Dec. 19, 2014

Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame

SPRINGFIELD -- Standout student-athletes and one coach from six different sports whose competitive careers were dotted with postseason honors and NCAA action comprise a six-member induction class for 2015 into the Missouri State University Athletics Hall of Fame. The group will take the stage as the shrine's 41st annual induction unfolds on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015.

The 2015 MSU Hall of Fame induction class includes track and field athlete Trudi Garrett (1997-2000); golfer Rolly Hurst (1989-93; golf coach 2000-01); assistant basketball coach Lynnette Robinson (1987-2002); softball player Diedre Shores (1995-98); track and cross country runner John Tideman (TEE-duh-mun) (1974-78); and footballer Bill Walter (1988-91).

The new inductees will be enshrined at a ceremony Feb.15, in a 10 a.m. induction brunch in Plaster Student Union Ballroom. Inductees will also be recognized in halftime ceremonies of the two Missouri State basketball games in JQH Arena later in the day. The Bears will host Northern Iowa Sunday at either 1 p.m. or 3 p.m., and the Lady Bears will meet Chicago Loyola Sunday at 7:05 p.m.

The 2015 MSU Athletics Hall of Fame induction brunch is open to the public and reservations may be made through Monday, Feb. 9, by calling Missouri State Athletics Development (417) 836-4143. Tickets are $25 per person.

The six new inductees will bring the total membership in the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame to 359. The original Hall of Fame for men's sports was established in 1975 by Director of Athletics Aldo Sebben with 179 people enshrined in the first 22 induction classes. Director of Women's Athletics Dr. Mary Jo Wynn established in 1981 a shrine to honor participants in women's sports, and the 18 subsequent induction classes into that Hall of Fame saw 76 people enshrined. The two previous groups were combined into a single shrine in 1999 and this year's induction will be the 17th for the combined hall.

The new induction class into the shrine joins all previous honorees in the seventh year of permanent public recognition of the Athletics Hall of Fame. An interactive video listing of the entire membership of the Hall of Fame is a part of the Legacy of Competition which opened in 2008 in the east entry lobby of JQH Arena. Photos and capsules of all Hall of Fame members are now on permanent display and the 2015 shrine class will be added to the display for Hall of Fame weekend.

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Class of 2015 Sketches

• Trudi Garrett, St. Michael, Barbados, track & field, 1997-2000; Garrett was a four-time winner of all-Missouri Valley Conference track honors as a sprinter, both indoors and outdoors, and she also competed in the long jump for the Bears of coach Ron Boyce. Garrett wound up with a total of six MVC event championships and qualified for the NCAA Division I meet in 1997 in the 400-meter relay and the NCAA 1,600-meter relay team as a junior. She ran on an MVC record-setting 1,600-meter relay team and MSU record 400-meter relay team as a freshman and also a school record 800-meter relay team as a sophomore. MSU rewrote the MVC 1,600 record her junior season. She won the MVC indoor long jump and outdoor 200-meter dash and long jump titles as a senior. She was a three-time Valley academic all-conference pick and received academic all-district selection her senior year. She received both her undergraduate and master's degrees from Missouri State, currently lives in Nixa, Mo., and works in marketing for Wil Fischer Companies.

• Rolly Hurst, Springfield, Mo., golf, 1989-93, golf coach, 2000-01; A native of Springfield and Hillcrest High School graduate, Hurst had a host of golf honors before his days at Missouri State. For the Bears, Hurst had a one-stroke victory for the championship of the Mid-Continent Conference as MSU won the league crown its final season in that circuit. Hurst was a two-time Missouri Valley Conference all-league selection who was MVC medalist by one stroke over John Loomis of Wichita State, and Hurst led the Bears to a conference title as a senior in 1993 for coach Bruce Hollowell as MSU bested runner-up Wichita State by 18 strokes. The Bears were second and third in the league the two previous years and Hurst was fourth in MVC medal competition as a junior. He was a three-time NCAA regional qualifier with six tourney individual titles and 21 top-five tourney finishes. He led the Bears in stroke average all four seasons at MSU. He came back to coach the Missouri State men's golf team to second and third place conference finishes in the 2000 and 2001 seasons. Hurst resides in Indianapolis and works as a missionary, serving in the Asia-Pacific region.

• Lynnette Robinson, Annawan, Ill., asst. basketball coach, 1987-2002; Robinson was the top assistant to coach Cheryl Burnett for 15 seasons, during which Lady Bears won 316 games, won or tied for eight regular season league titles, five league tourney titles and made 10 NCAA tournament appearances with trips to the NCAA Final Four in 1992 and 2001. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Robinson came to Missouri State when Burnett took over as head coach and together they guided the Lady Bears to positions of national prominence in both prestige and attendance. The 1992 Final Four club was in only Burnett and Robinson's fifth season with the program as MSU rolled past Kansas, Iowa, Ole Miss and UCLA before losing in the national semifinals to Western Kentucky in a 31-3 season. MSU made multiple round NCAA trips six times before the high-powered 2000-01 team scored NCAA wins over Toledo, Rutgers, Duke and Washington and lost to Purdue in the Final Four to close 29-6. Robinson was an assistant coach four seasons at Michigan and three at Missouri and is now employed by Target, Inc., in Columbia, Mo.

• Diedre Shores, Hannibal, Mo., softball, 1995-98; Shores was a four-year starting infielder for coach Holly Hesse's softball Bears. She was a two-time all-MVC first team selection, three-time MVC all-tournament selection, and played on three NCAA tournament teams as the Bears claimed conference tourney titles and advanced to regional tournament play each of her last three years. She saw action at first base, second base and third base and had some pitching assignments along the way as well. She was among MVC batting leaders as she hit .365 as a sophomore and .347 her senior season, and led the Bears in homers and runs batted in as a junior. She finished her playing days as the Bears' career leader in doubles (43), total bases (283), slugging percentage (.473), and walks (78). She finished second in career runs (116) and at-bats (598), was third in batting (.338), runs batted in (96) and assists (319), and fifth in stolen bases (39). Shores lives in Tampa, Fla., and owns and operates a massage therapy business.

• John Tideman, Elmhurst, Ill,. cross country-track, 1973-78; Tideman was one of the top performers on four straight Bears' top-five NCAA Division II cross country teams for coach Chuck Hunsaker, including the Bears' NCAA championship squad in 1974 when the meet was in Springfield at what was then Grandview Golf Course, and the national runner-up teams in 1973 and 1976, as Missouri State also dominated the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association distance running competition in that era. The Bears won the MIAA cross country title every year Tideman was on the squad and finished fourth in the NCAA meet in 1975 in addition to their championship and national runner-up squads. Tideman set the school 3,000-meter steeplechase record and ran on the Bears' record-setting four mile relay team in 1975. He earned NCAA Division II All-America selection in the steeplechase as a senior in 1978 after having been ranked first in nation in that event earlier in his career. Tideman lives in Springfield and owns and operates a janitorial service company.

• Bill Walter, Oklahoma City, Okla., football, 1988-91; Walter was a four-year starter and letterman at defensive tackle for the grid Bears of coach Jesse Branch, earning all-conference second team selection as a sophomore and all-league first team honors as a junior and senior. A native of Oklahoma City, Walter was one of the leading tacklers on the team all four years, and he was a key performer on the Bears league champ and NCAA FCS playoff teams in 1989 and 1990 as the Bears won the 1989 conference crown and advanced to the second round of the playoffs in a 10-3 season and then shared the league title on their way to the playoffs in a 9-3 campaign in 1990. Walter was a consensus All-America, gaining first team honors in 1990 and 1991 from Football Gazette, and in 1991 from The Sports Network, Walter Camp Football Foundation and American Football Coaches Association. He was a Bears' co-captain and Missouri State Coors Player of the Year in 1991 and was on the Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Decade team in 1994 Walter lives in Oklahoma City and works as a database supervisor for Devon Energy Corporation.