Eleven iconic figures in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association history along with six legendary national championship teams have been elected to the MIAA Hall of Fame Class of 2011, the conference office announced Monday (March 28). The Class of 2011 will be officially inducted into the hall at the annual MIAA Awards Dinner, which will begin at 7 p.m. CT, June 9 at the Downtown Marriott in Kansas City, Mo.
Central Missouri will be represented by four inductees, Missouri Southern and Truman will have two members apiece, Northwest Missouri and Pittsburg State will both have one inductee, and Ron Zetcher, longtime MIAA basketball supervisor of officials, will be recognized in the Class of 2011.
Carla Eades, Jorja Hoehn, Lynn Nance and Ron Nunnelly will be inducted for their accomplishments at the University of Central Missouri.
Eades, a Central Missouri women’s basketball player from 1980-84, is the second leading scorer in school history at UCM. She is the only player in school history to record All-America honors three times. She earned NCAA Division II National Player of the Year honors in 1984, leading the Jennies to the National Championship.
Hoehn was the head coach of women’s basketball at UCM from 1980-85. Under the supervision of Hoehn, the Jennies amassed a 118-34 record, claiming the NCAA Division II National Championship in 1984. She led the Jennies to the Final Four in three consecutive seasons, the only coach in school history to do so.
Nance, the UCM men’s basketball coach from 1980-85, led the Mules to the 1984 National Championship and posted a 114-35 overall record (.765) in five years. He won 20 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of his five seasons, earning National Coach of the Year with a 29-3 mark during his fourth season.
Nunnelly was a Central Missouri men’s basketball standout from 1981-85. He is the Mules’ second-leading career scorer with 2,468 points, ranking third in MIAA history. Nunnelly led the Mules to the 1984 national championship, scoring 38 points in the title game to earn the game’s Outstanding Player Award.
Pat Lipira and Rod Smith will be inducted into the MIAA Hall of Fame for their careers at Missouri Southern State University.
Lipira coached the MSSU softball team from 1982-2000 and volleyball team from 1981-1987. She has the most total wins across all sports in MSSU history. In 12 seasons of MIAA softball play, she guided the Lions to six regional appearances, two regional championships, four MIAA titles and an NCAA Championship in 1992.
Smith was a football standout at MSSU from 1989-93. He set MIAA records in career receiving yards (3,122) and touchdowns (35). Smith helped the Lions to the MIAA title and an NCAA postseason appearance in 1993, earning first-team All-America honors by the Associated Press, Kodak, Football Gazette and NCAA Division II SIDs.
Ray Armstead and William “Bill” Cable will enter the MIAA Hall of Fame for their achievements at Truman State University.
Armstead, a men’s track & field star for TSU from 1981-84, earned All-America honors three times. He was a three-time MIAA indoor champion in the 400 and held the conference record with a time of 48.03. He won the MIAA outdoor title three times in the 400, setting a conference record of 46.59.
Cable was at Truman from 1956-95, organizing the first sports information office on campus and in 1972, he was named the first full-time Sports Information Director at TSU. He was instrumental in maintaining and preserving many conference records and archives prior to the establishment of the conference sports information office.
Mel Tjeerdsma will be honored for his tenure at Northwest Missouri State University.
Tjeerdsma, the head football coach at NWMSU from 1994-2010, went 183-43 with three national championships and 12 MIAA titles in his 17 seasons at Northwest Missouri. His Bearcat teams recorded a MIAA-record 46-game win streak in league play, a run that began in 2005 and is still going as of the end of the 2010 campaign.
Brian Moorman will represent Pittsburg State University in the Hall of Fame Class of 2011.
Moorman was a football and track & field standout at PSU from 1995-99. He was the national champion in the 400-meter hurdles in 1997, 1998 and 1999was a first-team All-America punter in 1997. He was an eight-time individual conference champion in track & field and led the MIAA in punting all four seasons (1995-98).
Ron Zetcher will be recognized for his contributions as the MIAA basketball supervisor of officials. Zetcher worked 23 years (through the 2010-11 season) with the responsibility for the selection, evaluation, training and assignment of MIAA men’s basketball officials, and spent 22 of those years as the supervisor for both men’s and women’s basketball officials. He worked as a basketball official from 1968-2005.
In addition to the 11 individuals being inducted, the following national championship teams will be also be inducted into the hall of fame: Southeast Missouri State 1963 men’s golf, Southeast Missouri State 1974 men’s cross country, Central Missouri 1984 men’s basketball, Central Missouri 1984 women’s basketball, Southeast Missouri State 1984 men’s cross country and Southeast Missouri State 1985 men’s indoor track & field.
