Gohn, White, Foster, Kiehne enter Southeast Hall of Fame

For Mike Gohn, being inducted into the Southeast Missouri State Athletic Hall of Fame would have been special under any circumstances.

The fact it happened just down the road from where he grew up made Friday night's ceremony at the Show Me Center even sweeter.

Gohn, a Jackson native and former All-American defensive end for the Southeast football team, was one of four individuals inducted, along with Lisa Foster, Ed White and the late Ed Kiehne.

Also enshrined was the 1985-86 men's basketball team that finished second in the NCAA Division II national tournament.

That brings the number of individual members to 49 and the team list to 10 since the Hall of Fame was started in 2002.

"This is quite an honor, and very humbling," said Gohn, who played at Southeast from 1978 to 1981 and earned All-American honors in 1979, in addition to being a three-time all-conference selection. "To have grown up so close ... I'm fortunate to have so many of my family, friends, teammates here."

Gohn, who played football at Jackson High School under the late Paul Webber, said being picked for such a select group took him by surprise.

"To be one of only 49 individuals ... what an honor and a privilege to be associated with this great group of people," he said.

Gohn, who is director of athletics for the Parkway School District in St. Louis, credited his family for much of his success, as did the other individual inductees.

Foster played two seasons of both basketball and softball at Southeast from 1987 to 1989.

A native of Murphysboro, Ill., who transferred to Southeast from junior college, Foster was a first-team All-American shortstop in softball in 1989 and was an all-conference selection in both softball and basketball.

She led the 1989 softball team with a .362 batting average and paced the 1988-89 basketball squad in scoring with 17.5 points per game.

"I didn't expect this," Foster said. "When you play in a team sport, you don't individualize yourself. ... It's a great honor."

White competed in cross country and track from 1973 to 1977. He is the only Southeast cross country runner to earn All-American honors for three straight years, and he had a highest national finish of ninth.

White, who was born in Sikeston but grew up in Mascoutah, Ill., is retired after coaching track and cross country at Fox High School in Arnold, Mo., for over 30 years.

"It's a big honor. It's a neat way to end all I've done with running," White said.

White is part of the only husband-wife tandem in the Southeast Hall of Fame. His wife, the former Laura Byrne, was a member of the inaugural class of 2002 after she was a standout runner in the late 1980s.

"Now I can sit at the dinner table and be her equal," joked White.

Kiehne, a Gordonville native, played basketball at Southeast in the late 1910s and early 1920s.

Described as a scoring phenom, Kiehne scored 48 percent of his team's points during one season. He was Southeast's top scorer from 1920 through 1923.