Darryl McPhate hasn’t met a sport he didn’t like.
“My profile on my Twitter account is: ‘I love my family, my Jesus and almost any sport that is played,’” McPhate said with a smile. He is the new sports information director at Central Baptist College in Conway.
McPhate is responsible for the promotion of CBC’s Mustang athletics in print and social media: managing team statistics, maintaining the athletics website and performing various other duties.
During the past two seasons, he has been a volunteer in the athletic department, working heavily with the baseball team in organization and promotion through social media and the team Web page.
“Two years ago, I began volunteering at CBC with the baseball team,” McPhate said. “The baseball coach, Aaron Brister, is a friend of mine, and he encouraged me to get involved. I did assorted things for the team, like help with the baseball side of the Mustang website, cbcmustangs.com.
“I wrote stories about game results and turned those in to the local newspapers,” McPhate said. “I also got involved with the Mustang Club that promotes the teams, coaches and student athletes.”
McPhate said that this year, Central Baptist College is entering a new athletic conference, the American Midwest Conference, which is part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
“By moving to the new conference, there came a need for a sports information director. Previously, the various head coaches did those duties,” McPhate said.
“Lyle Middleton, the athletic director, and Terry Kimbrow, president of the college, saw a need to bring on an additional person to alleviate some of the workload of the existing head coaches. They announced my hiring at a recent staff meeting. So, the buck is going to stop here, with me as the sports information director,” McPhate said.
“It was highly recommended by the officials of the new conference that we have a sports information director,” Kimbrow said, “but it was not required.
“We were long overdue to have someone dedicated to this job. Darryl was already doing some of this job, and with his love of sports and his love of the Mustangs, he was an obvious choice for the job.
“It was an easy decision. We know Darryl would have volunteered to continue doing this for a long time, but we wanted to reward him for the job he was already doing,” Kimbrow said.
“We are excited to fill our SID position with a quality person who is not also coaching a sport,” Middleton said. “Darryl’s passion for CBC has been evident in his time as a volunteer. He brings a level of organization and attention to detail that will be crucial as we move into our new conference.”
McPhate was born in Pine Bluff and graduated from Watson Chapel High School in 1983.
“I attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for a while and studied criminal justice,” he said. “I wanted to be a federal marshal.”
But his plans changed, and McPhate went on become a training instructor and general manager for the local Wendy’s franchise in the Little Rock area for 14 years.
“I left there in 1996 to work at Sysco Food Services of Arkansas at the Little Rock location,” McPhate said. “I’ve worked in sales and merchandising and am currently an analyst in merchandising.”
McPhate met his wife, the former Janet Nunn of Conway, in Little Rock. Janet, who works at Regions Bank in Conway, is a 1981 graduate of Conway High School.
The McPhates have lived in Conway since 1988. They will have been married 30 years in December.
They have two children. Their daughter, Nicole, 24, lives in El Dorado, where she is the media and communications coordinator at First Baptist Church. She is a graduate of Conway High School and Ouachita Baptist University. The McPhates’ son, Tim, 26, lives in Conway, where he is a team leader of quality control at US Compounding Pharmacy. He is a graduate of Conway High School and attended OBU.
McPhate said he comes from a family that loves sports. He said he has extended family throughout central Arkansas, and many of those family members have been involved in sports.
“I played football and participated in track in high school,” McPhate said. “As a young adult, I played competitive softball.
“My son played football at Conway High School, and my daughter was the Wampus Cat mascot,” he said. “Janet loves sports, too. Janet and I attend all kinds of sports events.”
McPhate also officiates high school football games.
“I’m a newbie,” he said. “I’ve only been officiating for about three years. I’m a member of the Arkansas Officials Association, which is part of the Arkansas Activities Association.
“A good friend of mine, Michael Hannon, has been an official for several years, and he encouraged me to become an official. He got me involved.
“It’s been a real blessing. It’s another way to interact with coaches and student athletes, and a way to show people how to do things the right way.”
The McPhates attend First Baptist Church in Conway, where he is a deacon.
McPhate has served on the board of the Central Arkansas Women’s Shelter and has traveled on mission trips to Belize to construct Christian schools.
McPhate said his daughter accompanied him on one of his mission trips to Belize, and his son went on a separate trip as well.
“We raised our children to believe in service, not just in church but in the community as well,” he said. “My kids are very active in causes. That makes me and their mama smile just a little bit.”
McPhate said he has volunteered with many youth programs at church.
“I have also been volunteering for about 17 years with our visual and sound ministry,” he said.
“When I first got involved, all we had was a little bitty computer sitting on the edge of the balcony. … It was used for PowerPoint presentations,” he said with a laugh. “We are a lot higher-tech now.
“I’ve been blessed to serve in that way, too.”
McPhate said he is proud to be involved at Central Baptist College.
“We are involved in Vision 2020, which is a plan to upgrade the facilities on our campus,” he said. “We hope to have 2,020 students by the year 2020.
“A lot of good things are happening at CBC,” he said.
He said approximately 50 percent of the students who attend Central Baptist College are involved in athletics. The local college offers baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, softball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s golf and wrestling.
McPhate said he loves what he’s doing at Central Baptist College.
“I don’t feel like this is a job,” he said. “I’ve been around sports all my life. Now I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to build something with this organization. I’m having a ball.”