SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The long-time radio voice of Missouri State University athletics, Art Hains, has announced that this will be his final year behind the microphone for the Bears.
Starting his 44th season as Missouri State’s primary radio announcer, Hains plans to work home games for football, men’s basketball and baseball during the 2024-25 season before closing out his illustrious career on Sept. 13, 2025 when the Bears host SMU at Robert W. Plaster Stadium.
Hains, who is a 1977 graduate of SMU, says ending his career in the radio booth for Missouri State’s first-ever home game as an FBS program is an opportunity he wouldn’t miss for the world.
“My first college broadcast was of an SMU basketball game in 1976,” Hains recalled. “So my last will be an encore game when SMU comes here next year to play the school I have loved since 1977.”
Soon after finishing his degree at SMU, Hains came to Springfield to work as sports director for radio station KGBX. He also took over the assignment of radio broadcasts for Missouri State football and men’s basketball that same year and added MSU baseball down the road. He left Springfield in 1981 for a job with Dallas station KRLD but returned to MSU in 1985, where he has been the school’s sports voice ever since, announcing more than 3,000 Bears events.
Since Sept. 17, 2022, Hains has been battling the effects of West Nile Virus which has caused him paralysis, respiratory challenges and at times long odds for survival over the past two years. He has defied those odds and many challenges along the way. He returned as the pregame and postgame host for the Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network in August of 2023 before announcing four home football broadcasts for the Bears last fall in his long-awaited return at MSU.
Last winter, his commitment to resume home men’s basketball broadcast duties was finally realized, leading to a city-wide celebration of Art Hains Day at Great Southern Bank Arena on Dec. 9, 2023.
However, “The Voice” acknowledges the toll the past two years have taken on him ultimately has led to the announcement of this year’s farewell tour.
“As Ricky Ricardo once famously said ‘The time has come.’ And so it is for my time as Voice of the Bears, a title I have cherished for the last 44 years,” Hains said. “Unfortunately, due to my physical limitations, it’s become more difficult to prepare for and describe the games the way I once did. The time comes for everyone, and this being our last year in the MVC, I’ll just go out with The Valley.”
Hains has hosted sports talk shows on a variety of local radio stations during his years in the Springfield community. He was inducted into the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2003, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2017, and the Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022 before receiving the John Sanders Spirit of The Valley Award in 2023. He also has been the studio host for Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network for the past 15 years.
Hains’ broadcasting career has included hundreds of memorable Missouri State moments, including all four FCS football playoff appearances, 10 NIT men’s basketball appearances, six men’s basketball NCAA Tournament trips and 12 NCAA Baseball Tournament appearances — with three Super Regionals, a Division II World Series and the 2003 NCAA College World Series in Omaha.
“I would like to thank all the great people with whom I’ve worked at the university, but most of all the great Bears fans who have been amazing with their support of me and my family,” Hains said proudly. “I have been blessed to still be around for these last two years and blessed to still be on the air. Looking ahead, I’ll still be around Missouri State games, cheering from the stands and looking forward to a bright future for the Bears!”
In addition to his plans to continue frequenting campus events, the native of Marshall, Missouri explained that spending time with his wife, Lisa, his children Chris and Kathleen, and two grandchildren will also become top priorities in his life after broadcasting.
