Central Hall of Fame inductees

Bill Atchley

1949-51AN ATHLETE WHO COULD PLAY IT ALL, 'ATCH' EARNED EIGHT LETTERS IN FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL AND BASEBALL WHILE AT CENTRAL.

A THREE-YEAR STARTER IN FOOTBALL UNDER COACH LOU MUEGGE, ATCHLEY PLAYED QUARTERBACK, FULLBACK AND LINEBACKER. HE WAS A KEY MEMBER OF THE BASKETBALL TEAM, PLAYING FORWARD, AND SERVED AS A TIGER PITCHER AND SHORTSTOP IN BASEBALL.

HE WAS THE STARTING PITCHER IN THE 1951 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP BASEBALL GAME, WHICH THE TIGERS LOST 1-0 TO ST. LOUIS CENTRAL. HE SERVED AS STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT HIS SENIOR YEAR AT CENTRAL. IT WAS A HARBINGER OF THINGS TO COME AS HE LATER SERVED AS PRESIDENT OF CLEMSON, UNIVERSITY OF PACIFIC AND INTERIM PRESIDENT OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY (1995).

Thomas C. Brennecke

1951-54BRENNECKE EXCELLED AT HALFBACK AFTER A SWITCH FROM QUARTERBACK HIS JUNIOR SEASON. AFTER BEING SELECTED HONORABLE MENTION ALL-STATE AS A JUNIOR, HE HELPED CENTRAL TO A THREE-WAY TIE FOR THE BIG EIGHT CONFERENCE TITLE AS A SENIOR. A BIG-PLAY TYPE, BRENNECKE SCORED 13 TOUCHDOWNS HIS FINAL SEASON AND RUSHED FOR 1,480 YARDS. A DANGEROUS SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER, HE SCORED FOUR TOUCHDOWNS OFF KICKOFFS AND PUNTS. HE WAS NAMED TO THE CONFERENCE ALL-STAR TEAM HIS SENIOR YEAR AND AGAIN RECEIVED HONORABLE MENTION ALL-STATE.

HE ACCEPTED A FOOTBALL SCHOLARSHIP TO SOUTHEAST.

Cory Crosnoe

1983-87A FOUR-YEAR STANDOUT BASEBALL PLAYER, CROSNOE EARNED 10 VARSITY LETTERS AS HE ALSO EXCELLED IN FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL. HE WAS AWARDED THE BEST HITTER AWARD HIS JUNIOR AND SENIOR YEARS, BATTING .500 HIS FINAL YEAR.

THE TIGERS FLOURISHED IN CROSNOE'S LATTER TWO YEARS, FINISHING THIRD IN THE 4A STATE TOURNAMENT HIS JUNIOR YEAR AND GOING 21-1 THE FOLLOWING SEASON. A THREE-YEAR LETTERMAN IN FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL, CROSNOE WAS THE LOU MUEGGE RECIPIENT IN 1987.

AFTER PLAYING BASEBALL AT SOUTHEAST FOR TWO YEARS, CROSNOE TRANSFERRED TO ORAL ROBERTS WHERE HE HAD A SCHOOL-RECORD 32-GAME HITTING STREAK. HE PLAYED IN THE ATLANTA BRAVES ORGANIZATION FOR TWO YEARS AND RETURNED TO CENTRAL AS A MATH TEACHER AND COACH. HE WAS ON THE TIGER BASEBALL COACHING STAFF IN 1994 WHEN CENTRAL WON THE 4A STATE TITLE. HE PRESENTLY SERVES AS AN ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL AT CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL.

Terry Kitchen

1966-70A DECORATED THREE-SPORT LETTERMAN, KITCHEN HAS LITERALLY BEEN A CENTRAL FIGURE TO TIGER SPORTS OVER THE YEARS.

A 1970 GRADUATE OF CENTRAL, KITCHEN LETTERED THREE YEARS IN BOTH BASEBALL AND FOOTBALL AND TWO IN BASKETBALL. HE WAS SELECTED THE OUTSTANDING LINEMAN OF THE YEAR IN THE NORTHERN DIVISION OF THE SEMO CONFERENCE HIS SENIOR YEAR, HELPING THE TIGERS TO THE DIVISION TITLE AND 9-0 REGULAR-SEASON RECORD. HE WAS ALSO SELECTED TO THE CLASS 4A ALL-STATE TEAM. HE RECEIVED ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS HIS SENIOR YEAR IN BASKETBALL AND BASEBALL, BEING NAMED ALL-STATE HONORABLE MENTION IN THE LATTER AND WINNING CENTRAL'S LOU MUEGGE AWARD.

AFTER ATTENDING SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY ON A BASEBALL SCHOLARSHIP, KITCHEN RETURNED TO CENTRAL IN 1978 AS A PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER AND COACH. IN BASEBALL, HE LED THE TIGERS TO A 216-76 RECORD TO BECOME THE LEADER ON THE SCHOOL'S ALL-TIME WIN LIST. HE BECAME CENTRAL'S ATHLETIC DIRECTOR IN 1991, A POSITION HE HOLDS TODAY.

Steve Mosley

1959-62MOSLEY COMPILED A SPARKLING 22-2 VARSITY RECORD, INCLUDING A 9-0 RECORD AND SINGLE-SEASON RECORD 0.37 E.R.A. AS A SENIOR FOR THE STATE-CHAMPION TIGERS IN 1962.

MOSLEY HAD A SCHOOL-RECORD 0.50 CAREER E.R.A. AND THREW FOUR NO-HITTERS AND RECORDED 10 SHUTOUTS. HE HOLDS THE SCHOOL RECORD FOR STRIKEOUTS IN A SEVEN-INNING GAME WITH 18. HE AVERAGED OVER 1.5 STRIKEOUTS PER INNING FOR HIS CAREER.

HE WAS ALSO AN ALL-CONFERENCE AND ALL-DISTRICT GUARD HIS SENIOR YEAR WHEN CENTRAL WENT 23-2 AND WON THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP.

1962 state baseball championsCENTRAL COMPLETED A PERFECT 21-0 SEASON IN 1962 BY DEFEATING ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY HIGH 4-2 IN THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME PLAYED AT OLD BUSCH STADIUM IN ST. LOUIS.

LED BY AN UNBEATEN PITCHING STAFF THAT INCLUDED THE LIKES OF STEVE MOSLEY (9-0), ALAN KESTERSON (4-0) AND KERMIT MEYSTEDT (4-0), THE TIGERS, UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF COACH LEON BRINKOPF, WON THEIR FIRST BASEBALL TITLE SINCE 1954. KESTERSON (.439), FLOYD KING (.420) AND GARY DAVIE (.424) ALL HIT OVER .400 FOR THE TIGERS. OTHER TEAM MEMBERS INCLUDED DAVID SCHEETER, JIM REID, GREG BRUNE, DON FORD, MARK WILLIAMSON, DOUG HOLCOMB, CARL EYRE, MARLIN HARRISON, JOHN FERRIS, JOEL BEAUDEAN, JERRY SUEDEKUM, GREG NEIHART, JOHN WATKINS AND BOB NATIONS.