The honor is special in its own right, but it will have even more meaning for Aaron Murphy.
Murphy - a 2004 New Bloomfield graduate and presently the high school's boys' and girls' golf coach - will be part of the 2015 class inducted tonight into the Lincoln University Athletic Hall of Fame. The ceremony is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the Scruggs University Center ballroom on the Lincoln campus in Jefferson City.
The 29-year-old Murphy is one of eight inductees, but will be the first golfer to enter the Blue Tigers' Hall.
"It's very humbling, especially to be the first golfer at Lincoln to get that honor," Murphy said. "That was very nice to have. There's been so many really good golfers come through there, and a lot of them I was able to play with, so it's just a really big honor.
"It's really given me time to reflect on my career and then I've had a lot of people come up and say congratulations. It's very nice to look back at all of the hard work, starting when I was 12, 13 years old."
The roots of Murphy's golf career started to take hold while he was in high school at New Bloomfield. During the summer before his senior year in 2003, he captured the Gateway PGA state championship and was also named its player of the year.
Murphy then capped off his high school career by receiving all-state acclaim when he finished 10th in the Class 1 state championships.
"That was kind of the foundation of my golf career," Murphy said. "Once I got to college, I really feel like that's when it started taking off."
Murphy experienced a breakout in his senior year at Lincoln when he was named the Heartland Conference player of the year for the 2008-09 season. He was also selected Heartland Conference player of the week after winning the 2008 Southwest Baptist Invitational with a 2-under 142.
A two-time all-Heartland Conference first-team pick, Murphy competed in the NCAA Division II Ping South Central Regional. He earned all-region honors by finishing in 15th place with a three-round 218 total.
Murphy headed to Florida after his college career was over and competed in the Fuzion Minor League Golf Tour, winning the Hammock Fall Classic in 2010. He continues to play one or two events each year on the tour, collecting the title at the West Palm Beach Classic back in January.
"More than anything, I worked really hard at it," Murphy said. "I think a lot of it was just timing and learning, not so much course management, but how to hit different shots in certain situations.
"... I was just so dedicated, I knew I wanted to be a really good player. I always had a goal in mind as far as where I wanted to be at."
Murphy is now concentrating more on the coaching aspect of the game. He directed the New Bloomfield boys' squad in the spring and just completed the fall season with the New Bloomfield girls. He had one player, sophomore Alexandra Morningstar, tie for 78th place at the Class 1 girls' state championships earlier this week in Joplin.
"I look at the game from a player and a coach standpoint," Murphy said. "I know what they're going through, maybe more than someone who doesn't have playing experience.
"I feel like that's my best asset as a coach."
Joining Murphy as part of Lincoln's 2015 Hall of Fame class are Emmanuel L. Belland (track and field), James Jervey Brown (men's basketball), Homer Cavitte III (football, men's basketball and track and field), Marshall Evans (men's basketball), Henry Hailstock (football), Dr. Irene Bell Outlaw (cheerleading), and Harry Stokes (football).
The inductees will also be honored at halftime of Lincoln's homecoming football game against Missouri S&T at 2 p.m. Saturday.