MSSU announces 2022 hall of fame class
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Jun. 22—The Missouri Southern athletics department has announced its 2022 Hall of Fame Class that will be enshrined as part of Hall of Fame weekend prior to the football game on Oct. 22.
This year's class includes four individuals and one team.
Terry Joyce (football — 1975), Erin (Turner) Doll (softball — 1999-02), Britany (Hargis) Costello (softball — 1998-01) and Bill Williams (track and field coach — 1993-04), as well as the 1991 MSSU baseball team will be enshrined into the Hall of Fame.
The newest class will be honored at events throughout the weekend, including an official induction ceremony on Saturday morning and introduction to fans at halftime of the football game vs. Emporia State later that day.
Below are short biographies of each inductee.
TERRY JOYCE
Joyce played just one season for the Lions, but that one season was not only the best season ever by a punter at MSSU, but he is also the career leader in kick average.
Joyce was an All-American as both a punter and a tight end for the Lions in 1975. That year, Joyce led the nation in punting, averaging 43.4 yards per kick. He had 51 punts for 2,214 yards including a long of 72 yards.
Joyce went on to sign a free agent contract with the then-St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League where he made the team out of training camp and played the entire 1976 season and half of the 1977 campaign. Joyce went on to play for the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers.
After his NFL career, Joyce worked for the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company before later joining the Miller Brewing Company as a distributor and a salesman. He moved on to the Major Brands Company and became one of its top distributors and eventually was the General Manager, then Vice President, as well as part owner.
Joyce grew up in Northeast Missouri in Edina, and was a graduate of Knox County High School. He and his wife, Linda, had one son, Brandon, and a daughter Lindsay.
ERIN (TURNER) DOLL
(Turner) Doll was a four-year letter winner for renowned coach Pat Lipira and the Lions during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Turner holds the MSSU single-season records for games played (64) and stolen bases (47), while ranking second for at bats (213) and hits (82).
Turner holds the MSSU career record for runs scored (141), while ranking second in at bats (705) and hits (242), third in stolen bases (99), fourth in total bases (318) and assists (453), and ninth in walks (53) and batting average (.343). She ranks sixth in games played (211).
Turner was a four-time All-MIAA honoree, earning second team honors as a freshman and a senior, as well as honorable mention honors as a sophomore and first-team honors as a junior. During her four years in the Green and Gold, Turner helped the Lions to a 148-65 record, including a 52-12 mark in 2001 where the Lions won the MIAA and qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
A native of Harrisonville, Mo., Turner graduated in 2006 with a degree in general studies from MSSU. She has worked as a teacher in Virginia, Hawaii and Florida and currently resides with her husband and family in Illinois.
BRITANY (HARGIS) COSTELLO
(Hargis) Costello was a four-year letter winner for the Lions and ranks as one of the best pitchers to wear the Green and Gold. A four-time All-MIAA honoree, Hargis was a first-team selection as a freshman as she was named the MIAA Freshman of the Year en route to an All-Region selection that year as well.
Hargis went on to earn honorable mention All-MIAA as a sophomore and a junior, before earning first-team honors as a senior and being named the MIAA Pitcher of the Year. That season, Hargis went 18-4 in the circle with a 0.89 ERA, 10 saves, 167 strikeouts and held batters to a .187 average in 149 innings pitched.
Hargis has her name all over the record books in MSSU history. She has the MSSU single-season record for saves with ten in 2001, while also posting the second and fourth-best single-season strikeout totals in school history.
Hargis is the MSSU career-leader in strikeouts (482) and saves (15), while ranking second in strikeouts per seven innings (6.49), fourth in both appearances (105), complete games (58) and shutouts (25), while ranking fifth in starts (70). She helped the Lions to 150 wins over her four-year career, earning 54 wins over those years, ranking 4th in that category.
A native of Broken Arrow, Okla., Hargis graduated from Southern in 2013 with a degree in general business and has been serving most recently as a special education teacher and softball coach in the Coweta (Okla.) school district.
Hargis and her husband, Sean, have two daughters, Carson and Addie.
BILL WILLIAMS
Williams helped lay the foundation of the pole vault tradition at MSSU which has produced multiple National Champions and All-Americans for the Green and Gold.
Williams began as a volunteer assistant coach for the Lions in 1993. He started from scratch where the need was great, but the budget was small. Williams went to family and friends and the community at-large and sought donations for the program.
During his tenure, five vaulters achieved All-American status 11 times. Williams was honored by an invitation to speak at the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nevada in 2003.
The year after Williams retired, the Southern pole vaulters went on to finish 1-2-3-4-5 at the MIAA Outdoor Championships, and then Matt Campbell, Kyle Rutledge and Chris Turner went on to finish 1-2-3 at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships. Williams' grandson, Jacob Williams, was a four-time All-American in the pole vault for the Lions, earning national runner-up status in the 2008 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships.
Williams passed away in 2009, but the Williams' family legacy lives on in the form of the Bill and Willa Williams scholarship with the Missouri Southern Foundation.
1991 MSSU BASEBALL TEAM
This proved to be one of the best teams to don the Green and Gold.
The team finished 48-13 and were the MIAA Regular Season and Tournament Champions. The Lions went on to host the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament where the Lions went 3-0 and defeated Regis to earn the program's first-ever trip to the NCAA Division II World Series.
There, the Lions won their first two games and after a loss — defeated Longwood to advance to the National Championship game. Southern eventually fell to Jacksonville State, but the legacy of that program lives on.
Six players or coaches on that team are currently in the MSSU Athletics Hall of Fame as individuals including head coach Warren Turner and assistant coach Mike Hagedorn. Bryan Larson, Mark Baker, David Fisher and Chuck Pittman are also in the Hall.
That season, a total of 13 players earned All-MIAA honors including the MIAA Coach of the Year in Warren Turner, Player of the Year in Tim Casper and Pitcher of the Year in Tim Luther. Luther and Casper were joined on the first-team by Bryan Larson, David Fisher, and Tom Busch. Luther, Larson and Casper went on to earn first-team All-America honors, while Fisher was a third-team selection.
Members of the team litter the MSSU baseball record book with their accolades. Larson set the single-season record for RBIs (76) and doubles (28) that year, while Tim Casper set the record for runs scored with 80.
Fisher is the MSSU career leader in at bats (744), hits (257), doubles (62), assists (555) and RBI (191), while ranking second in games played (213).
Todd Casper is the career leader in saves (17), while Chuck Pittman is the career leader in wins (29).
With the addition of the 2022 class (there was not a class in 2020), the MSSU Athletics Hall of Fame now includes 135 members and eight teams.