David Harrison is a 1955 graduate of Central High School. He published his first children’s book in 1969, which has sold more than 2 million copies. Since then, he has authored and published more than 100 books, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

In July 2023, Gov. Mike Parson named him Missouri Poet Laureate.

David’s support of literacy and public education in Springfield is extensive and includes serving six years on the Board of Education. He is also the first Hall of Fame inductee who has an SPS elementary school named for him.  

Steve Cash, Randle Chowning and Larry Lee brought together their individual talents as musicians, vocalists and songwriters to form the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

Their music gained national attention after signing a record deal with A&M Records. Their first album included the hit song “If You Wanna Get to Heaven,” sung by Randle and co-written by Steve. Their biggest hit, “Jackie Blue,” was written by Steve and Larry.

Steve, a 1964 graduate of Parkview High School, performed with the Daredevils for more than four decades. He also expressed his creativity as a painter, poet and author. He passed away in 2019.

Larry and Randle met while attending Glendale High School. They graduated in 1965 and 1968, respectively. After high school, Randle approached Larry about getting together with other songwriters and working on material together.

As founder of the Daredevils, Randle recruited Larry, Steve and three other musicians to create the iconic band known for its unique vocal harmonies. Randle performed as the band’s lead vocalist and lead guitarist.

Following his career with the Daredevils, Larry spent more than 20 years working in Nashville as a songwriter, session musician and record producer.  He helped create 13 No. 1 hits for Alabama and also performed and toured with Jimmy Buffett.

Randle and Larry both received the Quill Award from the Missouri Writers Hall of Fame, which is the first time it was presented to songwriters.

Today, Randle and Larry continue to share their musical talents as solo artists, writing and recording their own songs.

Daniel E. Arnall is a 1992 graduate of Hillcrest High School. When he attended Hillcrest, he was instrumental in starting the first HTV broadcast journalism class. That experience started him on a career path that would lead to earning both an Emmy Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award for Breaking News Coverage.

For more than 20 years, Daniel has reported stories and led news teams at ABC, NBC and Bloomberg. Currently, he is senior vice president of news programming for MSNBC/NBC News Group, where he is responsible for managing all news programming for MSNBC Reports.

While at NBC, he led the team that produced Nightly News Weekend, helping it achieve the position of most-watched weekend network news broadcast. He has had a similar impact on viewership growth while at MSNBC.

Daniel graduated cum laude from University of Missouri’s School of Journalism and earned a master’s degree with honors from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.  

Before becoming a journalist, Daniel created a venture-funded dotcom company, which he sold within six weeks of its launch.