The Northwest R-1 School District will induct nine more people to its Hall of Fame, including a longtime Rockwood School District football coach, an airline pilot, a NASA physicist, a U.S. Navy commander, talented athletes and dedicated community servants and educators.
They will be inducted during the district’s annual Blue and White Night, to be held Saturday, March 30, at Andre’s West, 211 S. Old Hwy. 141 in Fenton.
The public is invited to attend the banquet, sponsored by the Northwest Alumni Association. Doors open for appetizers and drinks at 6 p.m., and the dinner and awards begin at 6:45 p.m. The cost is $35 per person. The deadline for reservations is March 21.
The inductees represent three categories of honor – Athletic Hall of Fame, Distinguished Alumni and Distinguished Educator.
Athletic Hall of Fame
■ Michael Alan Bellers, 53, of Cedar Hill, is a 1984 Northwest High graduate and a retired Rockwood Summit High School football coach. He retired after 30 years with the Rockwood district and now is a USA Football master trainer, certifying youth and high school football coaches.
When he retired from Rockwood in 2015, he had 104 victories and 12 district championships. He was instrumental in establishing the Junior Falcons and Park-Rock youth football leagues and founded youth flag football at Summit. He was inducted into the Metro St. Louis Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2017.
Bellers played football, basketball and baseball all four years at NHS, and he played football at Northeast Missouri State (now Truman State). He and his wife, Kelly, have two daughters.
■ Marcy (Burlison) Gartner, 46, of Hillsboro, a 1990 NHS graduate, excelled in basketball and softball during high school. She pitched multiple no-hitters at NHS, and at 14, she pitched the Lions to their only state championship. She made two more trips to the state tournament where the team won third and fourth place.
In basketball, Gartner made the varsity team as a freshman and was one of the top scorers. She earned a full athletic scholarship to Jefferson College, where she continued her success and set a record there, scoring 43 points in a double overtime game against Mineral Area College.
She and her husband, Randy, have two children and two grandsons.
■ Tim Miller, 51, of House Springs is a 1985 NHS graduate who wrestled for four years on the school’s varsity team and served as the team captain. Miller was a district champion, conference champion and two-time Missouri all-state wrestler who was only the second undefeated state champion in NHS history. He also was part of the only state champion Northwest wrestling team that set records for most points scored, most state placers on one team and largest margin of victory.
He later wrestled at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. For the past 30 years, he has worked as a pilot for Southwest Airlines. He and his wife, Sandy, have two grown children and one grandson.
Distinguished Alumni
■ Frank Robert Szofran, 74, a 1962 NHS graduate and co-valedictorian of his class, retired in 2010 after 28 years as a physicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. In all, he worked for 36 years as a scientist in industrial and government labs, and he holds three U.S. patents and has 65 peer-reviewed publications in physics and materials science.
At NHS, he won district and state level awards as an oboe soloist. He was in the National Honor Society and was chapter president his senior year. He completed his undergraduate work at Washington University and received a doctorate in physics from Brown University.
He and his wife, Janet, live in Seattle, and have two grown children and three grandchildren.
■ Mark Suycott, 61, is a 1975 NHS graduate who retired from the U.S. Navy after achieving the rank of Commander, U.S. Seventh Fleet Staff. That staff later became U.S. Naval Forces Central Command for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Suycott has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Missouri and completed Naval Flight Officers training first in his class. He continued his education in aeronautics and served as the structural engineering lead for the F-14 at Naval Air Systems Command. He completed his Navy career as part of the faculty for Defense Systems Management College.
Suycott grew up at the Poco Loco western town in High Ridge. He was a member of the Boy Scouts and achieved the rank of Eagle. He and his wife, Lisa, reside in San Diego.
■ Danny Tuggle, 71, of Eureka, a 1965 Northwest graduate, worked 30 years for General Motors and is a longtime community leader. He is president of the Northwest Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce; a board member and past president of the High Ridge Rotary Club; and one of the founders of the Highway 30 Foundation. In those organizations, he led various events, like the Kelly-Miller Circus, the Harlem Wizards fundraisers and the Community Thanksgiving Dinner. He also helped raise funds for the skate park at the Northwest Jefferson County Sports Complex. He and his father, Everett Tuggle, established the House Springs Golf Course, which hosted the Northwest High boys golf teams and the Junior Golf Program in Jefferson County.
He and his wife, Retta, have three grown children.
Distinguished Educator
■ Kay Blount, 72, of Wildwood, joined the staff at NHS as a school counselor in 1982 and held that position for 20 years before becoming an assistant principal. She held that job for 11 years, retiring in 2013. She received an Apple Award and certificate of appreciation from the Board of Education for her work with the Missouri Options program. She is credited with 418 graduates during the five years she supervised the program. Blount has three daughters and six grandchildren.
■ Jim Cashion, 77, of Poplar Bluff, spent 48 years as an educator. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Southeast Missouri State University and began his career as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in 1964. He was hired as a teacher at NHS in 1965 and taught social studies and history and coached several sports. He continued his education career as an assistant principal at the high school and later served as principal of House Springs Middle and Northwest Valley Middle schools. In 1999, he retired from Northwest High, but continued his career as an adjunct instructor at Lindenwood University and as a student teacher supervisor at Missouri Baptist University until 2013. He and his wife, Judy, have three daughters and four grandsons.
■ Karen Seifert, 57, was a special education teacher at Northwest High School, first working with students with behavior disorders but later finding her niche in the Life Skills program, teaching both academics and skills, like planning meals, shopping and cooking. Seifert worked with Student Council members to start a field day for elementary students with significant disabilities. She also provided resources and guidance for families. Seifert became the head of the special education department and the process coordinator for the secondary schools and retired in 2013. She and her husband, John, live in Imperial. They have one daughter.
Distinguished Friend
of the Alumni
■ Richard T. “Rick” Wallich is being recognized for his work with the Northwest Alumni Association. He works barbecues; raises funds at the fireworks stand; and volunteers for the Northwest Athletic Association and Our Lady Queen of Peace. He also started the PTO at Maple Grove Elementary School and was previously a Northwest Board of Education member.
Reservations
Those who would like to attend the banquet may mail their name and phone number, along with checks made payable to the Northwest Alumni Association, in care of Terri Green, at 6509 Ashwell Lane, Cedar Hill, 63016. Or, checks may be dropped off at the high school. For more information, contact the high school at 636-274-0555.