SPRINGFIELD — The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame ushered in its Class of 2025 for the annual Baseball and Softball Luncheon at the new Wilson Logistics Arena, part of the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds, in Springfield on May 21.
Hall of Fame CEO Rob Marsh presided over the ceremony on Wednesday, which drew a crowd of 500, including honorees and their families. The Hall of Fame honored Erick Taylor of Price Cutter Supermarkets with the President’s Award, presented the Summit Award to Hall of Fame staffer Taylor Frederich and recognized the recipients of the Diamond Nine Awards, which included a Perryville High School alum.
The Diamond Nine awards recognize former All-State baseball and softball players from Missouri high schools, colleges and the pros, or those who made positive contributions to the game.
Among this year’s honorees was Perryville High School alum Matt Meyr, son of David and Rhonda Meyr. He graduated from Perryville High School in 1997, having played football, basketball and baseball.
As a baseball player, Meyr was a shortstop, an outfielder and a pitcher, earning first team all-state as an outfielder, all-district as an outfielder and all-conference as a pitcher and outfielder.
He then played two seasons at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, helping the team to the 1998 Juco World Series.
At Missouri Southern, Meyr was a two-year player who, in 2001, earned third-team NCAA Division II All-American honors, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Player of the Year award, the MIAA’s Ken B. Jones Award and was inducted into the Missouri Southern Hall of Fame in 2016.
He was second in the MIAA in batting average (.457) and led the team in average, runs (71), hits (85), doubles (22), home runs (7), RBI (73), slugging percentage (.720) and on-base percentage (.720). He was also All-Region.
The 2001 team advanced to the Division II Midwest Regional.
Since graduation in 2002, he has taught and coached at Galena High School in southeast Kansas for 20 seasons as an assistant coach, with the team earning eight trips to the state tournament, with a 2010 state title and two state runner-up finishes. He has also coached basketball for 17 years, with eight trips to the Final Four, and a 2021 state runner-up finish. He has been the head softball coach the past three seasons.
The other Diamond Nine honorees were Brent Bartlett of Lockwood High School and Missouri State; Kaitlyn Bowles of Boonville High School and Drury; Jereme Foster of Hillcrest High School and Wichita State; Jud Kindle of Sedalia Smith-Cotton High School, Crowder College and Missouri State; Brock Kissee of Sparta High School and College of the Ozarks; Shelby Romines Liska of Ozark High School and Missouri Southern; Jenna Marston of Principia School and the University of Missouri; and Joe Rohlfing of Lee’s Summit High School, Lee’s Summit West High School and Drury. This year’s inductees to the Hall of Fame were Jim Winn of Clever High School and the Pittsburgh Pirates; Lebanon High School baseball coach Dave Plassmeyer; Missouri State softball pitcher Nora Cagwin Whitcomb; umpire Nolan McCaulley; the Dixon High School Baseball teams of the 1976- 1978 era; the Foremost Dairy Women’s Softball program; Joplin Globe Sportswriters Wendell Redden, Anvil Welch, Jim Henry and Jim Fryar; and the Norwood High School 1991 State Championship softball team.
