KANSAS CITY, Mo. - MoWest Hall of Fame head coach and pioneer Rhesa Sumrell and longtime Griffon Athletics benefactor Mel Rogers will soon be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Rogers, Sumrell and the rest of the Hall of Fame Class, will be part of the enshrinement ceremony in Kansas City presented by Great Southern Bank. It's set for 5:30 PM on Sunday, November 23 at the InterContinental Kansas City on the Plaza.

Sumrell, already a member of six other Halls of Fame including MoWest (1990), the NAIA and the MIAA (2014), coached volleyball, softball and women's basketball for the Griffons.

She served as head volleyball coach at MoWest from 1975-1986, leading the program for its first 12 seasons. During her tenure, she compiled a 494–167 record and guided the Griffons to six straight appearances in the NAIA National Tournament and CSIC championships in 1979, 1982, 1983 and 1985. The '79, 83 and 85 teams are also in the MoWest Athletics Hall of Fame.

Sumrell was also head softball coach at MoWest from 1979-86, compiling a 171-120 record overall. Her crowning achievement came in 1982, when she led MoWest to the NAIA national championship and was honored as NAIA Coach of the Year.

Sumrell was also the first head coach of Griffon basketball, leading the upstart program from 1975-78, going 51-25 in that time. She led the Griffs to a state championship in 1978, leading MoWest to a state championship win over Tarkio in the MAIAW tournament.

Rogers, owner of Rogers Pharmacy since its beginnings in 1967, has been a proud benefactor of Griffon Athletics for many years. Having been in St. Joseph since 1994, Rogers Pharmacy is proud to be the official pharmacy of MoWest athletics.

Thanks to a major gift from Rogers Pharmacy back in 2019, the Hall of Fame Room located inside Spratt Stadium showcases and preserves the stories and achievements of the more than 130 individual members and 21 teams enshrined. Rogers Pharmacy has the lifetime naming rights for the Hall of Fame room.

Other elements of the Rogers Pharmacy partnership include continued title sponsorship of Hall of Fame Weekend, signage on the Spratt Stadium scoreboard, company logo on Tom Smith Court and additional branding in the Looney Indoor Sports Complex.