Courtesy of Missouri State and ESPN Springfield
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — After more than four decades as the “Voice of the Bears” legendary broadcaster Art Hains is revealing when he will be stepping away from the headset.
Hains, who took over as the Bears play-by-play voice from 1977-1981, then again from 1985 to the present, says his final game will be when Missouri State hosts SMU to kick off next season on Sept. 13, 2025.
It will be the Bears first game as an FBS football program. He is also an SMU alum, graduating in 1977.
Hains has been a mainstay in the press box of Plaster Stadium and Hammons Field, as well as courtside at Great Southern Bank Arena. However, a diagnosis of West Nile Virus in September of 2022 has led to a difficult road back.
One that he admits has taken its toll.
In a release from Missouri State Thursday, Hains said:
- “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. 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 says he will still frequent Missouri State University sporting events, and other activities, and looks forward to a “bright future for the Bears.”
“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 in a news release. “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 is a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame and Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame. His comeback to get back behind the microphone to have a chance to plan his retirement has been nothing short of remarkable.
Stricken on Sept. 17, 2022, during a Bears football road game at Arkansas, Hains landed in the hospital two days later and was listed in critical condition. Within days, doctors shipped him to the University of Kansas Medical Center and eventually to two rehabilitation facilities in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Hains was diagnosed with West Nile virus from a mosquito bite, which left him paralyzed and battling numerous side effects. He’s yet to regain full use of his legs, but with a motorized wheelchair, he’s returned to the Springfield sports scene by calling Bears’ home football, basketball and baseball games, and attending numerous other events as a sports fan.
The Marshall, Missouri, native credits his wife of 44 years, Lisa, son, Chris, and daughter, Kathleen, for his ability to return to the broadcast booth, whether at MSU games or Kansas City Chiefs broadcasts, where he is the studio host on the Chiefs Radio Network.
“Throughout this thing, I’ve been very positive that I’m going to come back from it, I never gave up getting back to Springfield and hopefully getting back to doing some things on the radio. I’ve thought that all along.”
“My goal has been to do the Chiefs and do some Bears games this first year. It’s getting close now and we’re planning on doing just that. Positive attitude meant a lot.”
Hains has been a longtime halftime and postgame host for the Kansas City Chiefs and hosts a daily sports talk show in Springfield.