May Day may mean a lot of things in a lot of places, but here, today, it means tickets go on sale for the June 1 dinner featuring Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.
Manning will be the featured speaker, but the honorees that evening at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock are the high school men and women who have been selected as members of the All-Arkansas Preps teams, which include numerous sports with male and female athletes of the year.
Golf, football, tennis and basketball teams have already been announced, and more will be announced in the next two weeks. All-Arkansas Preps teams are selected by a panel of coaches and sports writers.
Tickets for the dinner are $75 and can be boughtin advance online at wwww.allarkansaspreps.com, and there are a limited number of tickets and tables ($750) available.
St. Vincent Health System is sponsoring the dinner, and Metropolitan Bank, Academy Sports and Arkansas Select Buick GMC Dealers are sponsoring the All-Arkansas Preps event.
Admission is free for all the athletes who made the All-Arkansas Preps teams, and anyone wanting to sponsor tables for student-athletes can call Tabitha Cunningham at (501) 918-4539.
In addition to the awards given out in each sport, the Hussman Award will be given to the athlete who has made a difference in his or her community, the P.A.R.K. Award will be given to the athlete who has excelled in the classroom, and St. Vincent President and CEO Peter Banko will honor an athlete who has overcome health issues.
Former NFL tight end Keith Jackson will serve as the master of ceremonies.
Judge Beth Deere recently sent a copy of a story that ran in the Atkins Chronicle about the Hendrix Warrior Booster Club Hall of Fame inductions held April 19.
Roy Wilson, class of 1917, was one of the honorees, and it was much deserved for a number of reasons.
In football, he played on the offensive line, played halfback and was a captain for three years. He also lettered three years in basketball, and he lettered three times in track and field while competing in the hurdles, the relays and the hammer throw.
Plus, he was president of the student body.
He also was the father of Judge Bill Wilson, who has presided over numerous headline cases such as the desegregation of the public schools in Little Rock and Nolan Richardson’s lawsuit against the University of Arkansas.
Judge Wilson is well known for raising mules, which he breaks himself, and for ruling from the bench with a fair but firm fist and sometimes a keen sense of humor.
He, too, was an athlete and graduated from Hendrix, which after 53 years of being undefeated in football (its last season was 1960) will field a team this fall that will play six home games.
Adding football back to the academic giant was a process that began in 2008, with many promises that it wouldn’t try to be the Arkansas Razorbacks or even the crosstown UCA Bears.
Part of the reason - but certainly not all of the reason - for Hendrix adding football was that it has a female enrollment of 57 percent and it needed to find a way to attract more males.
If Hendrix football can attract more men like the Wilsons, then adding football will definitely be the right move.
There aren’t any spots remaining for golf teams at the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Pat Summerall Classic, which will be hosted by University of Arkansas football Coach Bret Bielema on May 20.
There are just a few individual seats and tables left for the Talking Football With Bret Bielema and Staff dinner that will be May 19.
For more information for either event, or to become a member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, call (501) 663-4328. Members can nominate and vote on individuals for the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Sports, Pages 19 on 05/01/2013