Hal attended Carlyle High School and played for Gary Wheeler, one of the most successful coaches in Illinois history.  Hal played on the 1981 State Baseball Championship team.  Hal was offered and accepted a scholarship to Kaskaskia College where he played from the fall of 1983 to the spring of 1985.  Hal started twenty-six games with twenty-one complete games.  He pitched 188 innings with 136 strikeouts.  Hal had an ERA of 4.40 and he held his opponents to a .252 batting average.  Hal was offered a scholarship to Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and subsequently set the school record for saves in a season with ten saves.  This record held for twenty-one years when it was finally broken with thirteen saves.  Hal is still second on career saves.  In 1987 he had twenty-two appearances.   Hal went on to play professionally in the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals organizations. With the St. Louis Cardinal organization, Hal played for the Johnson City Cardinals and the Savannah Cardinals.  With Kansas City, Hal played for the Appleton Foxes and Gulf Coast League Royals.   Hal’s record in professional baseball included 99 strike outs in 108 innings with a 4.17 ERA and a seven win – seven loss record. Hal returned to Kaskaskia College  as an assistant coach for the game he loved so much and to mentor the next generation of ball players.  He was an assistant coach for the 1988-89 Baseball Team, a Kaskaskia College Hall of Fame inducted team.  His legacy to the college includes the Hal B. Hempen  Memorial Scholarship.  “His Light Still Shines.”