Joplin, Mo. - Two individuals, two state championship teams, and a quartet of wordsmiths comprise the Class of 2026 for the Joplin Area Sports Hall of Fame.
The inductees are former Webb City softball player Nicole Hudson, former Memorial coach Forrest Reed, the 1978 Memorial track and field team, the 1984 Parkwood baseball team, former Joplin Globe sports editor Wendell Redden, and writers Jim Fryar, Anvil Welch, and Jim Henry.
A banquet and induction ceremony will be held Oct. 8 at the Roxy Event Center in Joplin. Tickets are $55 apiece or $100 for a couple. They can be purchased by emailing brittnie@joplinsports.org or calling the Sports Authority at (417) 625-1006.
Hudson, a 2009 Webb City graduate, was a softball starter for four years and helped the Cardinals to the 2007 state title. She then started four years for the Missouri Tigers, helping the Tigers to two World Series appearances, and played for Team USA in the summer of 2013.
Reed was an assistant coach on Memorial's 1976 state championship football team and the head coach on the Eagles' 1978 track and field state championship team. He taught mathematics and computer applications from 1968 to 1985, and after retiring from education, he opened his own business, Computerland, before going to work for Eagle-Picher.
Memorial's 1978 track and field team qualified only six athletes for state, but four of them combined to score all 48 points. The Eagles and Herculaneum were tied for the team lead with one event left, and Memorial won the mile relay to secure the championship trophy.
Parkwood's baseball team, coached by Dan Garringer, finished 23-2, capped by a 7-3 victory over Mehlville in the state championship game. The Bears beat Hillcrest 3-2, St. Charles 6-2, and Independence Truman 6-4 to reach the title game.
The Wendell Redden Era at The Globe spanned 70 years from 1951 through 2021.
Redden, Fryar, Welch, and Henry combined to work 157 years at The Globe and approximately 185 years total. They kept track of approximately 70 high schools in Southwest Missouri, Southeast Kansas, and Northeast Oklahoma.