MBCA executive director Denny Hunt was among an outstanding group of inductees to enter the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame this past December 14 at the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center in Springfield. Hunt is now in his 47th season as a basketball coach, with 40 at the high school level. A 1969 graduate of Summersville High School and 1974 graduate of Missouri State University, he has been a head coach of boys teams at Fair Play, Hartville, Republic, Buffalo, Central, Springfield Catholic and Crane. In all, he has been part of five Final Four boys teams – 1987 Hartville (Class 2 state runner-up), Kickapoo’s 2003 and 2006 Class 5 state champions and its 2005 state third-place team, and 2019 Springfield Catholic (Class 3 state runner-up). At Hartville, Hunt’s teams were 153-84 over 10 seasons. He also was an assistant coach at NCAA Division II’s Drury and Southwest Baptist universities for a combined seven seasons. Since 2011, he has been the Executive Director of the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association, earning its Gary Filbert Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and induction in 2015. Additionally, he directs the Norm Stewart Classic, and in 2021 was honored by the National High School Basketball Coaches Association with the Court of Honors
