Local individuals recognized at Hall of Fame ceremony
By Jacob Meikel
The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame introduced a new class on Sunday at Union State in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Class of 2024 featured some of the most recognizable individuals and teams who have gone on to achieve great feats in sports in or after their time in the Show-Me State.
The headliner for the class was professional golfer Tom Watson. Also in the class included former Kansas City Royal and World Series champion Eric Hosmer, as well as former WNBA star and champion Betty Lennox.
In the St. Joseph area, the most recognizable faces were former Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball head coach Ben McCollum, the 1979 Plattsburg High School Football state championship members and former Bishop LeBlond baseball head coach Greg Kastner, who was awarded as a Diamond 9 honoree for his contributions to the sport of baseball as a coach.
McCollum, who recently was named the next men’s basketball head coach at Drake University, enters the Hall of Fame with many years of coaching under his belt and many years of coaching remaining in the future. His four national championships in Division II as the lead man in Maryville helped pave the way for him to be enshrined on Sunday, and was an honor he doesn’t take for granted.
“It’s not even so much the accomplishments as it is just the relationships that you have with all the different players, hopefully made them better husbands, better fathers and better citizens because of basketball,” McCollum said.
Kastner doesn’t enter the Hall of Fame on Sunday as a Class of 2024 inductee, but was recognized with a Diamond 9 Award. Kastner holds several records as a baseball player at Missouri Western. His tenure of 40 years as a coach and the success that came with it, he feels, goes back to the ones who make the plays on the field.
“If I didn’t have the players who bought into the system, they’re the biggest part of this, I’m just a result,” Kastner said.
Kastner still stays around the game of baseball even with his coaching career over. He public address announces at the high school level and continues to PA for the St. Joseph Mustangs in the summertime.
