Dave Roberts, current sports writer for the Maries County Advocate and longtime sports editor for various area newspapers, next month will be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

A 1979 Rolla High School graduate, Roberts was Rolla Daily News Sports Editor for parts of four decades and Phelps County Focus Sports Editor from 2017-25.

Roberts is one of six individuals who will be inducted at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18 as part of the Hall’s Football Luncheon at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds in Springfield.

The Football Luncheon is presented by the Ozark Coca-Cola-Dr Pepper Bottling Company.

An individual ticket is $75. Sponsorship tables that seat eight are available for $600, and includes recognition at the table and in the printed program. Numerous sponsorships are available for reservation by calling 417-889-3100, including associate sponsorships, as well as congratulatory ads and individual video sponsors.

Roberts has enjoyed a 48-year sports writing career that began during his senior year in high school, when he worked part-time for the Rolla Daily News in the summer of 1978. He has covered area sports ever since.

In 1980, at age 19, he became the youngest sports editor of a Missouri daily newspaper at that time. Except for a five-year absence, Roberts was the Daily News Sports Editor from 1980 to 2016. He also was sports editor for two Waynesville newspapers for six  years, and provided weekly stories for the St. James Leader-Journal and later the Saint James Press. From 2017 until late 2025, he was the sports editor of the Phelps County Focus and the Salem News. Roberts is still at it, working for Warden Publishing, covering St. James High School and Vienna High School athletics, and contributing stories on high school athletics for the Dixon Pilot. Roberts recently began Davesports Regional, an on-line substack presence that covers Rolla High School, Missouri S&T and Newburg High School athletics.

He received the 2017 Distinguished Service Award by the Missouri Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, has been inducted into the Rolla High School Hall of Fame and has earned more than 50 writing, design and photography awards from the United Press International (UPI), the Missouri Associated Press (AP) and the Missouri Press Foundation’s Better Newspaper Contest.

Roberts has served two different stints on the Missouri State High School Activities Association’s Media Advisory Committee, including this school year.

As an athlete Roberts was a lifetime drug-free powerlifter, winning state and regional championships as well as setting state, regional and national records. His highlight came in 1995, as he finished fourth in the 275-pound weight class when the World Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation held its World Bench Press Championships in the United States.

He trained several middle school, junior high, high school and collegiate lifters who went on to earn school, state, regional and national honors, including his daughter Alicia, who set state and national records in two powerlifting organizations, and in 2003 won the girls’ age 16-18, 120-pound U.S. Powerlifting Deadlift National Championship.

Dave and Donna Roberts owned and operated The Frame Shop - an award-winning custom framing business - for 20 years. During that time, they worked closely with area school districts and Missouri S&T to produce several different school projects. They have two daughters, Ashley and son-in-law Matt Kreyling, and Alicia and son-in-law Josh Gerrels, as well as 10 grandchildren.

Headlining the induction class is JJ Birden, a wide receiver who became one of Joe Montana’s favorite targets and fueled the Kansas City Chiefs’ second Golden Era of the 1990s.

Here is the full class of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2026 inductees:

• JJ Birden – Kansas City Chiefs.

• Mike Rader – High School Football Coach.

• Allen Barbre – East Newton & Missouri Southern lineman who played a decade in the NFL.

• Larry Silvey – Ava High School coach & athletic director.

• Dennis Darnell – Missouri State standout & longtime coach.

• Lockwood High School’s 1974 State Championship Football Team.

• Bolivar High School Liberators Football & Community – Friday Night Lights Trophy.

• Mighty Mites Football of Springfield.

• Dave Roberts – Rolla-area sports writer.