In Memoriam...

Former Mexico High School track & field head coach Ron Whi aker passed away on May 12. He was 80.

Whi aker and the Mexico Track & Field 1974-79 Era were inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Columbia last November. The Mexico teams won state championships in 1975, 1976 and 1977.

A member of the Missouri Track & Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Whi aker was a four- me Missouri state track coach of the year, and an MSHSAA track & field and cross country official for 37 years. He served as head official for the 2021 SEC Cross Country championships.

Long me St. Louis Post-Dispatch journalist Rick Hummel died on May 20 in St. Louis. He was 77.

One of the most respected journalists in baseball, Hummel was so popular with his colleagues that they dubbed him “The Commish”.

A 1968 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Hummel began working at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1971. He covered 42 MLB All-Star games and 35 World Series.

Hummel was inducted into the writer’s wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY on July 29, 2007.

Missouri Sports Hall of Fame

3861 E. Stan Musial Drive Springfield, MO 65809

Former Pi sburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals great Dick Groat died on April 27 in Pi sburgh, Pa. He was 92.

A 2012 inductee into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Groat was named Na onal League Most Valuable Player in 1960 with the Pirates a er leading the NL with a .325 ba ng average. The Pirates defeated the Yankees in the World Series, winning on a memorable walk-off home run by Bill Mazeroski.

At the end of his baseball career, Groat ranked ninth in major league history in games at shortstop (1,877) and fourth in double plays (1,237), and was among the NL career leaders in putouts (10th, 3,505), assists (8th, 5,811) and total chances (9th, 9,690).

Also an excellent basketball player, he a ended Duke University, where he was a two- me All-American and was voted as the Helms Na onal Player of the Year in 1952 a er averaging 25.2 points per game. He played one season as a guard in the NBA.

In 2011 Groat was inducted into the Na onal College Baseball Hall of Fame, becoming the first man ever inducted into both the college basketball and college baseball halls of fame.

In November 1962, the Pirates traded Groat to the Cardinals.

Groat was deeply hurt by the trade, having hoped to become a coach and eventually manager a er re ring, and severed all contact with the team un l a 1990 reunion of the 1960 champions. He had another outstanding year in 1963, finishing fourth in the league with a .319 ba ng average – just seven points behind champion Tommy Davis — and collec ng 201 hits. He was the runner-up in the MVP vo ng, behind Sandy Koufax.