In Drury’s glorious athletic history one of the best kept secrets has been the decades of success produced by its golf program. Conference, regional and national tournament success has been a constant for many, many years. And yet today, with all that success, only the fourth golfer in Panther history is being inducted into the Drury Sports Hall of Fame. Kevin Hogg, the player who helped put Drury’s golf program on the national stage at the NCAA-II level, completes that foursome...and what a foursome that would be: Steve Sheppard, Ryan Roy, Aaron Clark and now Kevin Hogg. Wow!
Kevin came to Drury in the fall of 1999 from Squamish, British Columbia, Canada. The Howe Sound High School graduate immediately provided a spark for that year’s team and the 1-2 punch of Aaron Clark and Kevin Hogg helped the Panthers to the 2000 NCAA-II national tournament and a #24 end-of-the-year national ranking. Kevin qualified for the NCAA-II national tournament that year as an individual, the first of four trips he would make to nationals. In fact, he is the only player in Drury history to play in four NCAA-II national tournaments. In 2001 the Panthers finished #11 in the nation, the highest NCAA-II national ranking in the history of the Drury golf program. In 2002 Kevin and his best friend, teammate and fellow Canadian, Bryce Wassersleben, qualified for the NCAA-II national tournament and the team finished #31 in the final national rankings. His final senior year Kevin and his teammates made their final trip to the national tournament and the Panthers finished the year ranked 21st in the nation...a top 25 team in three of his four years...and the best four-year run in the history of the program since joining the NCAA-II in 1994-95.
The name of Kevin Hogg is sprinkled throughout the Drury record books. His four NCAA-II national tournament appearances leads the list. In addition to that he and his teammates won eight different team championships including the 2001 and 2003 Heartland Conference championships; he won medalist honors at the 2001 Missouri Western Invitational; he was a two-time Heartland Conference selection; he had 16 tournament top 10 finishes; he has the lowest 36-hole total on record (68,69-137 at CMSU in 2002); and, he shares the third lowest 18 hole total on record, shooting 68 three times in his career. Kevin was a consistent star for the Panther golf team from his first college tournament in the fall of 2009 (77, 73) through his final rounds at the NCAA-II tournament in 2003 (77, 76). In all, Kevin Hogg played 92 rounds of golf while at Drury and had a 75.7 four-year career stroke average. He was his team’s leader on the course...and in the classroom.
Kevin was honored by being named to the Heartland Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll and he was twice nominated for Verizon Academic All-American team. He completed Drury’s demanding five-year accounting program in nine semesters, graduating with a 3.3 grade point average on Dec. 13, 2003.
Kevin now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with his wife, Stephanie, an their 18-month old son, Brayden. Kevin is employed by Cactus Restaurants, a casual fine dining restaurant with 21 locations in Western Canada. It is recognized as an industry leader and is one of the fastest growing companies with sales of just over $110 million. Kevin started his career with Cactus Restaurants in February, 2004 and he is now responsible for the procurement and contract management of glass and tableware, equipment, kitchen small wares as well as taking care of the company’s logistics area.
In the last few years Kevin has overseen his companies “Green Team” which focuses on all of the corporate environmental initiatives. The carbon footprint of this organization is something very important to Kevin and an area in which he takes great pride. Significant progress has been made over the past three years and Cactus Restaurants is now considered an industry leader in this endeavor.
Kevin was a leader on campus as a student-athlete and he continues this leadership today. Without question, Kevin Hogg was one of best golfers in the glorious history of the Drury men’s golf program, and he is enshrined as a member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2011 on this date: November 19, 2011.
