Two Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Inductees to Enter Pro Football Hall

For the first time, two past inductees of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the same class.

It was announced during the weekend that Arkansas natives Willie Roaf and Cortez Kennedy have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Kennedy, who played high school football at Rivercrest High School at Wilson, was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

Roaf, who played high school football at Pine Bluff High School, was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

“Those of us at the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame always love to hear good news about our former inductees,” said Andrew Meadors of Little Rock, the president of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. “It’s a huge honor for Willie Roaf and Cortez Kennedy to be chosen for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We’re proud of them and join all Arkansans in offering our congratulations.”

Cortez Kennedy, Class of 2005

Kennedy was one of the best defensive linemen ever to play in the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks selected him in the first round of the 1990 NFL draft (the third selection overall) after he had earned All-American honors at the University of Miami. The Hurricanes won the national championship his senior season. Kennedy had played at Northwest Mississippi Community College before receiving a football scholarship to Miami.

Kennedy was named to the Pro Bowl in just his second season and ended up playing in the game eight times. He had 58 career sacks, an unusually high number for a tackle. He was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1992 after recording 14 quarterback sacks. Kennedy, whose final season was 2000, was named to the Seahawks Ring of Honor and the Miami Hurricanes Ring of Honor. He also was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1990s.

Roaf was lightly recruited out of high school in Pine Bluff. He ended up at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La. He was picked in the first round of the 1993 NFL draft (the eighth selection overall and the first offensive lineman to be drafted) by the New Orleans Saints. Roaf played nine years for the Saints, participated in seven Pro Bowls while in New Orleans and earned a spot on both the All-Decade Teams for the 1990s and the 2000s. Roaf was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in March 2002 and played four seasons for the Chiefs. He was selected for the Pro Bowl in each of those four seasons.

Willie Roaf, Class of 2007

Roaf played one season at right tackle and then spent the rest of his career on the left side of the line. He announced his retirement in July 2006.

Other former Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inductees who also are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame include:

• Dan Hampton, who was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1992
• Don Hutson, who was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1960
• Bobby Mitchell, who was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1977
• Lance Alworth, who was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1979

The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1959. The Class of 2012 was inducted Friday night at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock with more than 1,400 people in attendance at the induction banquet.

Ray Tucker is the executive director of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Museum on the west side of Verizon Arena is open each Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. It includes an 88-seat theater with a video highlighting the careers of Arkansas sports greats along with a touch-screen kiosk with a database of all Hall of Fame inductees.

Members of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame vote each year on inductees. Membership dues are $50 annually. Membership forms can be obtained by going to the organization’s website at www.arksportshalloffame.com.

Hall of Fame to Present Star of Tomorrow Award

Officials of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and the Crain Automotive Team on Tuesday announced the establishment of the Star of Tomorrow Award, which will be given annually to the top college athlete from either an Arkansas school or an out-of-state school if that athlete is from Arkansas.

The Star of Tomorrow Award will be presented each year during the Hall of Fame’s induction banquet.

The inaugural award will be announced during the induction banquet for the Hall of Fame Class of 2012 on Friday, Feb. 3, at the Verizon Arena in North Little Rock. The award will be for accomplishments during the 2011 calendar year.

“We’re very excited about this award,” said Ray Tucker, the Hall of Fame’s executive director. “We plan for it to be one of the most significant awards in Arkansas sports.”

Larry Crain of the Crain Automotive Team said Arkansas is “known for producing world-class athletes. We want to develop something that will recognize the best college athlete each year. In a sense, we want this to be seen as the Heisman Trophy of Arkansas sports.”

Athletes from all intercollegiate sports – male and female – will be eiligible for the award.

“We believe we will be identifying many of the future inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame with this award,” Crain said. “This is something that will be coveted by Arkansas athletes.”

Crain is a longtime supporter of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and a member of the Hall of Fame Foundation Advisory Board.

“We appreciate Larry and the Crain Automotive Team for stepping up to sponsor the Star of Tomorrow Award,” Tucker said. “With the Crain Team involved, you know it will be done right.”

Sports information directors at colleges and universities will nominate athletes for the award. The number of nominees per school will be determined by the full-time enrollment at the school. Colleges and universities with fewer than 5,000 students may nominate two athletes. The numbers increase to four athletes for schools with between 5,000 and 10,000 students; six athletes for schools with between 10,000 and 15,000 students; eight athletes for schools with between 15,000 and 20,000 students; and 10 athletes for schools with more than 20,000 students.

A panel of media representatives will determine the 10 finalists. The selection of each nominee will be weighted as follows: 60 percent based on athletic performance, 20 percent based on academic performance and 20 percent based on community involvement.

Once the 10 finalists are selected, the winner will be determined by the following formula: 25 percent based on a public vote, 25 percent based on a vote by dues-paying members of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, 25 percent based on a vote by members of the Arkansas sports media and 25 percent based on a vote by Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inductees.

Members of the Hall of Fame get to vote each year on inductees. Membership dues are $50 annually. Membership forms can be obtained by going to the organization’s website at www.arksportshalloffame.com.

The Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1959. Andrew Meadors of Little Rock is the organization’s president.

The Hall of Fame Class of 2012 will consist of six people from the regular category, three from the senior category and two from the posthumous category. The Hall of Fame also will induct the 1994 national championship basketball team from the University of Arkansas. This is the second time in its history for the Hall of Fame to induct a team. The 1964 national championship Razorback football team was inducted in 2010.

Those being inducted from the regular category are former Razorback basketball player Lee Mayberry, former Oaklawn Park track announcer Terry Wallace, former Newport High School head football coach Bill Keedy, former Razorback basketball player U.S. Reed, former Razorback football player “Light Horse” Harry Jones and Little Rock native and former Oklahoma State University head football coach Pat Jones.

Those being inducted from the senior category are former Forrest City star athlete Elmer “B” Lindsey, former college coach and NFL scout Bob Ford of Wynne and former Southern Arkansas University women’s basketball coach Margaret Downing.

Those being inducted from the posthumous category are former University of Central Arkansas head football and track coach Raymond Bright and 1892 Kentucky Derby winning jockey Alonzo “Lonnie” Clayton.

Tickets for the Feb. 3 induction banquet are $100 each and may be obtained by calling Jennifer Smith at (501) 663-4328 or Catherine Johnson at (501) 821-1021.

The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Museum on the west side of Verizon Arena is open each Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. It includes an 88-seat theater with a video highlighting the careers of Arkansas sports greats and a touch-screen kiosk with a database of all Hall of Fame inductees.

Tickets on Sale for ASHOF Induction Banquet

Tickets are now on sale for the annual induction banquet of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. The banquet will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3, at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock. Download and print the order form here.

Dinner tickets are $100 each with tables of 10 on sale for $1,000 each. Those desiring tickets should contact the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame office at (501) 663-4328 or Catherine Johnson at (501) 821-1021.

Checks should be made payable to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and mailed to the Hall of Fame office at #3 Verizon Way, North Little Rock, AR 72114.

Tickets also are available for a reception for the Class of 2012 for $30 each. The reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2, at the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Museum in Verizon Arena.

For only the second time in its history, the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame will induct an entire team. The 1994 national championship basketball team from the University of Arkansas will be inducted. The man who coached that team, Nolan Richardson, was inducted in 1998. Players Corliss Williamson and Scotty Thurman were inducted in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

The Class of 2012 also will include 11 individuals – six from the regular category, three from the senior category and two from the posthumous category.

Those being inducted from the regular category are former Razorback basketball star Lee Mayberry, former Oaklawn Park track announcer Terry Wallace, former Newport High School head football coach Bill Keedy, former Razorback basketball great U.S. Reed, former Razorback football standout “Light Horse” Harry Jones and Little Rock native and former Oklahoma State University head football coach Pat Jones.

Those being inducted from the senior category are former Forrest City star athlete Elmer “B” Lindsey, former college coach and NFL scout Bob Ford of Wynne and former Southern Arkansas University women’s basketball coach Margaret Downing.

Those being inducted from the posthumous category are former University of Central Arkansas head football coach Raymond Bright and 1892 Kentucky Derby winning jockey Alonzo “Lonnie” Clayton.

The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1959. Andrew Meadors of Little Rock is the organization’s president, and Ray Tucker serves as the executive director.

The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Museum on the west side of Verizon Arena is open each Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. It includes an 88-seat theater with a video that highlights the careers of Arkansas sports greats and a touch-screen kiosk with a database of all Hall of Fame inductees.

Members of the Hall of Fame vote each year on inductees. Membership dues are $50 annually. Membership forms can be obtained here.

“This is one of our best induction classes ever,” Tucker said. “The Thursday reception and the Friday induction banquet promise to be a fun series of events.”

Download and print the ticket order form here

Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame to Award Scholarships

The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame will again award two $1,000 scholarships to Arkansas high school seniors who plan to attend a college or university in the state. One scholarship will be awarded to a male, and one scholarship will be awarded to a female.

Anyone wishing to apply for a scholarship must submit an essay to the Hall of Fame for evaluation. The essays must concern how sports had a positive impact on the individual’s life. Applicants don’t have to have participated in a varsity sport.

Essays should be no longer than one page, single spaced. Essays longer than one page will be rejected. All essays must be typed, signed and dated.

At the top of the page, applicants should include name, address, home phone number, cell phone number, gender, high school, the name of the high school counselor, the phone number of the high school counselor and the name of the college or university the applicant plans to attend.

Applications should be mailed to:
Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame
Attention: Scholarships
#3 Verizon Arena Way
North Little Rock, AR 72114.

Essays may also be faxed to (501) 978-1645.

For more information, call (501) 663-4328.

Download the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Scholarship Form here.

Hall of Fame to Salute Steve Strange

The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame will hold its annual fall salute on Thursday, Oct. 27, when the organization honors prominent Conway businessman Stephen L. Strange Sr.

Called the “Roast & Toast of Big Steve,” the event will begin at 6 p.m. Oct. 27 in McCastlain Hall on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas. Tickets for the dinner are $75 each.

Checks should be made out to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and can be mailed to Ray Tucker, Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, 3 Verizon Arena Way, North Little Rock, Ark. 72114. Those desiring more information should call Catherine Johnson at (501) 821-1021 or email her at cjafund@swbell.net.

Among those who will be speaking at next month’s dinner are former basketball star Joe Kleine, former football star Keith Jackson, former football coach Larry Lacewell and recording artist Johnny Lee. Kleine, Jackson and Lacewell are past inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

“This promises to be a fun evening,” said Hall of Fame executive director Ray Tucker, who will serve as the master of ceremonies for the event. “Steve has done so much for sports in Arkansas in general and the Hall of Fame in particular. We’re delighted to be able to honor him.”

Last fall, the organization used its fall salute to honor Kleine, now an assistant basketball coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Two years ago, the Hall of Fame honored former Razorback football star and northwest Arkansas business leader Jim Lindsey during a dinner at Springdale.

The chairman of this year’s fall event is another well-known Arkansas business leader, John Allison, the chairman of Home BancShares.

Strange, a Hendrix College graduate, is the longtime president of American Management Corp. of Conway.

“This will be an evening to celebrate Steve’s birthday and his many years as a businessman, civic leader and philanthropist,” Allison said. “AMC was recently purchased by one of the largest holding companies in the insurance business. AMC was founded 70 years ago with Steve taking the helm in 1984. Through his hard work and service-oriented business plan, AMC grew. The AMC divisions serve insurance carriers, petroleum companies, franchise operations and independent insurance brokers and agents. Through Steve’s leadership, hundreds of jobs have been created, contributing significantly to economic development and quality of life in Conway and the surrounding region.”

Prior to taking over AMC, Strange held senior management positions with AIG, the Albert M. Bender Co. and the Healy Insurance Agency. In 2001, Arkansas Business recognized Strange as its Arkansas Business Executive of the Year. AMC has been named the Shell Oil Co. Quality Supplier of the Year and the Professional Insurance Association Managing Agency of the Year.

In February 2008, AMC was purchased by First Mercury Financial Corp., which is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. Strange remains as the president of AMC, which operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of First Mercury.

The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1959. Andrew Meadors of Little Rock is the organization’s president.

The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Museum on the west side of Verizon Arena is open each Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. It includes an 88-seat theater with a video highlighting the careers of Arkansas sports greats and a touch-screen kiosk with a database of all Hall of Fame inductees.

Members of the Hall of Fame vote each year on inductees. Membership dues are $50 annually. Membership forms can be obtained at this link.

Cliff Lee, Calvin Borel Among 11 Inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame

Clockwise from top left: Cliff Lee, Eternal Grand Master Haeng Ung Lee, Quinn Grovey, Calvin Borel, Dick Bumpas, Ben Cowins, Forrest Wood

Texas Rangers pitching ace Cliff Lee from Benton and famed thoroughbred jockey Calvin Borel, a regular rider at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, are among the 11 new inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame’s Class of 2011 was inducted Feb. 11, 2011 during the organization’s annual induction banquet at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

The Hall of Fame inducted six people from the regular category, two from the senior category and three from the posthumous category.

In addition to Lee and Borel, those being inducted from the regular category include former University of Arkansas All-American defensive tackle Dick Bumpas, former University of Arkansas running back Ben Cowins, former Arkansas Tech football sensation Bill “Sleepy” Curtis and former University of Arkansas quarterback Quinn Grovey.

The two Arkansans being inducted from the senior category are bass fishing pioneer Forrest Wood and former University of Arkansas basketball star Jerry Carlton.

Those being inducted from the posthumous category are former University of Central Arkansas men’s basketball coach and athletic director Cliff Horton, former Ouachita Baptist University women’s basketball coach Carolyn Moffatt and martial arts pioneer Haeng Ung Lee.

The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1959. Andrew Meadors is the organization’s president, and Ray Tucker serves as the executive director.

The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Museum on the west side of Verizon Arena is open each Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. It includes an 88-seat theater with a video highlighting the careers of Arkansas sports greats and a touch-screen kiosk with a database of all Hall of Fame inductees.

Members of the Hall of Fame vote each year on inductees. Membership dues are $50 annually. Membership forms can be obtained at this link.

The Class of 2011 consists of:

Regular Category
Calvin Borel – This world-class thoroughbred jockey first captured the riding title at Oaklawn in 1995. He has been a frequent rider at the track for almost two decades. Borel is one of the many talented jockeys to have come from the Cajun country of south Louisiana. He began racing horses on small tracks near his hometown of Catahoula. Borel is known for his ebullient personality, his emotionalism after big wins and his work ethic. His ability to go to the rail has led racing fans to nickname him “Calvin Bo-Rail.” He won the Kentucky Derby in 2007 aboard Street Sense and then finished a close second behind Curlin in the Preakness Stakes. A month later, Borel became only the sixth jockey in Churchill Downs history to win six races on a single card. Borel won the Kentucky Derby again in 2009, this time aboard a 50-1 long shot, Mine That Bird. He had won the Kentucky Oaks the previous day aboard Rachel Alexandra. Two weeks later, Borel won the Preakness Stakes aboard Rachel Alexandra, becoming the first jockey to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown while riding different horses. This year, Borel rode Super Saver to a Kentucky Derby win, becoming the first jockey to win racing’s premier event three times in a four-year span. On June 4, Borel became only the second jockey to win 1,000 career races at Churchill Downs, joining Pat Day, a 1999 inductee into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

Dick Bumpas – The Fort Smith native lettered three years for the Razorbacks. He was the Southwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 1970, earning consensus All-America honors at tackle. Bumpas went on to play tight end and linebacker for the Memphis Southmen of the World Football League and the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League. He began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1977. He’s now widely recognized as one of the top defensive coordinators in the country, having worked at Texas Christian University since 2004. TCU led the nation in defense in 2008 and 2009. Both times, Bumpas was among the five finalists for the Broyles Award, which recognizes the nation’s top assistant coach. Bumpas was inducted into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 2006.

Ben Cowins – Considered one of the best Razorback running backs of all time, Cowins was one of just 10 Arkansas players to earn All-Southwest Conference honors three times (1976-78). Though many of his school records were later broken by Darren McFadden, Cowins left Arkansas with what at the time was the school rushing record of 3,570 yards. He had 16 100-yard rushing games. The St. Louis native led the Southwest Conference with a 6.3-yard rushing average in 1976. He led his team in rushing in 1976 (1,162), 1977 (1,192) and 1978 (1,006). Cowins had 30 career rushing touchdowns and scored 180 points. Cowins, a team captain in 1978, was named to the UA’s All-Decade team for the 1970s. He played in the 1979 Hula Bowl and later played for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs along with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

Bill Curtis – The Marianna native known as “Sleepy”  was among the top college running backs in Arkansas in the 1960s. He was an All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference selection three times while playing at Arkansas Tech University and was named to the Arkansas Democrat’s All-Decade team for the 1960s. He twice led the AIC in rushing and gained more than 1,000 yards his senior season. In high school, Curtis lettered in five sports. Legendary Coach Red Parker, who was at Arkansas A&M (now the University of Arkansas at Monticello) at the time, once said of Curtis after a game against the Wonder Boys: “That little guy is great. I certainly won’t miss him next season.”

Quinn Grovey – As one of the most productive quarterbacks in University of Arkansas history, Grovey led the Razorbacks to back-to-back Southwest Conference titles in 1988 and 1989. Grovey, a native of Duncan, Okla., lettered four years while passing for 4,496 yards and rushing for 1,746 yards. He earned All-SWC honors in 1988 when he led the conference in passing accuracy at .633. He passed for 966 yards and four touchdowns that season while rushing for 515 yards and seven touchdowns. In 1989, Grovey accounted for five touchdowns in a memorable 45-39 victory over a University of Houston team led by Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware. Grovey was named to the school’s All-Century team and was inducted into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 2001. Arkansas recruited Grovey after he had led his high school teams to records of 12-2, 14-0 and 9-4 with two state championships along the way. Grovey is now part of the radio broadcast team for Razorback football games.

Cliff Lee – The Texas Rangers pitcher has been remarkable again in this postseason. Lee’s American Legion coach was former major league relief pitcher Wes Gardner, who helped develop him at an early age. Lee was drafted out of Benton High School in the eighth round of the 1997 major league draft but chose to attend Meridian Community College in Mississippi. Lee transferred to the University of Arkansas after two seasons at the community college and pitched one season for the Razorbacks. In the 2000 amateur draft, Lee was chosen in the fourth round by the Montreal Expos. He signed in July of that year. He played for the Class A Jupiter, Fla., team in 2001. In June 2002, the Expos traded Lee to the Cleveland Indians. He was called up to the major league club in September of that year and had his big league debut on Sept. 15, 2002. Lee won at least 14 games in each of his first three full seasons. Following the 2008 season, Lee was a near unanimous choice for the American League Cy Young Award as he went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA for the Indians. On July 29, 2009, just before the trading deadline, the Indians traded Lee to the Philadelphia Phillies. Lee posted a 2-0 record in the first two rounds of the playoffs and then pitched a complete game in the first game of the 2009 World Series as the Phillies beat the New York Yankees. He was the first pitcher since Deacon Phillippe in Game 1 of the 1903 World Series to pitch a complete World Series game with 10 or more strikeouts and no walks. Lee earned another victory as the Phillies won Game 5. The Yankees, however, went on to win the World Series. Lee was traded to the Seattle Mariners in December and traded again to the Texas Rangers on July 9. As of Oct. 22, he had 34 strikeouts and only one walk in the 2010 postseason with two wins against Tampa Bay and a win against the Yankees.

Senior Category
Jerry Carlton – The Sheridan native starred in both basketball and baseball at the University of Arkansas after being recognized as one of the top high school basketball players in the country at Sheridan. As a Razorback, he led the baseball team in batting three times with averages of .341, .375 and .382. In basketball, he became only the second player to that point in the school’s history to score more than 1,000 points and posted the highest field goal and free throw percentages to that point in Razorback history. Carlton’s free throw percentage was fifth in the country as a junior and second in the country as a senior. He earned All-Southwest Conference honors in basketball following the 1961 and 1962 seasons. Carlton was drafted out of college by both the St. Louis Hawks in basketball and the Cincinnati Reds in baseball. He chose to play professionally in the Reds organization. Carlton was inducted into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 2004.

Forrest Wood – The man known as the father of the bass boat already is a member of the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, the International Boating Hall of Fame, the National Marine Manufacturers Hall of Fame, the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame, the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame. Wood founded Ranger Boats in 1968 and built it into the largest manufacturer of bass boats in the country. The Flippin native became known at a young age as a skilled fishing guide on the White River, Buffalo River, Crooked Creek and Bull Shoals Lake. Ranger made six boats in its first year of operations. In 1969, 600 boats were built. By 1970, sales had topped 1,200 boats. In 1996, a major bass fishing tournament organization was renamed using Wood’s initials, FLW. Wood was appointed to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in 1998 and in 2005 had the commission’s Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center in Jonesboro named after him.

Posthumous Category
Cliff Horton – After lettering for three seasons in basketball at the University of Arkansas and helping lead the Razorbacks to the Southwest Conference championship in 1949, Horton began a long coaching career. He had successful stops at the high school level at St. Joe, Waldo, Crossett and Pine Bluff (where he was 221-68). Horton later was hired as head basketball coach at what’s now the University of Central Arkansas. His teams won 20 or more games six times in his 14 seasons, including two trips to the NAIA national tournament. His 24-4 team of 1958-59 was among the best in school history. Horton later served as UCA’s athletic director in the early 1970s. A number of Horton’s players such as Cliff Garrison, Monroe Ingram, John Hutchcraft and Joe Graham went on to successful coaching careers.

Eternal Grand Master Haeng Ung Lee – The founder, president and first grand master of the American Taekwondo Association was a pioneer in the field of martial arts. Lee was born in China after his family had left Korea. The family returned to Korea following World War II. Lee taught taekwondo to members of the South Korean military and later opened a school near a U.S. Air Force base. An American serviceman named Richard Reed became a friend and in 1962 sponsored Lee’s move to the United States. Lee co-founded the American Taekwondo Association in Omaha, Neb., in 1969 and moved the organization’s headquarters to Little Rock in 1977. Lee was an ambassador for Arkansas for almost three decades, and the ATA championships remain the largest annual convention in Little Rock. Lee died of cancer in October 2000.

Carolyn Moffatt – The Crossett native built a national women’s basketball powerhouse at Ouachita Baptist University, where she coached from 1965-84. She became the first female coach inducted into the NAIA Basketball Hall of Fame. She posted a record of 213-162 at Ouachita while taking her teams to tournaments across the country. She also held numerous national positions with the AAU through the years and served as a women’s basketball adviser to the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Coach Coleman: Back home in Pine Bluff

By Rex Nelson

It’s a steamy summer afternoon, and preseason drills have yet to begin at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. But things are hopping in the office of the UAPB head football coach, Pine Bluff native Monte Coleman.

Yes, that Monte Coleman.

The Monte Coleman who walked on at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and went on to set a school record with 22 interceptions.

The Monte Coleman who was chosen by the Washington Redskins in the 1979 NFL draft, becoming the first UCA player ever drafted.

The Monte Coleman who participated in 217 NFL games, trailing only Darrell Green in the number of games played for the Redskins.

The Monte Coleman who is one of just three men to have played 16 or more seasons for the storied franchise. Green and Sammy Baugh are the others.

The Monte Coleman who played in four Super Bowls, winning three of them.

The Monte Coleman who was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.

And, yes, the Monte Coleman who didn’t play much football as a young man.

“I did attempt to play some in junior high, but I was one of the smaller people on the team,” he says between the phone calls and the visitors who constantly walk through the door of his office. “I got more action in practice than I did in games. I was on the team at Pine Bluff Southeast, let’s put it that way. I just didn’t play much. I’ll never forget how embarrassed I was when they posted the rosters on the wall in the cafeteria and it showed that I weighed 99 pounds.”

His older brother, Sam, had been a standout football player at Pine Bluff High School. Monte decided to concentrate instead on baseball once he entered high school.

“I played league ball during the week and played on a team called the Eastside Panthers with a bunch of older guys on Sundays,” he says. “Coach Harold Tilley (who would go on to be head football coach at the University of Arkansas at Monticello) talked me into coming out for football during my senior year in high school. We had a lot of talent on that team. I was the backup safety and the second-team kicker. I even kicked a PAT in one JV game before a dislocated elbow ended my season.”

Sam Coleman was the quarterback at UCA and a good one. Despite his lack of experience, Monte Coleman decided to walk on at UCA as a freshman.

Here’s how the Log Cabin Democrat at Conway would later set the scene: “The year was 1975, and UCA people were feeling fat and sassy. That old moniker State College of Arkansas had just been shed in favor of the much more appealing University of Central Arkansas. Football was gaining momentum for the UCA Bears with head coach Ken Stephens, an alumnus, headed into his fourth season. Stephens and the Bears had a proven quarterback that brought excitement into the game when he stepped onto the field – Sam Coleman.

“And in August 1975, a none-too-impressive looking youngster walked into Bear digs and said he wanted to play. He was Monte Coleman, Sam Coleman’s younger brother. Sam had arrived a couple of years earlier with solid credentials from Pine Bluff High School. Monte had been sidelined with an injury and played just a few games for the Zebras. Monte was 6-1, about 160 pounds. He was an unknown, a walk-on.

“Monte Coleman was tried as wide receiver – he could run. That didn’t work, so Stephens and staff moved him to the defensive backfield, and things looked better. Stephens recalled, ‘It took him a year and a lot of work on the weights.’”

Coleman, now 52, says: “Those first few weeks of practice were the longest weeks of my life.”

When UCA’s starting cornerback was injured during the season, Coleman took advantage of the opportunity to gain some playing time. In one junior varsity game, he intercepted three passes.

In 1976, when Coleman was a sophomore, UCA made it to the NAIA national championship game before losing to Texas A&I at Kingsville, Texas.

“I was pretty well established by my sophomore season,” Coleman says. “That was because of my work ethic. I came back to Pine Bluff during the summer after that freshman year. There was a hole-in-the-wall gym that only had free weights. I practically lived there. I remember having played cards with a guy named Ernest Barnes out of Turrell. I took off my shirt, and he said, ‘Man, where is your chest?’ It made me mad. That’s when I decided to start lifting weights.

Coleman increased his weight to 185 pounds for his sophomore season without losing any speed. He was timed at 4.5 in the 40-yard dash. He moved from cornerback to safety. By his junior year, he was up to 195 pounds and beginning to attract the attention of NFL scouts. By his senior season, Coleman weighed 210 pounds. Just before the season began, Stephens informed Coleman that he would be moved from the secondary to linebacker. Coleman wasn’t happy.

“We needed him closer to the line of scrimmage,” Stephens would later say. “I did something to Monte he didn’t like, but it worked out. Moving him to linebacker turned out to be maybe the best thing I ever did.”

The Bears went 9-2 in 1978 and made the NAIA national playoffs, losing to Western State College of Colorado.

“I wasn’t very happy about the decision of the coaching staff, but I agree it was one of the best moves made for me,” Coleman told the Arkansas Sports Club at Conway in December 2007. “Jack Pardee (then the coach of the Redskins) called on draft day and told me I would be playing linebacker. God knew what he was doing. … He was setting the stage for something great.”

Coleman was selected in the 11th of 12 rounds as the 289th overall pick. It wasn’t a surprise to Coleman when the call came on draft day.

“I had expected to be drafted,” he says. “The scouts had told me I would be taken in the draft, not as a free agent. I think I would have gone even higher had I stayed in the secondary.”

The confident former UCA Bear went to Redskins training camp in Carlisle, Pa., also expecting to make the team. There was nothing easy, though, about those first weeks of training camp.

“It was extremely hot during camp,” he says. “There were these trains that would come through Carlisle, and every time we heard them we would joke that we were going to get on one and ride it back home. I made it through rookie practices. Then, the veterans showed up, and we were just in awe to be practicing with these guys we had grown up watching on TV. I remember going to practice one day with a bunch of pads on my arms. Some of the veterans kidded me about that, so I went back to the dressing room and took them off.”

Coleman, however, says the veterans generally were nice to him, especially star quarterback Joe Theismann, who had been a member of the team since 1974. Coleman earned quite a bit of playing time on special teams as a rookie and made an impression on his coaches. The Redskins went 10-6 that year, finishing third in the NFC East. Coleman had gained the attention of Pardee, a former linebacker who had been an All-American at Texas A&M before beginning a long career with the Rams and Redskins in the NFL.

Coleman was starting at linebacker by his second year, though a 6-10 record cost Pardee his job at the end of that 1980 campaign. Coleman got his first NFL interception that season off Ron Jaworski of the Eagles.

Joe Gibbs was hired as head coach, and the team improved to 8-8 in 1981. In the strike-shortened season of 1982, Washington went 8-1 during the regular season and beat the Dolphins, 27-17, in Super Bowl XVII. Washington made the Super Bowl again the following year, but the Redskins were blown out by the Raiders, 38-9. Coleman played on teams that would win two more Super Bowls – 42-10 over the Broncos after the 1987 season and 37-24 over the Bills following the 1991 season.

“All the Super Bowls were memorable,” Coleman says. “I remember that Jack Kent Cooke (the team owner) was throwing a party in Beverly Hills after a Super Bowl. I decided to wear a suit I had bought at a thrift store here in Pine Bluff. I got on the elevator with an elderly gentleman. He looked at me and said, ‘That’s one nice looking suit.’ I wish every player could be part of a Super Bowl. The experience is second to none.”

Gibbs retired following the 1992 season. The Redskins had lost to the 49ers in the divisional playoff game after having defeated the Vikings in the wild card game. Things were changing in Washington. Richie Petitbon was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach for the 1993 season. The aging Redskins went 4-12, and Petitbon was dismissed. Norv Turner was hired to replace him, and the Redskins were 3-13 in his first season. Football had ceased to be fun for Coleman.

“We had to report on March 15 for offseason workouts,” he remembers. “I would always start working out in February. That would put me a month ahead of everybody else. But February arrived in 1995, and I had no desire to work out. Coach Gibbs was gone. Coach Petitbon had been fired. All the old guys were gone. It was as if I had left and gone to a new team. It just didn’t feel the same. That 16th season had been the least fun I’d had as a player.”

For Monte Coleman, the fire was no longer burning brightly.

Coleman had done promotional work for a computer company called Decision Support Systems. He was hired as the vice president of public relations and later promoted to vice president of sales and marketing. After almost seven years with the company, Coleman says he had a higher calling – the ministry.

“I had grappled with that for quite some time,” he says. “I was running from it at first. I finally determined it was what God wanted me to do. Not only that, we would move back to Pine Bluff.”

The move represented quite a change for Coleman’s wife Yvette, a native of Warrenton, Va.

“The kids were all young enough to adjust,” Coleman says. “It was hardest on my wife.”

Coleman had become accustomed to being hounded for autographs in the Washington area. In Pine Bluff, it was different.

“In Pine Bluff, most people look at me as a preacher instead of a football player, and that’s all part of God’s plan,” he would later say in a speech at Conway. “God blessed this guy who didn’t play high school football, walked on at UCA, was drafted in the 11th round. It’s a pretty good story, and I thank God for it.”

Yet football was still important to Coleman. It was in his blood. So in addition to his work in the ministry, Coleman decided to become an assistant coach at UAPB in 2003 under Lee Hardman.

“I had applied for the job of assistant athletic director in charge of marketing,” Coleman now says. “Craig Curry (the UAPB athletic director at the time) asked me to coach the linebackers instead.”

Hardman was replaced by Mo Forte following the 2003 season, but one member of Hardman’s staff remained – Monte Coleman. He coached the linebackers in 2004-05 and was the defensive coordinator in 2006-07. Prior to the 2007 season, Curry was replaced as athletic director by Louis “Skip” Perkins, who came to the school after having served as director of athletic development at North Carolina Central University. Perkins was 35 at the time, making him one of the youngest athletic directors in NCAA Division I. He was looking to make his mark. And at UAPB, like most Southern universities, no sport is bigger than football.

The day after the 2007 season ended, Perkins removed Forte as head coach. UAPB had defeated Texas Southern in its final game that weekend. Even though the Golden Lions had finished the year with three consecutive wins, Perkins felt it was time to make a change. Forte had gone 21-22 during his four seasons as head coach.

“Continuity was important to me,” Perkins said at the time Coleman’s hiring was announced. “We could have gone outside and looked for this person or that person, but why look that far if you’ve got somebody in your back yard? He was right here.”

“We had gotten back late the night before from Texas,” Coleman remembers. “My home phone kept ringing early that Sunday morning, and I kept ignoring it. Finally, Tim Stubbs, our radio play-by-play guy, called my cell phone to tell me Mr. Perkins was trying to reach me. I was offered the job over the telephone and accepted immediately.”

UAPB went 3-9 in Coleman’s first season as head coach and 5-5 in 2009.

“It’s not where you are, it’s the direction in which you’re going,” Coleman says on this summer day. “I feel we’re headed in the right direction.”

Coleman brought in three new assistant coaches following the 2009 season, including former Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints star Dennis Winston.

“It’s fun right now,” the head coach says. “We have great coaches and good kids. I don’t sit back and dream of going somewhere else. This is where I want to be. It’s a chance to instill in our players what was taught to me.”

When those football juices are really flowing, does Coleman ever demonstrate how to make a tackle or throw a forearm? He smiles.

“Every now and then I go a little crazy,” he says.

Perkins likes what he sees.

“He’s a natural leader,” the athletic director says. “He has this strong connection to both football and the community. When I made Coach Coleman our head coach, I viewed it as a chance to take this program in a new direction. I had watched how he interacts with people. I knew he would be a leader who would roll his sleeves up and go to work for us. He’s a great fit for UAPB.”

It didn’t hurt that Perkins, whose father was a Washington native, grew up a Redskins fan.

“You just don’t meet anyone around here who doesn’t respect him,” Perkins says of his head coach. “I knew he wouldn’t turn things around overnight. But he realizes how important football is to this school and this city. Football has long been a part of his life. The position is tailor-made for him.”

Thomas May, chairman of Simmons First National Corp., knows what having Coleman as the head football coach at UAPB means to Pine Bluff and all of Southeast Arkansas.

“Monte Coleman is not only an outstanding coach, he is also a tremendous role model for young people,” May says. “He believes in getting involved in our community. Most importantly, he believes in getting involved in order to make a difference. He’s a true leader and a good friend.”

Perkins puts it this way when it comes to Coleman’s community involvement: “It’s not just about fundraising, it’s about friend raising.”

If there’s anything Coleman understands, it’s hard work.

“There are two kinds of pain,” he says. “The pain of discipline and the pain of regret. I share that with our kids. Sure it hurts when it’s 100 degrees and they’re out there running. But it doesn’t hurt nearly as much as the pain of regret.”

At age 52, Monte Coleman has few regrets. Having been raised in Pine Bluff as one of seven children, the hometown hero is making a difference in the place he loves most.

Joe Foley’s road to success

Joe Foley

Throughout his two years as an employee of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, something ate at Joe Foley. During those long days on the job, he thought constantly about how much he enjoyed sports and how he would like to be able to make a living in a sports-related field. The thought rarely left his mind.

Sitting courtside this March at the Lloyd Noble Center on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, Foley was far removed in one sense from those Ozark highways where he had once worked. In another sense, though, the women’s head basketball coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has never forgotten his roots, the people who helped him along the way and the hard work it took to get where he is now. As his team made the school’s first NCAA Tournament appearance, Joe Foley remembered just what it took to get there.

On the wall of Foley’s office at the Stephens Center on the UALR campus is a caricature of John Widner, the 2003 Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee who gave Foley his first career break and served as a mentor.

It’s quiet at 8 a.m. on an early April Tuesday at the Stephens Center. The excitement of the basketball postseason has subsided. Downstairs, athletes wander in and out of the training room. In the office next to Foley’s, assistant coach Robert Dallimore works silently at his computer. Looking back on the past month, Foley smiles. It’s evident he’s enjoying himself more than ever at age 54. It’s evident he feels his UALR program is headed in the right direction. And it’s equally evident that this is a man who still has many things he wants to accomplish. Having already been inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, this is a coach who shows no signs of slowing down more than eight years after having reached that pinnacle.

Foley, the son of an Arkansas state trooper, loved playing basketball and baseball while growing up at Melbourne in Izard County. As soon as the basketball season ended during Foley’s sophomore year in high school, his family moved into a rental house at Harrison while a new family home was being built in the Boone County countryside outside of town. Foley had planned to finish high school at Harrison, but he was in for a surprise prior to the start of his junior year.

“When we moved into our new house, we discovered that the road that ran out front was the dividing line between the Harrison School District and the Alpena School District,” he says. “We were on the Alpena side of the road. The folks at the school district told us there was no choice. I would go to school at Alpena.”

So it was that Joe Foley began his junior year of high school at Alpena, a town bisected by U.S. Highway 62 between Harrison and Berryville. It’s a close-knit community that features old stone buildings in its tiny downtown and homes along picturesque Long Creek. It was at Alpena that Foley met Chris Fields, who quickly became his girlfriend and, as soon as they both had graduated from high school, became his wife.

With a new wife and bills to pay, Foley was happy to get the Highway Department job right out of high school. In the hardscrabble hills of north Arkansas, Highway Department jobs are good jobs. But, as noted, something was eating at him. With each passing day, it gnawed ever deeper.

“I would go to basketball games and baseball games, and it would just about kill me that I wasn’t out there playing,” he says. “I knew I had to get involved in sports again.”

He talked to the coaches at the community college in Harrison – now known simply as North Arkansas College – and was invited to play baseball and basketball. Foley attended class, played both sports and somehow managed to still hold down a part-time job at night for the Highway Department. His wife attended class and worked at the Harrison Daily Times for legendary Arkansas newspaperman J.E. Dunlap.

“Chris wanted to teach special education, so we went on to the University of Central Arkansas after two years because they had a good program in that area,” Foley says. “She wanted to teach, and I wanted to be a coach. We had made up our minds.”

During his senior year at UCA, Foley was assigned to be a practice teacher at Morrilton High School under Widner, already an icon in the state’s coaching ranks. He was determined to soak up every bit of knowledge that he could from Widner. Ironically, Widner was an Alpena native and a distant cousin of Foley’s father.

Widner’s coaching career had begun in the 1950s at Omaha in Boone County. There were later coaching stops at Green Forest, Flippin, Leachville and then Morrilton. Widner would coach for 14 years at Morrilton, and his Devil Dogs would make six trips to the state title game. His 1974 team won the state championship with a 32-3 record. Widner averaged 22 wins a season at the Conway County school.

“Working with Coach Widner was when I found out that I didn’t know nearly as much about basketball as I thought I knew,” Foley says. “I was hungry to know more, though. Each time I could get on a bus to go to a game, I took advantage of the opportunity. If they were coming east through Conway, they would stop and pick me up. Coach Widner later told me that he had never had a practice teacher who wanted to go to every game.”

Almost three decades after Widner’s coaching career had begun at Omaha, Foley followed in his footsteps by starting his own head coaching career at a small north Arkansas school. Foley began work in the fall of 1979 at Oxford, an Izard County hamlet between Melbourne and Salem on Arkansas Highway 9. There were 153 students from kindergarten through the 12th grade, and Foley coached all four teams – junior high girls, junior high boys, senior high girls and senior high boys. He took his senior girls’ team to Oxford’s first state tournament appearance in almost two decades.

After two seasons at Oxford, Foley answered his phone one day. There was a familiar voice on the line. It was John Widner.

“I had always told Coach Widner that if he had an opening at Morrilton, I wanted to coach there,” Foley says. “I was there three years. I coached the eighth-grade teams the first year. I coached the ninth-grade teams the second year. I was Coach Widner’s assistant the third year.”

Following Foley’s third year at Morrilton, Widner was contacted by nearby Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. Tech desperately needed someone to resurrect its men’s basketball program, and Widner seemed an obvious choice. He decided to try his hand at college coaching and asked Foley to come along for the ride. In his first season at Tech, Widner led the Wonder Boys to 22 wins and the 1984-85 Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championship. It was the school’s first conference title in 23 years.

Was moving from the high school coaching ranks to the college level a difficult adjustment for Foley?

“I was so young and green back then that I didn’t know any better,” he says. “The great thing was getting to know those AIC coaches like Cliff Garrison, Don Dyer and Bill Vining (all Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inductees). Every game in the old AIC was a clinic.”

Three years into his tenure at Tech, Widner decided he had done what he had been hired to do: He had turned the program around. He retired as the head coach with the most wins in Arkansas basketball history — a combined record of 875-197. Foley hoped to remain at Tech as the assistant men’s coach. Suddenly, his career path shifted. The women’s head coaching job came open at the same time, and the Tech administration decided to give Foley a chance. It’s a decision those administrators would never regret.

“I figured I would coach the women for two or three years and then get back into men’s basketball,” Foley says. “But everything kept getting better and better. After a few years, I had no desire to go back to coaching men. The women’s game is more of a team game. They realize how important it is to set those screens and pass the basketball. I like that style of play.”

It was the fall of 1987 when Foley became the head women’s coach at the Russellville university. By the time he left Arkansas Tech in the spring of 2003, he had led the Golden Suns to NAIA national championships in 1992 and 1993, to six NCAA Division II national tournament appearances and to two NCAA Division II South Regional championships. Foley also led Tech to 20 or more victories for 16 consecutive seasons. He compiled a 456-81 record and won 13 conference titles, including capturing five straight titles on two occasions. In the decade of the ’90s, his teams were 285-53.

He and his family seemed content and settled for life after almost 16 years in Russellville.

“I had turned down several Division I jobs,” Foley says. “Russellville was a nice town, and I wanted to raise my kids there. We were happy.”

At the same time, though, Foley had begun to feel a strange restlessness. It was a bit like the feeling that had come over him way back in those Highway Department days.

“I’m looking for the right word,” he says. “Monotony is not the right word, but it’s close. People were beginning to take the winning a bit for granted. Also, in the back of my mind, I had always wondered how I could do against the best coaches in the country at the Division I level. I had that urge to go against the best.”

Down the road in Little Rock, a relatively new arrival to the state had been watching Foley. He was Chris Peterson, the UALR athletic director who had come to the Sun Belt Conference school in 2000 from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. After more than a decade of not having women’s basketball, UALR had resurrected its program in the fall of 1999. Tracy Stewart-Lange struggled to records of 5-23, 6-22, 8-19 and 5-23 in her four years at the helm.

“I wasn’t actively looking to leave Tech,” Foley says. “And I knew I couldn’t recruit quality players to play in the old UALR field house. Coach Peterson told me that Jack Stephens (a 2000 Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee) was about to fund a new on-campus facility. I had a friend who worked over at Stephens Inc. I called him, and he confirmed that something big was going to happen. Still, I knew it would take at least two to three years to turn things around there.”

Indeed, Stephens, the famed Little Rock financier who had once chaired the Augusta National Golf Club, donated $22.4 million, the largest gift in the history of the university. The $25 million Jack Stephens Center now ranks among the finest basketball facilities of its size.

“If there’s a nicer, more efficient 5,600-seat basketball venue in the country, I would like to see it,” Peterson says. “And that’s the way it should be with Jack Stephens’ name on it.”

Foley’s wife initially was resistant to making a move from Russellville to Little Rock.

“After about a week, she agreed to it,” Foley says. “Now, she loves UALR. At Russellville, we had gone from having around 400 people at each game to having 2,000. I was convinced we could go from a fan base of 200 at UALR to 4,000 people if we were given enough time. Finally, after our trip to the NCAA Tournament this year, people around town are talking about women’s basketball. That’s what I dreamed would happen.”

On April 16, 2003, Foley was introduced as UALR’s new coach. On Nov. 21, 2003, he won a Division I contest for the first time against Tennessee-Martin. In February 2004, Alicia Cash (now one of Foley’s assistant coaches) became the first UALR women’s basketball player to earn All-Sun Belt Conference honors. And in March 2005, UALR posted its first postseason victory with a 50-48 win over Denver in the first round of the conference tournament.

Despite these accomplishments, UALR was still playing in the old facility those first two seasons. Overall, it was a constant struggle for a coach accustomed to success. The Trojans went 10-17 the first year and 10-19 the second season. The conference record was 3-11 each season.

“I might have had doubts from time to time those first two years, but I wasn’t about to admit it,” Foley says.

By the 2005-06 season, the first played in the Stephens Center, UALR had improved to 13-15 overall and 5-9 in conference play. During the 2006-07 season, Foley led his team to a 21-10 overall record and a 12-6 conference mark, placing the Trojans second in the Sun Belt’s West Division. UALR finished third in the nation in scoring defense that season, and Foley won his 500th career game against North Texas. There was at last light at the end of the tunnel.

Foley’s Trojans won their first Sun Belt West Division title in 2007-08 with a 23-9 overall record and a 14-4 conference mark. For the first time in school history, the Trojans played in the WNIT. A year later, UALR won its second consecutive West Division title and made yet another WNIT appearance. The Trojans were 26-7 overall and 16-2 in the Sun Belt. The 26 wins were the most in school history. So were the 16 conference victories. Foley’s team set eight school records, and UALR finished the season ranked in the top five in the NCAA in four categories, leading the nation in turnover margin while ranking second in turnovers per game, third in assist-to-turnover ratio and third in scoring defense for a third straight season.

This past season saw UALR win a third consecutive Sun Belt West Division title. Heartbreak occurred in Hot Springs on March 9 when a layup by Alysha Clark with 1.8 seconds remaining in overtime lifted Middle Tennessee to a 70-68 win over the Trojans in the title game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Summit Arena. The automatic NCAA bid was out. With a record of 26-6, all Foley and his players could do was wait.

Six days later, it was announced that UALR had received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“This is what they have worked for,” Foley said on the day the bid was announced. “This is what it is all about right here. You can’t get any higher than this.”

The Hall of Famer now could see the fruits of his labor at UALR. So could basketball fans across Arkansas. Joe Foley had done it – he had built a power at the Division I level.

“This is a sign that great effort is rewarded,” Peterson, the athletic director, said when the bid was announced.

In Norman on March 21, with a national television audience looking on, No. 11 seed UALR shocked No. 6 seed Georgia Tech, 63-53. Two days later, No. 3 seed Oklahoma prevailed 60-44 before the home crowd to end the Trojans’ season at 27-7.

Looking back on the season as a whole, it’s apparent that UALR women’s basketball has arrived on the national scene. Foley, of course, had arrived long before as one of the nation’s best college coaches. He was named the Russell Athletic/WBCA Regional Coach of the Year, while junior forward Chastity Reed became the first UALR women’s player to earn Associated Press honorable mention All-American honors. Reed set eight single-season school records this season and six career records. She finished the season ranked first in the country in field goals made with 346, second in total points with 842 and fourth in scoring average.

Foley already is looking forward to the 2010-11 season.

“We can continue to build our fan base if we’ll put a winner on the floor each season and go to the NCAA Tournament on a fairly consistent basis,” he says. “We’ve been fortunate to take a step forward each year. I want to continue doing that. Hopefully, I have another 10 years or so of coaching left in me. And I hope it will be right here at UALR.”

Foley has come a long way from those two years of working for the Highway Department in far north Arkansas. One thing hasn’t changed – the fire that drove him to attend college and then begin coaching young people. With a career record of 586-165 and a record at UALR of 130-84, there are still hurdles Joe Foley wants to clear.

- Rex Nelson

Hall of Fame inducts Class of 2010

Jerry Jones with the 1964 Arkansas Razorback national championship football team

A crowd of more than 1,000 people filled the floor of the Verizon Arena in North Little Rock as the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame held its 52nd induction banquet on Friday, Feb. 19.

For the first time, the Hall of Fame inducted a team – the 1964 national championship football team from the University of Arkansas.

Posthumous inductees were Alene Crabtree and Bill Ferrell.

The other members of the Class of 2010 were Leslie O’Neal, Rhonda Thigpen, Leotis Harris, Nelson Catalina, Charlie Flowers, Jimmy Culp and Scotty Thurman.

Not much was expected of the 1964 Razorbacks after the team had struggled to a 5-5 record the previous year. But the Hogs went undefeated, ending the season with a win over Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl. A key game came early in the season against the University of Texas. The Razorbacks built a 7-0 lead as Ken Hatfield returned a punt for a touchdown. They then answered a Texas touchdown when Fred Marshall threw a touchdown pass to Bobby Crockett. Texas scored again and went for two, but a pass was incomplete and the Razorbacks were 5-0 on the season.

Trailing 7-3 against Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl, the Razorbacks mounted a late drive that ended with a Bobby Burnett touchdown with 4:41 remaining in the game. Nebraska’s final scoring threat ended with a quarterback sack by Jim Williams.

Texas defeated previously undefeated Alabama in the Orange Bowl that night, giving Arkansas the national championship trophies presented by the Football Writers Association of American, the Helms Athletic Foundation and other organizations.

Ken and Dick Hatfield, both members of the 1964 team, were the honorary co-chairmen of this year’s banquet. The Hatfield brothers are Helena natives.

Among the other inductees:

• Crabtree coached girls’ basketball at Alma from 1947-84. Her teams won state championships in 1976 and 1979. Crabtree had an overall career record of 688-291. She also was one of the state’s top track coaches. She was inducted into the Arkansas High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 1995.
• Ferrell served as the head trainer and head baseball coach at the University of Arkansas. He was a veteran of four football coaching staffs as the trainer and is an inductee into the National Trainers Hall of Fame.
• O’Neal was a six-time All-Pro selection during his 12 years in the NFL. He was picked in the first round by the San Diego Chargers in 1986 and had 136 sacks during his NFL career. He played for San Diego, St. Louis and Kansas City. In college, he was the fifth all-time leading tackler at Oklahoma State University and was the Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year in 1984. He was a two-time All American selection in college.
• Thigpen is one of the most successful volleyball coaches in the state’s history, having won consistently at the high school and college levels. In the decade of the ‘90s, her Henderson State University teams went 285-140. She earlier had compiled a record of 271-30 at Arkadelphia High School. Her teams there set a state record with 68 consecutive victories. She was a three-year starter in basketball at Ouachita Baptist University.
• Harris was an All-American in 1977 as a guard for the University of Arkansas. He was named to the Razorbacks’ All-Century Team. He was an All-Southwest Conference player twice and later played for the Green Bay Packers in the NFL. Harris had an outstanding career in high school at Little Rock Hall as a defensive lineman, but he was moved to the offensive side of the ball in college.
• Catalina’s basketball teams at Turrell went 100-14 in his three years as a player there. As a college player, he helped lead Ouachita Baptist University to three Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championships. He also played on baseball teams at Ouachita that won three AIC titles. As head basketball coach at Arkansas State University, his teams won 188 games in 11 seasons.
• Flowers played football for the legendary Johnny Vaught at the University of Mississippi. He averaged 7.4 yards per carry, the highest in school history. Flowers was inducted into the College Hall of Fame in 1997. He played on Rebel teams that had a combined record of 45-8-1. The Marianna native played professional football for New York and San Diego in the AFL. He was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.
• Culp starred in football, basketball and track at what is now Southern Arkansas University. The Redfield native once scored 40 of his basketball team’s 45 points in a game. As a high school basketball coach, Culp led his team at North Little Rock to a 32-3 record in 1964-65. He also coached at Bald Knob and Searcy.
• Thurman hit the most memorable shot in University of Arkansas basketball history when his three-point shot propelled Arkansas to a victory over Duke in the 1994 national championship game. He led the Razorbacks in three-point shots for three consecutive seasons. He played for the U.S. team in the Goodwill Games and played professionally overseas. He made all-star teams in Greece and Cyprus.