RIVER VALLEY and OZARK AREA — Three coaches with Conway ties were among those inducted recently into the Arkansas High School Coaches Association/ Arkansas Officials Association Hall of Fame at the Hot Springs Convention Center.
C.D. Taylor, who coached basketball at Conway from 1966-74; Joe Graham, whose Conway basketball coaching career spanned 1972-2000; and Bobby Tiner, a football star at Morrilton and Arkansas State Teachers College (now the University of Central Arkansas) who went on to a long career coaching at Pulaski Oak Grove, joined Melba Hall of Hope, Johnny Watson of Little Rock Christian, Lou Wood of Flippin and the late George Burke of Stuttgart in the coaches’ class.
Larry DeWitt of Hot Springs; Bob Hickingbotham of Jacksonville; Roger Maness of Jacksonville, Fla.; Bob Mason of Fort Smith; Billy Ply of Flippin; and Jack Yancey of Jasper made up the officials’ class.
A large contingent of Conway supporters were on hand to offer their congratulations to the trio.
“It’s an honor to be in therewith all the guys and gals that have been inducted,” said Taylor, who now lives in Sherwood. “Idon’t know if it’s justified, but I’m going to take it. I guess everybody feels that way to a certain extent. I feel like there are a lot of other people who have not been inducted that probably deserveit more than me, but maybe we can get them in.”
According to the Arkansas Activities Association, the AHSCA-AOA Hall of Fame was founded in 1995 to honor the achievements of Arkansas high school coaches and officials, to perpetuate their memory and to honor their dedication and service to high school athletics.
Taylor graduated from Snowball High School in 1952 and joined the Navy in 1953, playing two years of service ball. He played collegiately at Arkansas State-Beebe and ASTC, where he was a member of an Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championship team.
Prior to arriving at Conway, Taylor coached for a year at Swifton, where his team finished 19-8; and two years at Cotter, where his junior and senior high teams were 91-32. His junior high team finished 44-2 as state champion.
Taylor coached at Conway Junior High School in ’66 and ’67, when his teams went 31-15. He was elevated to the senior high job in ’68, the year the Wampus Cats won the AANorth Conference. In ’72 they won the AAA-North. In ’73 they won the AAA-West title and the Class AAA state championship. In ’74, they repeated as AAA-West champs and the Class AAA state title with a 29-0 record, falling in the final of the Arkansas Overall Championship to undefeated Fort Smith Northside.
Taylor was 145-49 at Conway.
He was involved in hiring Graham at Conway, and their close connection made for a special Hall of Fame induction.
“I’ve known Joe practically all his life, back in his playing days, and I watched him grow up,” Taylor said. “He got along great with our players, and theyappreciated what he was doing. He was a hard worker. He’s just my kind of coach. He got along with them, and they respected him and worked hard for him.”
After leaving Conway, Taylor spent a season as assistant coach at Arkansas State, then returned to Harrison as basketball coach and athletic director, where he was 69-25, including a district title in ’78. He was voted the AHSCA Basketball Coach of the Year in ’79, then in ’80 went to Jacksonville, where he finished that stop 190-71.
He retired in 1990 with an overall record of 579-271, nine conference championships, nine state-tournament appearances, 16 invitational championships and three state titles.
Graham, a Conway native,played high school basketball for Lynwood Cathey at White Hall and Doyce Winningham at Greenbrier, then two years at Central Baptist College and two more at State College of Arkansas (now UCA). After earning his Bachelor of Science in Education degree in ’72, he began his career at Conway Junior High School under Taylor. After Taylor went to ASU, Graham was elevated to replace him at the high school.
Graham’s overall record was 489-273. He coached the Wampus Cats to a 36-0 season that included a Class AAA state title and the Overall Championship. For that season, he was named Coach of the Year.
Graham’s teams made 19 state-tournament appearances. They finished as state runner-up four times, conferencechamps nine times and conference runner-up four times. His teams recorded 20-plus wins 10 times.
“It’s a great honor to be chosen by your peers,” Graham said of his induction. “The tough part about it is, the active coaches are the ones that vote, and the longer you’re out of it - it’s 10 years since I’ve been out of it, and C.D. has been out a lot longer - a lot of new coaches come in during that length of time, and they don’t know who you are.
“But when the coaches pick it, that makes it special.”
He said it was extra special to be inducted with his friend and mentor, Taylor.
“I learned so much from him,” Graham said. “I watched his practices and saw all the games, and we’ve stayed close over the years. We fish a lot together, and we used to work basketball camps together.”
Taylor praised his friend for keeping Conway rolling. In turn, James Bates, a former CHS player under Graham who was hired as Graham’s junior high coach and moved to the high school after the coach retired, has continued the tradition. Conway won the Class 7A state title this season, the first championship since Graham’s.
“Joe kept that deal going up there, and it’s still going,” Taylor said. “ I watched them play in the finals of the state tournament, and I was real impressed with them. When you keep it going, you’ll always have something to look forward to every year.”
Tiner, a 1962 graduate of Morrilton, played football and baseball and ran track for ASTC.He was a four-time all-AIC selection in football and baseball. He was a Little All-American honorable mention in 1967.
His only coaching stop wasat Oak Grove, where he coachedfootball, basketball, track and tennis. His fo ot b a l l team won the Class AA state championship in1979. He retired with an overall record of 131-108-3. He won the 2003 Lowell Manning Award as the outstanding high school coach of the year.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 152 on 07/25/2010