squads compiled a record 183-19, and while serving as coach Roy Green's top assistant, the varsity Chiefs went 245-46, won 10 Ozark Conference championships and seven district titles and made three Class 5 final four appearances, including a state crown in 2003.
Hunt also has been very active in the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, serving as president in 1998, as a board member from 1989-2009 and as co-director of the Hall of Fame Games from 1993-2008. Hunt, who earned the Gary Filbert Lifetime achievement award, is currently in his third year as the Executive Director of the MBCA.
Kenneth Layman -- CLICK HERE to view speech
Coach Kenneth Layman has coached at Norborne and Hardin-Central high schools for 30 years, compiling an overall record of 524-404. During this period, his teams have won 10 conference championships and nine district championships and have advanced to two MSHSAA Quarterfinal appearances. He has received numerous Coach of the Year awards. In his 10 years of coaching girls at Hardin-Central, his teams have accomplished six consecutive 20-plus win seasons with a record of 194-81. He has coached the Hardin-Central boys for the past four seasons, and the teams have had three consecutive 20-plus win seasons and a record of 81-29.
Jay Osborne -- CLICK HERE to view speech
Osborne has a built a 519 – 199 career record in 26 seasons, at Solomon Kansas, Pleasant Hope, and for the last 23 years at Nixa. His teams have made three trips to the Show-Me Showdown with his 2012 team finishing second, a third place finish in 2002, while the Eagles earned the Class 3A championship in 1999.
In 26 seasons, his teams have won nine district titles, eleven conference titles, eleven NIT Titles, seven Blue and Gold holiday tournament titles, and finished with thirteen 20-win seasons. His teams have also made four appearances in the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions. He has twice been named the MBCA Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2012. Osborne is a long time MBCA member who served the organized in several capacities.
Ron Rhodes -- CLICK HERE to view speech
Rhodes earns induction to the MBCA Hall of Fame following a basketball coaching career that has spanned five decades.
At the high school level Rhodes guided his team to a championship level of consistency at each stop. In two seasons at Gateway Christian High School his team earned the Tri-State Christian School Championship. He guided Cleveland High School to a 29-2 record and the 1983 Class 4A state championship.
At DeSoto High school Rhodes guided the Dragons to three Show-Me Showdown appearances finishing 3rd in 1991 and earning state championships in 1988 and 1989. Rhodes was selected by the MBCA as the Richard Fairchild Coach of the Year in 1988.
Rhodes guided the Moberly Area Lady Greyhounds to a 32-4 record and a 5th place finish at the NJCAA Division I National Tournament. From 1995-2002 Rhodes put Jefferson College women’s basketball on the NJCAA national map building a 201-49 mark, advancing twice to the NJCAA National Women’s Basketball Tournament, compiling three 30 win seasons, earning multiple MCCAC conference titles, and overseeing the development of many MCCAC All Conference, All Region XVI and NJCAA All American players.
Mark Spigarelli -- CLICK HERE to view speech
Mark Spigarelli is still building on a long and successful coaching career. Spigarelli just completed his 21st season, he started at Pembroke Hill where he served between 1994 – 2008. Currently at Blue Springs, he has served since the 1998 season.
A four-time MBCA Coach of the Year selection, his teams have advanced to the Show-Me Showdown ten times, five at Pembroke Hill and five at Blue Springs.
Making the post of his Show-Me Showdown appearances, Spigarelli has guided his teams to four championships and four second place finishes. A three-time selection as the Eddie Ryan Award, which is presented annually to the top coach in the greater Kansas City area. It is in the spirit of Ryan's hard work, success, integrity, sportsmanship and disregard for personal recognition that the award is presented.
With a career mark of 506-131, Spigarelli’s 79% winning percentage ranks among the elite in Missouri history. During that time he has guided numerous all-state players, 15 of those have advanced to play Division I basketball.
John Thompson – CLICK HERE to view speech
Thompson learned the game of basketball from a coaching legend, Cotton Fitzsimmons, as a member of the 1967 Moberly Junior College national championship team.
Thompson served as an assistant coach under Fitzsimmons at Kansas State where the Wildcats earned the 1970 Big 8 conference championship and later at the University of Nebraska.
Successful followed Thompson at the high school level where he spent 23 seasons. For thirteen years he coached boys at Knox County and later Macon. He finished his coaching career in Jefferson City where he led the Lady Jay program for 10 years. His teams built a 421-198 mark, he guided them to 11 district titles, 7 quarterfinal appearances, 2 Show-Me Showdown appearances, and 2 state championship appearances. Thompson was selected by the MBCA as the Richard Fairchild Coach of the Year in 1991.
Gary Filbert Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Gene Bess -- CLICK HERE to view speech
Gene Bess recently completed his 46th season at Three Rivers. His career record is 1208-352. He is the all-time winningest coach in Junior College Basketball. He has led the Raiders to two national championships in 1979 and 1992. He has twice been recognized as NJCAA National Coach of the Year, Region 16 Coach of the Year 21 times, and MCCAC Conference Coach of the Year 20 times. He is a member of the Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame, Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Missouri Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, and NJCAA Hall of Fame. The biography titled: “Gene Bess- College Basketball’s Winningest Coach” has been written about his outstanding career.
