Kent Henry

Kent W. Henry passed peacefully on January 28, 2022. Born July 20, 1934 and raised in Conway Arkansas, Kent received his BS in Education from Arkansas Teachers College----now The University of Central Arkansas. In 1957, he married Judy Bryant in Conway. In 1960 he moved his young family to Missouri to continue his teaching career and embark on a coaching career. His teaching career brought him to Nevada and Lockwood before moving to Springfield in 1965. Once his family moved to Springfield, Kent taught and coached at Pipkin Junior High until retiring in 1986.

The greatest passion of Kent’s life was sports. In 1963 Kent began officiating baseball, basketball, and football. He officiated the Blue and Gold Basketball tournament from 1966-1971 before moving to the collegiate level. Kent was one of the first to officiate the 3 major sports at the Division 1 level. He officiated within the Missouri Valley Conference, Conference USA and the Big 8. He officiated NCAA Division 1 football for 25 years. A few of Kent’s major highlights include officiating the Missouri vs. Oklahoma Big 8 Championship in 1982, the Colorado vs. Washington Holiday Bowl in 1996, and officiating in the United States Football League (USFL). In 2011 he was inducted into the Springfield Area Sports Hall of fame.

Outside of coaching and teaching, he owned and operated several small businesses including James River Catfish House and co-owned various Crazy Dave Fireworks locations. After retiring from officiating Kent became the MSHAA Supervisor of Officials. One of the greatest joys of his life was mentoring and coaching young officials in Southwest Missouri. He was a lifelong Razorback fan and loved Calling The Hogs. He created a vast community of close friends and enjoyed spending time with them. One of his favorite pastimes was talking sports, Razorback football, and all things Table Rock Lake with his grandsons. He is survived by his wife of 64 years Judy and 2 daughters; Sandy Davidson and husband Bill of Branson West, and Sherry Henry of Springfield. His 3 surviving grandsons include Greg Davidson and wife Natalie of Chicago, Spencer Davidson and wife Jill of Prairie Village KS, and Ryan Davidson and wife Hannah of Bentonville, AR. He was thrilled to welcome great grand-daughter Jane to the family in August of 2021.

Whether you called him Kent, Dad, Pa-pa, Coach, or Catfish-----we all called him a friend.

A memorial visitation will be held from 1-3pm on Saturday, February 5th, 2022 in the chapel of First Baptist Church, 525 South Avenue, Springfield, MO.

In Lieu of flowers the family requests donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in memory of Kent.

Permanent online condolences, stories and photos may be shared at www.hhlohmeyer.com