Bob Lutz among locals honored in 2025 Kansas Sports Hall of Fame class
Derby native Bob Lutz headlines a class of 10 prominent sports figures around the state who will be inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame this summer.
Lutz is among Olympians, world and American-record holders, award-winning coaches and national champions in a class that will be honored during a an induction ceremony slated for 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2 in Topeka. Tickets for the event are $50 and may be purchased online at kshof.org.
Other honorees include football player Larry Brown (Dodge City Community College, Kansas State), basketball player and coach Tim Jankovich (Manhattan native, Kansas State), tennis coach J.C. Louderback (Arkansas City native, Cowley Community College, Southwestern College), wrestler Kendric Maple (Wichita native), baseball player Bobby Randall (Kansas State), football player Laverne Smith (Wichita native, Kansas), runner Deb (Pihl) Torneden (Lindsborg native, Kansas State), sprinter Clifford Wiley (Kansas). Former KU and K-State football coach Mark Mangino, a 2024 honoree, could not intend the ceremony last year and will instead be honored at the 2025 event.
“It’s a real honor to be included in the 2025 Kansas Sports Hall of Fame class,” Lutz said in a statement to The Eagle. “As someone who loves our state’s sports history, this has even extra meaning. Some of my all-time sports heroes have preceded me and while I fall well short of many of their athletic merits, I am flattered to be recognized for other contributions to sports in Kansas.”
Lutz has been a mainstay in Wichita sports media for more than four decades. He worked as a longtime columnist for The Eagle before retiring in 2017. He also hosted a successful sports-talk radio show before its run ended earlier this year.
In recent years, Lutz has founded League 42, a youth baseball league, and helped it explode in popularity around Wichita.
Two Wichita athletes are being inducted alongside Lutz in this year’s hall of fame class. Maple, a 2008 Heights graduate, was a 2013 NCAA wrestling champion at Oklahoma, while Smith, a 1972 Southeast graduate, earned all-Big Eight honors in football at Kansas from 1973-96.
This story was originally published April 14, 2025 at 1:31 PM.
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