SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Drury University Athletics has selected its 29^th Athletics Hall of Fame induction class and will enshrine new members on December 7, 2024. This year's induction class will include Lisa Tinkler (women's golf head coach 2003-12, 2017-20), Bethanie Funderburk (women's basketball, 2010-14), Tony Lewis (baseball, 2007), Tory Groover (men's track & field, 2010-13), Stephen Connor (men's soccer, 2008-11), Lynsey Fugate (women's swimming & diving, 2001-04), and Drury's basketball scorer's table and support crew that includes Ronnie and Susan Hamilton, Chip Parker and Ray Meyer as Lifetime Service inductees.  
 
The group will be formally inducted at ceremonies on the Drury campus on Saturday, December 7, in the Judy Thompson Executive Conference Center in the O'Reilly Enterprise Center. Doors will open at 10 am for the event, and the induction ceremony will start at 10:30 am.
 
Lisa Tinkler was Drury's first head coach for the women's golf team and led the program for a total of 12 seasons, with her first stint at the helm coming from 2003-04 through 2011-12, then a second stretch from 2017-18 to 2019-20. Tinker guided her team to a second place finish in the Heartland Conference in the program's inaugural season. Drury then won the conference and finished eighth nationally in the team's second year of existence. During her tenure, the Panthers won three conference championships, advanced to seven NCAA-II Regionals, and finished as high as fourth in the country. Tinkler was named the GLVC Coach of the Year and the East Region Coach of the Year in 2007. She returned to Drury and took over the program again from 2017-18 through 2019-20.
 
Tony Lewis transferred from Missouri State to Drury in the Panthers inaugural baseball season in 2007 and was a key member of a team that won the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship and reached the NCAA-II Tournament in their first season. Lewis was named First Team All-Midwest Region, First Team All-GLVC, and was the region's Gold Glove award winner at first base. He hit .367 with three home runs, 36 RBIs, posted a .524 slugging percentage and a .449 on-base percentage in his lone season as the Panthers advanced all the way the NCAA-II regional semifinals.
 
Bethanie Funderburk is currently fourth on the Lady Panthers all-time scoring list, having put up 1,716 in her four-year career from 2010-14. She was the GLVC Freshman of the Year in 2011, an All-Midwest Region selection in 2012, and was named to the All-GLVC team in all four years of her career. Funderburk also ranks 12^th all-time at Drury in rebounds with 518, and is currently fifth in three-pointers made with 212. She was part of Drury's 2010 GLVC Championship team and was on three NCAA-II Tournament teams.
 
Tory Groover was the first Drury men's track & field athlete to advance to the NCAA-II National Championships and had a storied career as a high jumper from 2010-13. Groover was the 2010 GLVC Freshman of the Year in Indoor Track & Field, he won the conference championship in the high jump every year of his career in outdoor track & field, and he took the indoor title in that event three times. The Rogersville native still holds Drury's record in the outdoor high jump (2.06 m, 6'9"), the indoor high jump (2.10 m, 6'10.75") and the indoor long jump (6.36 m, 20'10.5").
 
Stephen Conner ranks as one of the best goalkeepers in Drury men's soccer history. Conner's career spanned from 2008-11 and won 42 career games in the net with a 0.71 goals against average. He was the GLVC Defensive Player of the Year, named First Team All-Midwest Region, and was a Second Team NCAA-II All-American as a sophomore in 2009. Conner posted a 0.49 GAA that season, still a program record and a mark that ranked fifth in the nation that year. The Panthers went 21-2 that year, won the GLVC championship, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA-II Tournament. Conner owns three of the top four goals-against-averages in a Drury single season, which is every year he was a full-time starter, and his career goals-against average is still ranked second all-time in Panthers history.
 
Lynsey Fugate earned All-America honors for the Drury women's swimming & diving team during all four years of her career that spanned from 2001-04. She won the NCAA-II National Championship as a junior in the 1650 Freestyle, and captured a National Championship on Drury's 400 Free Relay team in 2001. She was named Drury's Most Valuable Women's Swimmer in 2001 and 2003, and helped the Panthers to an NCAA-II Runner-Up finish in all four years of her career.
 
Drury Athletics will also induct Ronnie and Susan Hamilton, Chip Parker, and Ray Meyer as Lifetime Service honorees. The Hamiltons have worked the official scorebook and scoreboard at Drury basketball games since the launch of the Lady Panthers basketball program in 2000-01. The two have been mainstays at the home venue as both work in the same capacity for other basketball events at the O'Reilly Family Event Center, including every game of the Pink & White Lady Classic, NCAA regional championships, and state high school playoff games. Chip Parker has also worked as part of the scorer's table for men's and women's basketball games for more than 25 years. Parker is currently Drury's Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Student Success and has served in an administrative role with the institution for more than 41 years. Ray Meyer stepped in as the primary voice on Drury basketball radio broadcasts in the mid-1980s and has been a part of the broadcast team ever since. He has also served as a public address announcer for a variety of Drury sports, including baseball and wrestling.
 
For reservations or additional information, please contact Barb Cowherd with the Drury Athletics Office by phone at (417) 873-7363 or by email at bcowherd@drury.edu.
 
The cost of the brunch and induction ceremony is $35 per person. Those attending the induction can also attend that day's basketball games at no extra charge as Drury takes on Truman State, with the women's game at 1 pm and the men's game at 3 pm.
 
 
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