Memorial graveside services for Larry Hazelrigg were held Sunday, Feb. 28, at the Grandview Cemetery, Albany. Arrangements were by Roberson-Polley Chapel, Albany. Memorials may be made to the Missouri State University Foundation/Intercollegiate Athletics at MSU, 901 S. National Ave., Springfield, MO 65897.
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Larry Spiers Hazelrigg died on Feb. 13, 2010, in Springfield, after a long illness.
Larry was born to Florence (Spiers) and Michael Earle Hazelrigg in Albany on Oct. 18, 1937. Larry attended public school in Albany his first three years, then his parents moved to Rock Port, where he graduated from high school. He went to Tarkio College for two years then transferred to the University of Kansas, completing requirements for news-editorial sequence at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Public Information. While there, he worked for the Leavenworth Kansas Times as an intern.
After college, he went to Pratt, Kan., as sports editor and photographer for the award-winning Pratt (Kansas) Daily Tribune, but spent less than a year there before being drafted into the U.S. Army.
In the Army, he landed in the office of the Fort Carson Mountaineer, the fort-based newspaper, and finished his Army duty as assistant editor and sports editor of the Mountaineer. Larry was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, the Army’s second-highest non-combat honor, for his work on the Mountaineer.
It was January of 1963 when Larry joined the sports staff of Springfield Newspapers Inc. For 38 years, Larry was a sports reporter and copy editor for the Springfield News Leader. He covered everything from high school and college sports to rodeos, including Bass Anglers Sportsman Society and Amateur Softball Association national events, and collegiate football, basketball, softball, volleyball, and golf national playoffs. He retired in 2001.
In the last several years of his long career, Larry specialized in coverage of women’s collegiate sports and probably is best known for coverage of the Southwest Missouri State University Lady Bears basketball team that reached two NCAA-I Final Four tournaments. He also closely followed the career of the NCAA-I women’s all-time leading scorer, Jackie Stiles.
In addition to reporting, Larry also served as an official scorer statistician and member of the All-America selection committees at several national ASA softball tournaments. He was inducted into the Springfield ASA Hall of Fame in 1994 in the meritorious service category, and the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. He also organized and coached women’s fast-pitch teams that won four Missouri state championships and qualified for four ASA nationals, twice finishing in the top 20.
He was preceded in death by his father in 1990 and his mother on Jan. 25, 2010.
He was a believer in Christ and attended the Methodist Church.
Survivors include one cousin, Max Spiers and wife, Carolyn, of McFall.