{"id":26650,"date":"2014-03-10T02:06:24","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T07:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=26650"},"modified":"2014-03-10T02:06:24","modified_gmt":"2014-03-10T07:06:24","slug":"highlights-and-reflections-of-the-arkansas-sports-hall-of-fame-induction-banquet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2014\/03\/10\/highlights-and-reflections-of-the-arkansas-sports-hall-of-fame-induction-banquet\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights and reflections of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet"},"content":{"rendered":"

McCollum’s Column: Highlights and reflections of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet<\/strong><\/p>\n

March 1, 2014<\/p>\n

By David McCollum<\/p>\n

LITTLE ROCK \u2014 What was unspoken spoke loudly Friday night at the induction banquet for the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

When he played basketball for Arkansas School for the Deaf, Bennie Fuller once scored 102 points in a basketball game in 1971. He averaged 50.9 points a game (before the 3-point line) during his senior year. He\u2019s the all-time leading scorer in Arkansas high school basketball history.<\/p>\n

With Emogene Nutt, mother of Houston and widow<\/span> of his coach (Houston Nutt Sr.) at the deaf school, translating, Fuller signed his acceptance speech, a first for the event in its 56th year.<\/p>\n

What happened moments later went beyond words \u2014 and gestures.<\/p>\n

Fuller lost his home and all of his possessions in last year\u2019s tornado in Moore, Okla.<\/p>\n

Emogene Nutt surprised him with a scrapbook chronicling his high school career, \u201cso your kids and grandkids can really know you averaged 50 points<\/span> game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Ray Tucker, the outgoing executive director of ASHOF, on behalf of the Arkansas Activities Association, presented Fuller with a duplicate of his Most Valuable Player plaque from the 1971 high school all-star game plus a commemorative basketball.<\/p>\n

Standing ovation.<\/p>\n

The tangible represented the intangible.<\/p>\n

That was a theme for the evening.<\/p>\n

Pro golfer Ken Duke awakened at 4 a.m. Friday, teed off at 7:30 a.m. for<\/span> a round<\/span> in the Honda Classic in Florida, then caught a private jet in order to attend the ceremony at the Statehouse Convention Center. He arrived about 15 minutes before the program began, then slipped out early to return to Florida for the final two rounds.<\/p>\n

Holding up his plaque, Duke said, \u201cI don\u2019t care about golf scores right now. Golf is secondary to something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standing ovation.<\/p>\n

All of the 11 inductees filled tables with family and friends to share the moments.<\/p>\n

Don Campbell, one of the most successful high school coaches in Arkansas history with stops at Corning, Sheridan and Wynne, probably drew the largest (or at least the most vocal) group of supporters.<\/p>\n

They had plenty to celebrate beyond the tangible.<\/p>\n

Diagnosed in 2008 with colon cancer, Campbell, who lives in retirement in Vilonia, has had six major surgeries plus chemotherapy since then. For two years, he has been cancer free.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day is a blessing,\u201d he said. Pointing to a large group of former players, he said, \u201cOnce you play for me, you\u2019re mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standing ovation.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Strack Mathis, the first former St. Joseph athlete ever inducted into the state sports hall, was described in a video by her college coach, Joe Foley, as the best player he has ever coached, \u201cone of the toughest kids I have ever coached.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s saying a lot from a person considered one of the best basketball coaches to ever labor in the state.<\/p>\n

Mathis thanked a bunch of people in her acceptance speech but<\/span> didn\u2019t forget her roots at St. Joseph, a Class B school and far off the radar in Arkansas sports at the time.<\/p>\n

She fondly recalled the fundamental instruction given to her in the salad years of her career by her high school coach, the late Kathryn Mourot, and the work Joe Mallett, boys coach at the time, put in to get her<\/span> the chance to play college basketball. She was eventually a three-time All-American at Arkansas Tech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose high school coaches instilled<\/span> the integrity and work ethic in me that goes beyond sports,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Conway\u2019s Ken Stephens, who has coached a who\u2019s who of coaches including<\/span> former coaches Barry Switzer, Larry Lacewell and current head coaches Monte Coleman, Bill Keopple and Charlie Strong, was No. 10 of 11 to speak.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re No. 10 out of 11, the audience holds to a stricter observance of the three-minute mandate (or suggestion) for acceptance speeches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s getting late, isn\u2019t it?\u201d he said. \u201cHow do you condense a 43-year coaching career to three minutes? … But it was not about wins and losses, but the people you go through life with.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Bazzel<\/span>, promoter and idea man extraordinaire<\/span> (including the creation of the Little Rock Touchdown Club and Broyles Awars<\/span>), said that as a 17-year-old in Pensacola, Fla., he prayed about his college choice. \u201cI prayed that I wanted to go to a place where I can be heavily involved in the community when I leave football. I feel tonight is an affirmation of that answer to prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his Razorback uniform was more than a tangible jersey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I walked onto the field, I thought of the 6-year-old kid in the stands who wanted to be a Razorback someday; I thought of the farmer who had worked in the fields all week and the game was the relief,\u201d he said. \u201cI wore that uniform like a badge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other inductees were former basketball star Jim \u201cBad News\u201d Barnes, basketball coaches Gary Blair and Alvy Early, football star Dennis \u201cDirt\u201d Winston and the late Rollin Razorbacks coach Harry Vines. They or those representing them expressed similar thoughts and sentiments, one musically.<\/p>\n

Maybe Campbell best punctuated the evening in reading a congratulatory email from a former player who lives in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real crux of the matter is the difference you make in the lives of young athletes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He held up his plaque in one hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, he held up the printed copy of the words of praise from a former player in a faraway state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis here is a great honor also.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Sports columnist David McCollum can be reached at 501-505-1235 or david.mccollum@thecabin.net or follow him on twitter @dmaclcd)<\/p>\n

SOURCE:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/thecabin.net\/interact\/commentary\/2014-03-01\/mccollums-column-highlights-and-reflections-arkansas-sports-hall-fame#.Ux1iivldWVM<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

McCollum’s Column: Highlights and reflections of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet March 1, 2014 By David McCollum LITTLE ROCK \u2014 What was unspoken spoke loudly Friday night at the induction banquet for the Arkansas Sports Hall of…<\/p>\n

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