Blue Springs’ Donohoe, Chiefs’ Carson, Royals’ Suppan join Missouri Sports Hall of Fame
It has been an eventful few months for Kelly Donohoe, to say the least.
In late August, the head football coach for Blue Springs High School received the life-changing news of a cancer diagnosis, and then dealt with treatment, which caused him to miss a playoff game against Rockhurst in early November 2018.
More recently, Donohoe received much more positive news.
The first phone call he received came from the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, which is headquartered in Springfield. Donohoe said he thought it was regarding payment for an ad the school had placed for one of its basketball coaches who had been inducted, but that wasn’t the case.
“‘This isn’t a call about payment,’” Donohoe said Jerald Andrews, president and executive director of the hall of fame, told him. “‘We are actually calling to tell you that you’ve been inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.’
“I was really surprised,” Donohoe said. “I guess you always think that that happens later in life, and I don’t see myself as that old, but I was taken aback — absolutely humbled by it.
“I think when I told my family members, my mom and dad were even more excited than I was.”
Donohoe, who describes his job at Blue Springs High as his “dream job,” goes into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2019. He is being honored for the success he has achieved on the sidelines, having turned around the program at Raytown South, as well as the success he has had at Blue Springs for the past 19 years.
Donohoe has a career record of 210-55 and has led Blue Springs’ Wildcats to seven state championship games, which includes four state titles (2001, 2003, 2012 and 2013). His teams finished 14-0 in both 2001 and 2013, while the 2003 team finished 13-0; his 2012 team went 13-1. The 2009, 2016 and 2017 teams finished as state runners-up, and his 2018 team advanced to the state semifinals.
“We consistently had kids that have bought into what we asked them to do and that’s worked really hard; that care about one another and are unselfish, and it’s led to a lot of success,” Donohoe said.
“I’ve been able to hire coaches who you would call ‘kid magnets.’ I always tell them, ‘I’m not overly concerned with how much X’s and O’s you know, I need guys who kids want to play for; we can always teach that.’ I think that’s been a key that kids know we care for them, and I think that’s important that we respect them and they respect us. We work really hard at it.”
But, maybe even better news than the Hall of Fame induction came on Jan. 24.
“I got really good news Thursday from my doctor,” Donohoe said. “He said the chemo did exactly what they had hoped. The scans that they did on my body show no visual signs of any cancer. Right now, it looks great.”
And, one of the bloodwork tests currently is showing him to be at a no-cancer level.
“I’m really still on Cloud 9 after the news on Thursday because, going into that meeting, I was really concerned — you’re always concerned with the ‘C’ word,” Donohoe said. “Right now, everything looks really good, so I’m very excited.”
Donohoe said he has been overwhelmed by the support since his diagnosis.
“You don’t realize the impact, you hope you’re making an impact, but you don’t realize it until you’re hit with something like that,” Donohoe said. “(The support) was uplifting and that really helped me through those nine weeks of chemo (started Nov. 7).
He said his doctor gave him the analogy of a hurricane hitting a community and wiping it out; it takes a while to rebuild.
“‘That’s exactly what this chemo did to your body,’” Donohoe recalled his doctor telling him. “‘Your body has been wiped out and it takes a few months.’
“It’s been a heck of a ride this fall, for sure, and this winter,” Donohoe said. “I prayed for a renewed spirit about what I do every day. That’s one of the things that’s a silver lining when you get hit with something like this. Move onward and upward and make this count down the road.”
Here’s a bit about some of the other 2019 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductees.
Carlos Carson
The former Chiefs wide receiver, who twice was a Pro Bowl selection, had his best season in 1983, when he caught 80 passes for 1,351 yards and seven TDs, all career-bests.
In 2017, Carson was inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame and is one of only three receivers to be included in the Chiefs’ Ring of Honor.
“I never thought that this would ever happen to me,” Carson said of the MSHOF induction call. “Being a low-round draft choice (fifth round in 1980), I just worked my way up the ranks and the hard work is finally paying off.
“Football is the ultimate team sport, and I wouldn’t be here today without some of those (Chiefs) teammates lending a helping hand with me. We’re all in a competition to try to play as much as we can, but at the end of the day, if you can help somebody up and achieve their dreams, it’s always rewarding for that player.”
Jeff Suppan
Suppan enjoyed playoff success with the St. Louis Cardinals, including two World Series trips (2004 and 2006) and being named the Most Valuable Player of the National League Championship Series in 2006.
But before that, Suppan cut his teeth with the Royals from 1999 to 2002, learning how to become a starter. He won 39 games, 10 in each of his first three seasons with the Royals. These days, Suppan works in player development for the Royals. He has spent the last three years in rookie ball in Idaho Falls.
“It was very exciting,” Suppan said of the call from the Missouri Hall of Fame. “I always loved playing in Missouri. And, I always told my wife that if we were to live outside of (Los Angeles), I would live here — and, I really mean that.
“I was really excited when Jerald called me, but I didn’t know what to expect. It was a great honor considering I spent eight years of my career here.”
Chase Coffman
Coffman was a highly decorated at Raymore-Peculiar High and the University of Missouri. He was the most-prolific pass-catching tight end at Mizzou from 2005-08 and the Tigers’ career leader in catches (247) and TD catches (30).
He went on to an NFL career that included stints with the Cincinnati Bengals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans, Seattle Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts.
Coffman finished his time at MU with 2,659 receiving yards — third-most at Mizzou — and once held the NCAA record for tight ends with 247 career receptions. Coffman also earned consensus first-team All-American honors.
“I had just dropped my kids off at preschool,” Coffman said when he got the news of his MSHOF induction. “
At such a young age, sometimes I feel like I don’t realize how awesome and blessed some of the things I’ve been able to do are. This is an awesome honor, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
The rest of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019 includes:
- Ryan Howard, former baseball star for Missouri State and the Philadelphia Phillies
- Alan Cockrell, Joplin native, Tennessee quarterback and former big-leaguer
- Drury Outdoors, champion of conservation and outdoors media production
- Cris Barnthouse, former Chiefs head physician
- The Sandbothe family of Washington, Mo., which features seven siblings who attended college on athletic scholarships
- Troy Major, a nationally recognized shotgun sports champion
- Rod Smith, longtime sports director of KRCG-TV 13 in Jefferson City
- Mark Fisher, longtime basketball coach and sports administrator
- Joyce Mahoney, golf standout and women’s sports advocate
- Kip Janvrin, a co-head coach of the Central Missouri track team and Olympian
- Kirk Pedersen, co-head coach of the UCM track and head coach of the Mules’ cross country team
- Steve Hunter, longtime high school basketball coach at Ozark High
- Ray Wageman, record-setting triathlete from age 50 to age 83 who was inducted posthumously
- Berkeley/McCluer South Berkeley High track
- The West Plains High cross country programs
- Heart of America Beverage Company (the John Q. Hammons Founder’s Award)
- Bryan Magers (President’s Award)
This story was originally published January 27, 2019 at 8:30 PM.