UP AND COMING

Trapshooting duo target of foundation fundraiser

Dr. Doyne and Nancy Williams: At the height of their powers and flush with the proof.
Dr. Doyne and Nancy Williams: At the height of their powers and flush with the proof.

Who doesn't love a hall of fame? They're walk-through list­icles. And the more recondite, the better. Someday I'll get to the Mascot Hall of Fame in that quintessentially hall-of-fame state, Delaware.

Friday, Dr. Doyne and Nancy Williams will be feted at a reception and dinner for the 23rd inaugural class of the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame at the Statehouse Convention Center.

Doyne and Nancy sound like a twee Brooklyn teahouse duet. (Dueling glockenspiels, anyone?) They're not. They're assassins of earth. By assassins I mean marksmen. By earth I mean clay trap.

And they're on top of the world.

"To put the Williamses' trapshooting dominance into perspective, if LeBron James and Michael Jordan somehow were to morph into one basketball player," goes one bit of the biography that will be handed out. Tickets are $100; contact Lori Lynch at (501) 223-6468. The night benefits the Arkansas Game & Fish Foundation.

Dr. Doyne Williams is a retired cardiovascular surgeon at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Imagine how steady a hand he must be!

"A shotgun's nine to 12 pounds, and you're shooting it 300 times a day on average," says Bronson Castleberry, who runs the Remington Gun Club, where the hall of fame is. "Their upper body and hand strength's pretty phenomenal."

There's no Olympic competition for trapshooting, but both Williamses were members of the U.S. All-American team.

"These are things you just don't walk up and do."

The Williamses are joined by C.B. Thompson Jr., who founded Fort Thompson Sporting Goods, and the late wildlife officer Sgt. Darrell Monty Carmikle, who died in a helicopter crash in 2008 while investigating poachers.

The couple were inducted into the state sports hall of fame nine years ago and the state trapshooting hall 23 years ago.

Yes, there's an Arkansas Trapshooting Hall of Fame. It's a wall of plaques and pictures at the Remington club in Lonoke.

CAN-DO ATTITUDE

I've often said, if there's a more indolent, self-involved, preening profession than architects, I have yet to come across it.

All right, I don't actually say that.

I do often say that I wish there were more charitable events outside the Statehouse Convention Center box, and here's a brilliant example: CANstruction.

It's a can (nonperishable foods) drive for the Arkansas Foodbank that enlists local architecture firms to build scenes out of the boxes, bags and cans.

"This year we had contractors, engineers and architects all partnering up," said Mason Ellis of WER Architects, which teamed with CDI Contractors. "It's a great way to bring attention to a worthy cause ... and [allow] local business to contribute in another way than just being a name on a sponsor board."

Along with WER/CDI, the four other teams are RPPY Architects, SCM Architects, Cromwell Architects and Engineers, and Fennell Purifoy Architects.

Now, I said "outside the Statehouse Convention Center box." That's the second falsehood I've scribbled in this little column item. CANstruction is actually set up inside the convention center, and will be through Thursday. You can see all the displays at facebook.com/canstructionLR.

LAURELS, LAURELS

On Sept. 16, the Muses Creative Artistry Project, a performing arts collective out of Hot Springs, will bestow its Kindred Spirit Award on Gov. Mike Beebe at the mansion (last year's award was there, too).

"He's been my governor since I came to Arkansas after Hurricane Katrina, and he welcomed me and this project with enthusiasm, and encouragement," Muses founding artistic director Deleen Davidson said. "He believes that the Muses Project represents excellence in Arkansas, and that creative pursuit can inspire higher thought processes, improve problem solving skills, and 'soothe the soul.'"

I've said it before -- this fall will be a parade of laurels and toasts to the governor and Ginger Beebe. It's not undeserved. Beebe is the most popular Democratic governor in the country, an accomplishment made more piquant by his new minority-party status and the reddening of the Natural State. An NBC News/Marist poll published in the spring had the governor enjoying a 74 percent approval rating; that number is five points higher when the field is restricted to registered voters.

And Ginger Beebe has been tirelessly welcoming to visitors of the mansion. She has treated the good causes and do-gooders who've come knocking like a headmistress when she could have behaved like a pageant judge.

I hope this fall fundraiser season is not like the 1989 NBA season when every away game for the Los Angeles Lakers featured a stirring, center court presentation to Kareem Abdul Jabbar. My hometown Detroit Pistons gave the league's all-time leading scorer a fancy rocking chair. Groan.

Unlike that long goodbye, I won't tire of the toasts to the Beebes. Beebe has a certain understated swagger about him, like the leader of a conga line. Ginger is as sweet as her name.

Tickets are $200. Call (501) 609-9811.

bampezzan@arkansasonline.com

High Profile on 08/31/2014

Upcoming Events