08/07/2026
By Dave Roberts
RHS Class of 1979
Five individuals and a state champion athletic team have been selected to be part of the Class of 2026 Rolla High School Hall of Fame.
Selected for induction into the RHS Hall of Fame this fall include Russ Carnahan (Class of 1976) in the achievement category; Blayne Shockley (Class of 2010) in the athletic category, and Nancy Beveridge, Jeff Sandquist and Coach Mike Howard in the faculty category. Selected as an athletic team is the Rolla High 1982 boys’ golf state championship squad. Carnahan was to be inducted with the 2025 Class, but could not attend the ceremony and elected to back up his induction until this year.
The induction ceremony for the RHS Hall of Fame Class of 2026 is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3 at the Rolla High Cafeteria. The event is open to the public.
Here is a look at the Class of 2026 RHS Hall of Fame inductees:
Russ Carnahan (Class of 1976): Carnahan has served in significant leadership roles throughout his career. The former Congressman has established a national network of relationships with key government leaders and organizations to help address public and private sector challenges. From 2005-2013, Carnahan represented Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District that included urban and rural areas in the St. Louis region. He served in a number of key positions, including as Co-Chair of the bipartisan Center Aisle Caucus focused on common sense solutions for both political parties. In 2009, he was a founding member of the U.S. House Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition that is still a driving force on sustainability issues in Congress. Carnahan was selected as Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations and received a Presidential Appointment from the Obama/Biden Administration as Congressional Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. He also served on the U.S. House of Representatives committees for: Transportation & Infrastructure; Science & Technology; and Veterans Affairs. He led caucuses on High Performance Buildings and Historic Preservation. Carnahan serves on the national board of the bipartisan U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress that works extensively with current and former members on U.S. and International Programs. He is the Chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party and serves on the Executive Committee of the DNC where he is connected to leaders from across the country.
Carnahan began his career in public service when he was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2000. He earned a number of awards for his state legislative work, including from the St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association, the St. Louis Business Journal and the Missouri Bar Association. Prior to his tenure in Congress, Carnahan served as Director of Government Relations for BJC HealthCare, one of the largest hospital systems in the country where he coordinated advocacy with related national associations: AHA, AAMC and NACHRI.
Since leaving Congress, he serves as Principal with The Carnahan Group, LLC in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis, MO. His work particularly focused on issues of renewable energy, sustainable building technology, historic preservation, transportation infrastructure and transition to commercial electric vehicles.
Carnahan serves on the Selection Committee for the Mel and Jean Carnahan Public Service Awards (in honor of his late parents) that annually recognize Missourians who have made major contributions in Public Service, Education and Law. Scholarships have also been established in each of those areas for college students to encourage and support their pursuit of public service careers. Separately there has been a Carnahan Family scholarship established at Rolla High School.
Carnahan is a 1976 Bicentennial year graduate of Rolla High School where he lettered in Wrestling and Track as a pole vaulter. He spent his Freshman college year at UMR (now Missouri S&T), then attended and graduated from UMC with a degrees in Public Administration (1980) and Law (1984).
While practicing law in Rolla early in his career, Carnahan organized the Old Courthouse Preservation Committee that took initial ownership of the Historic Civil War era Phelps County Courthouse in order to preserve it after the new Courthouse was completed. Today it is operated by the Phelps County Historical Society.
Carnahan is the son of former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan and the late Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan. His wife, Debra Carnahan, Founding Principal with The Carnahan Group, LLC, is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and Municipal Judge. His late brother Randy graduated RHS class of 1974, sister Robin 1979 and brother Tom 1987. Russ and Debra have two grown sons, Austin and Andrew. He and his family enjoy their Phelps County Farm that is abundant with deer, wild turkey and a few old horses. He enjoys tinkering with his vintage Chevy Trucks and motorcycles.
Blayne Shockley (Class of 2010): The first Rolla High School wrestling state champion. Shockley captured the 2007 103-pound Missouri Class 3 state championship as a freshman. He went on to earn three more state medals by placing second at 112 in 2008, third at 112 in 2009 and third at 119 in 2010.
He is one of the career leaders in victories for the Bulldogs, finishing with an overall record of 165-12.
Also a player for the RHS boys’ soccer team, Shockley went on to have a solid wrestling career at Lindenwood University. While Lindenwood was moving from an NAIA to an NCAA Division II program, Shockley earned All-America honors by placing third place in the national club tournament. He finished with more than 40 victories at Lindenwood.
He later spent eight years in the U.S. Army.
Nancy Beveridge (Faculty): Beveridge was a teacher at Rolla High from the fall of 1957 to the spring of 1982. She began her tenure at RHS in the English department, teaching courses in Etymology and Mythology, but soon became the school’s first Latin teacher. Affectionately known as “Mrs. B,” Beveridge was considered a superlative Latin teacher by a large number of former RHS students, as well as Latin teaching colleagues throughout Missouri and beyond.
When students would come to school dressed in Roman togas, one knew Beveridge’s class was putting on a play that day! Under her leadership as RHS Latin Club Advisor, the organization was among the most active and successful in the Missouri Junior Classical League. She accompanied RHS students to countless MOJCL conventions, field trips to “The Hill” in St. Louis and students trips to Italy to visit Rome and the Colosseum. She also sponsored many students in MOJCL officer positions, as well as one who became the National JCL President.
Tragically, she died in a bus accident while returning home from a St. Louis field trip - the lone fatality. When medical assistance arrived at the site, she required that they care for her students before attending to her. She died on the way to the hospital.
Nancy Beveridge was the wife of Dr. Tom R. Beveridge, a geologist who served as the Missouri Geologist, then as a Professor of Geology and Geological Engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla. He preceded her in death. The couple had two daughters, Nancy and Mary.
Mike Howard (Coach): Howard retired in 2019 as RHS soccer head coach after 29 years, having led the Bulldog boys’ team since 1991 and beginning the Lady Bulldog program in 1996. As his first - and only - coaching job, Howard came to Rolla High fresh out of college at the age of 21.
Combining both the boys’ campaigns in the fall and the girls’ campaigns in the spring, Howard coached a staggering 53 seasons (1,336 games) at RHS. During that time the Bulldogs/Lady Bulldogs captured a total of 31 district championships, 19 conference championships, 11 state tournament quarterfinal berths and one Final Four appearance.
The highlight of Howard’s coaching career came in 1993, when he led the RHS boys’ squad to the state tournament semifinals, giving him the distinction of competing in the Missouri Soccer Final Four as both a player and head coach by the age of 25.
In all, Howard closed his boys’ coaching mark at 468-228-46 – No. 12 all-time in Missouri victories at the time – with 18 district and seven conference crowns. With the girls he had a 417-149-28 record, which ranked No. 4 all-time in the state for victories at the time, with 13 district and 12 conference titles.
Howard’s overall soccer coaching record was 885-377-74, which ranked fifth all-time in the state at the time of his retirement. In his combined 53 seasons, Howard had just five losing campaigns.
Howard was named the Missouri State Coach of the Year and All-Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2005, and in 2015 was inducted into the Missouri State High School Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He has been that association’s Missouri State Coach of the Year National Representative, Missouri State Class 3 Chair in both boys’ and girls’ soccer as well as Missouri Hall of Fame Chair.
And even though the 2020 girls’ soccer season was completely wiped out by COVID, Howard was named the 2020 Missouri State High School Soccer Coaches Association (MSHSSCA) Girls’ Coach of the Year for the large-school division (Classes 3-4), in honor of his impending retirement and his career body of work.
He produced 73 RHS all-state players, three All-Midwest selections (Anne Felts, Nicole Howard, Aaron Froehlich), two Missouri Offensive Players of the Year (Felts, Froehlich), one Missouri Defensive Player of the Year (Nick Janke), one Missouri Player of the Year (Felts) and one All-America (Felts).
Howard had two players who finished their prep careers as Missouri’s all-time career goals leader – Felts for the Lady Bulldogs and Froehlich for the RHS boys. Felts went on to play for a collegiate national championship team at North Carolina, and is also a former NCAA Division I women’s soccer head coach.
Both of Howard’s children were all-state players for him – Jason and Nicole.
Nicole Howard was named the National Junior College Player of the Year while at Lewis and Clark Community College and later played D-I soccer in the SEC at LSU. Jason followed his father into coaching, becoming head coach for the St. Louis Community College women’s soccer squad.
Jeff Sandquist (Faculty): As a music teacher and choral director, program designer and policy developer, Sandquist has made a lasting impact at RHS. He taught vocal and instrumental music at Eldon and Cole County R-V before coming to Rolla High, where he spent the majority of his teaching career as RHS choir instructor from 1990 until his retirement in 2014. During his tenure at Rolla his choirs were well-known for their performances and were invited to perform at state and regional music educator conventions. In 2001 the RHS Festival Chorus made their debut performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Sandquist was not only known for his excellence in directing choirs, he has also had a profound effect on the lives of his students. A former student shared, “He pushed us, laughed with us and was forever the guy who taught us to treat ourselves with respect from the inside out. Not only did he believe in me, he believed me.”
Sandquist received many awards and accolades, including the Missouri Choral Directors Association Luther T Spayde Award and the Presidential Award of Excellence, which was renamed the Jeff Sandquist Presidential Award of Excellence in 2014. In 2018 the Missouri Arts Award for Arts Education was awarded to him at a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda.
He is a Past-President of the Missouri Choral Directors Association, the Southwestern Division of the American Choral Directors Association, and the Missouri Music Educators Association. Since 2005 he has served as the Artistic and Executive Director of the Rolla Choral Arts Society, He also continues to serve as music director at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla. Since his retirement, he has filled three interim/adjunct positions at the collegiate level and taught music at St. Patrick’s School in Rolla for seven years. He and his wife Nora serve as the State Coordinators for the Missouri Ambassadors of Music European Tour. They have four children, Morgan, Kiersten, Paden and Caitlyn.
1982 RHS Boys’ Golf Team: The 1982 Bulldog boys’ golf team was the second Bulldog team state champion, with the RHS Hall of Fame 1977 boys’ golf squad being the first. Both teams were coached by Chet Saladin.
The 1982 golf squad proved to be the best “mudder” team in the state field that year, as the tournament was played in wet, muddy conditions. That squad was led by Forrest Arthur, Mark Franz and brothers Dino and Tony Congiardo. The state title was a total team effort, as all four of those players finished with individual all-state honors. Arthur finished sixth overall in the medalist race while Dino Congiardo finished seventh, Tony Congiardo ninth and Franz 10th.
The Bulldogs’ dual meet record that season was 27-1-1, while also winning the district team title.
After being down by three strokes to fellow perennial state power and defending state champion Poplar Bluff - which had its entire squad returning - Rolla soared past the Mules to win the state tournament crown by 10 shots.
Half of the second day of state competition was played in a downpour, and despite those playing conditions the Bulldog golfers excelled in the come-from-behind state championship run.
