LITTLE ROCK — The late Orville Henry will be remembered primarily for coverage of the Arkansas Razorbacks, but people who shared the old Arkansas Gazette sports department with him during the late 1950s admired his swift skills as a copy reader and headline writer.
The article he was handling happened to be about J.W. Evers, a baseball and basketball player from what is now called Southern Arkansas University. The SAU Muleriders and College of the Ozarks had just finished tying for first place in the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference with 10-2 records.
The release said Evers had batted .480 in 12 games with 9 home runs, 5 triples and, oddly, just 1 double. “Impossible - nobody hits .480,” Henry said, before a check of the figures proved them accurate. Then he settled down to write his headline.
Eventually, Henry went with:
No Chance to Tinker With That .480, Evers Decides.
There had been a famous double-play combination in the early decades of the 20th century consisting of first baseman Frank Chance, second baseman Johnny Evers and shortstop Joe Tinker. All three reached the Hall of Fame.
In a recent interview, I asked J.W. Evers why Sam Bailey, the SAU baseball coach at the time, put him at lead off in 1956 after some junior college experience in Texarkana.
“I wondered about that myself,” Evers said, “but I think it worked out all right.”
Indeed. As a stocky 5-8 right handed batter, Evers knocked in 22 runs and scored 20. In 62 chances at shortstop, he fumbled only 2.
“With rain and mud and everything, we only got to play seven games [in 1957],” Evers said. “I know I hit a home run against Centenary and one against Louisiana Tech, and maybe one or two more. I batted .353. I hope nobody expected me to hit .480 again.”
The 1955-1956 basketball Muleriders almost won the AIC round-robin, but lost in the NAIA playoffs to Arkansas Tech, which was earning its sixth consecutive Kansas City, Mo., trip.
In 1956-1957, with Tech and SAU barred from the AIC basketball schedule, the Muleriders won the Kansas City trip by beating any Arkansas-based team that would schedule them. (They were knocked out immediately, but enjoyed the rest of the NAIA Tournament week.)
“We had a tough time beating Arkansas State at Magnolia, and we knew it would only get tougher at Jonesboro,” Evers said recently. “The score wound up 79-78. We never led in regulation time. In the last minute, we were down 78-75. Jimmy Solomon made it 78-77 with a jump shot.
“Just about the time the final buzzer was going off, somebody hacked me. A two-shot foul. I used to fight off pressure by yawning, I hit the first free throw, and it was tied 78-78. I yawned again and we had it, 79-78. Oh, and I scored 21 points that night, which didn’t happen very often.”
A geology major, Evers went on to work for McCallister’s in Billings, Mont. A St. Louis Cardinals scout had followed him up to Billings and was holding tryouts. McCallister’s granted him a six month leave of absence to play for the St. Louis affiliate in Billings. “I don’t remember how many games I played,” he said. “I think it cured me.”
He retired at Houston in 1998 after a 12-year association with with Unisys Corp of Space and Information Systems.
SAU’s baseball program has featured Evers as leading hitter (.480) for years.
Just offhand, I doubt any .481 challenger is lurking in the wings.
Sports, Pages 16 on 07/31/2012