McCollum's Column: Stars, bright and obscured, glow during induction
NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Treasures were uncovered Friday night — a few long forgotten, many forever cherished.
The induction banquet for the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame is one time the state comes together as one body — Razorbacks, Red Wolves, Bears, Tigers, Riderettes and the gamut — to celebrate a heritage as rich as Delta soil.
“Two things this state has seemed to produce in inordinate amounts compared to our size — entrepreneurs who have made a national impact and athletes who have excelled on a national and world stage in almost every sport,” said Gov. Mike Beebe before 1,400 at Verizon Arena, the largest crowd in the 46-year history of the event.
There was applause for glamor in the spotlight and glitter in the shadows of history.
The legacy of one of the honorees was long buried in the vault of a misguided culture. Alonzo “Lonnie” Clayton in 1892 became the youngest jockey (age 15) to ever win the Kentucky Derby. An African-American, he was one of his great riders of his time who was eventually banished from the sport’s major tracks because of race.
He moved to North Little Rock with his parents at age 10 and later built his family a
Queen Anne house in the city. It was during research of the history of that house that his story of greatness in the early days of the sport (he won the 15th running of the Derby) were uncovered.
So, a plaque given posthumously represented new life and a wrong partly righted.
“Once and for all, we’ve established the identity of Arkansas’ only Kentucky Derby winner,” said Suzanne Jackson, representing North Little Rock.
In a wonderfully creative touch during the presentation, inductee Terry Wallace, one of the most recognizable voices in the state after calling 20,191 consecutive races as the announcer at Oakland Park, described another one. He presented a fantasy call of Clayton’s 19th-century Kentucky Derby winning effort, aboard a thoroughbred named Ezra.
“Terry told more than 20,000 short stories, one furlong at a time,” said Steve Powell in a video presentation.
The biggest sparkle to an evening of stars were the two greatest shots and one of the greatest teams in University of Arkansas basketball history.
Inductee U.S. Reed hit a shot from beyond halfcourt with a second left to give the Razorbacks an upset win over Louisville, the defending national champion, in the second round of the 1981 NCAA tournament.
Then, there was Scotty Thurman’s last minute, high-arcing, 3-pointer against Duke that gave the Hogs a win over Duke and the national title in 1994. That 1994 team became the second team inducted (the 1964 Razorback football team was the first).
“I heard coach (Eddie Sutton) yelling, ‘U.S., what are you doing ... good shot,’” Reed said.
“I had seen Scotty make that rainbow-type shot over an outstretched arm several times in practice,” said Nolan Richardson, the UA coach at the time. “It was not a bad shot. It was a high-percentage shot.”
As the team was recognized, Richardson drew the loudest and warmest ovation. University of Central Arkansas basketball coach Corliss Williamson, the MVP of that tournament and the Hogs’ star player, was a close second, followed by Sutton.
Those memories of the past took on new energy.
Most members of that 1994 team did not attend. They are to be in Fayetteville in a week or so as part of an ESPN special and organizers said many could not take off work on weekends that close together. Thurman, an assistant on the current UA team, was in Baton Rouge for a basketball game and Williamson had to leave early to continue preparations for Saturday’s game against the Southland Conference leaders.
Richardson chose substitute Ken Biley, an unsung hero in that national title game, to speak for the team.
“When coach told me I was gonna start that game, I can’t tell you all that went through my head,” Biley said. “I couldn’t sleep. Then, coach told me I was going to guard Grant Hill (Duke’s star player and later an NBA star).
“Then, I realized that I had practiced against Todd Day, Lee Mayberry, Oliver Miller, Corliss and Corey Beck and we gave each other 40 minutes of hell in practice. I had played against great players.”
Biley is a district manager for an investment and accounting firm. “I learned perseverance from that team. I learned if you don’t have a good work ethic, you have no one to blame but yourself.”
“That was the most unselfish basketball team I have ever coached,” Richardson said in a video tribute. “That team could play any style of basketball. You never knew what was coming.”
The ceremony may have set a record for names and thank-yous. Pat Jones, a former coach at multiple stops, ran through a couple of musical stop signs. Auctineer-like, he rattled off a collections of people who had helped him that took almost eight minutes. Lee Mayberry joked about he was accused of getting favored treatment by Richardson because he was described as the coach’s most complete player.
Bob Ford and Bill Keedy told old coach’s stories, naming many figures in the process.
“Light Horse Harry Jones,” heard the banjos strike up and the folksy, Kingston Trio-like ballad he inspired in Arkansas long ago, “Run Harry Run,” was played again. Elmer “B” Lindsey, a great football player in high school who was also great in baseball and signed a major league contract with the St. Louis, talked about the great athletes in Forrest City during his era and his more famous brother, Jim.
And Doretta Bright described her late husband’s passion for family, hunting and fishing and coaching all those UCA players who became known as “Raymond’s Boys,” many of whom filled several tables at the banquet.
Then, she talked about recruiting. When she taught school at North Little Rock High, she said Ken Stephens and Henry Hawk, coaches at North Little Rock at the time, noted how Bright consistently showed up at the school on recruiting missions.
“I learned that he had really come to recruit that business teacher on the second floor,” said Doretta about the man who became her husband of 45 years. “Now, I don’t know, because of longevity, I was a 5-star recruit or a zero-star that he had to bring along slowly.”
“Mrs. Bright, you and your husband were both 5-stars,” Keedy said in his speech that immediately followed hers.
At banquet’s end, several women who had played for Margaret Downing, the Southern Arkansas legend who could not attend the banquet for healthy, posed for a group picture as a special greeting to her.
Meanwhile, attendees scurried outside into a pouring rain with thunder in the distance.
Metaphorically, it was still sunny inside — as treasured memories, with dust and cobwebs washed away, freshly glistening.
(Sports columnist David McCollum can be reached at 505-1235 or david.mccollum@thecabin.net)
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Nice story