Art Hains, the longtime voice of Missouri State athletics has announced his retirement date according to a report from the Springfield News-Leader. Hains says his final call will come on September 13, 2025, which will be the school’s first home football game as a member of Conference USA which also happens to be against SMU where Hains went to school.
“My first college broadcast was of an SMU basketball game in 1976,” Hains said in a release. “So my last will be an encore game when SMU comes here next year to play the school I have loved since 1977.”
Haines has been recovering from the effects of West Nile virus, which he was diagnosed with in 2002. Haines was in a coma and has had a long road to recovery after there was uncertainty as to whether or not he would make it through. He continues to rehab but is currently bound to a wheelchair.
“As Ricky Ricardo once famously said ‘The time has come.’ And so it is for my time as Voice of the Bears, a title I have cherished for the last 44 years,” Hains said. “Unfortunately, due to my physical limitations, it’s become more difficult to prepare for and describe the games the way I once did. The time comes for everyone, and this being our last year in the MVC, I’ll just go out with The Valley.”
Hains started doing play-by-play for the school in 1977 at the age of 21. He spent a few years in Texas before moving back home and has been the voice of the school ever since.
Hains has also worked as a host on the Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network.
