Shelly Hanson describes her high school basketball career as the best years of her life, and with good reason. Hanson, owner of the B & B Olympic Bowl in Preston, grew up and went to school in Palmyra, Mo. During the four years she played, the team went to state every single year.
Hanson credits her coach, Robert Fohey with the team’s success and her personal success. He saw her dribbling as a freshman in 1981 and immediately pulled her onto the varsity team. Technically, freshmen weren’t allowed to join varsity, but no one complained when the team started winning. Before Coach Fohey took over the team, they generally only won one or two games a year. “He was tough, but a good coach,” Hanson commented.
The team took first place in state in 1981, 1984, and 1986, which was the year after Hanson graduated. In 1983 and 1985, they took second in state, and in 1982, they took third. Hanson played as a point guard and received defensive player of the year in Missouri several times. She also made All-Conference two years out of her four high school years and All-State honorable mention.
Hanson graduated from Palmyra High School in 1985. She recalls how supportive her parents and the whole community were of the Lady Panthers during those years. The stands were a sea of orange during each game, and Hanson especially remembers the orange blazer Coach Fohey wore to every match.
Hanson had plans of getting a basketball scholarship for college and did receive two scholarship offers but unfortunately, she blew out her knee in her junior year. She was able to play some in her senior year, but her game was never the same after that and she knew her basketball career was over.
Hanson thought that her basketball days were behind her, but in September of this year, she was contacted by former classmate and fellow 1985 Palmyra High School graduate, Missy Keller-Kizer. Keller-Kizer informed Hanson that it had recently been announced that the Lady Panthers basketball teams of 1981-1986 were being inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Hanson was blown away. “I was kind of proud to think that after all these years, our team is remembered,” she said.
Hanson, her husband Paul, her two daughters, and two grandsons all made the trip to Columbia, Mo., for the induction ceremony which took place on October 20. It had been 40 years since she had seen her teammates and so being able to catch up with them made the trip extra special. “I sat with one of my best friends from high school at the ceremony,” Hanson remarked. Twenty-two of the team members from those five years of the basketball team were able to attend the ceremony as well as Coach Fohey and 1981-1986 Athletic Director Tony Lenzini. “We were making bets that he (Coach Fohey) would wear the same orange blazer he wore at every game,” Hanson laughed. It wasn’t just the Lady Panthers and their families who attended. Ninety-one people from the town of Palmyra made the trip as well to support their former basketball teams. Hanson’s daughter and grandson heard that former Missouri football quarterback Chase Daniel would also be inducted at the ceremony so brought with a jersey of his that they were able to get him to autograph. All in all, it was a great weekend for the whole family with memories to last a lifetime.