Ed Sellers, athletic director and assistant superintendent for the Vilonia School District, is as much at home on a farm as he is on the sidelines of a playing field.
He’s happy plowing, planting or picking something. The second of four boys, he grew up on a farm in the Liberty community near Vilonia. The family still owns the 240-acre farm.
“I’m kind of an agri guy. I was raised on a farm, and I loved it,” he said.
“There was no money. We were raising gardens, a strawberry patch, cucumbers; we raised cotton, corn — beef cattle later in life. I didn’t know I was poor. Everybody else was just like us,” Sellers said.
Sellers’ mother, Ulma, lived to be 92, but his father, Adolph, died at 61, and his brother, Jim, at 60, both of sudden heart attacks, he said.
Sellers will be 70 on Sept. 19.
“I’m pretty blessed to be here,” he said. Although he had a stent put in an artery of his heart and had prostate cancer, both 11 years ago, he said he’s pretty healthy now.
“I give the Lord credit; he healed me,” Sellers said.
Sellers has decided he’s retiring at the end of the school year because, as he said, “I’m on borrowed time, with my genetic pool.” He also wants to travel with his wife, Linda, the woman his mother picked for him.
Sellers said his mother liked to travel to different churches to hear gospel singing, and Linda was a musician — she sang and played piano.
He visited a church where Linda was performing, based on his mother’s recommendation, and the two met.
They’ve been married 48 years and have two daughters, both of whom were athletes in the Vilonia School District, from where Sellers also graduated. Linda Sellers was a teacher and retired three years ago as a media specialist in the Vilonia School District.
He has photographs of his family in his office, and a big photo of the 1993 state championship basketball team his daughter, Susan, was on, which went 36-1. That’s his favorite memory of his tenure, which started in 1972 when he was hired as principal for the entire school, grades one through 12.
Sellers considered being a veterinarian, but he said his math skills weren’t up to par from high school, although he excelled in science. The first in his family to graduate from college, he received two bachelor’s degrees, one in agronomy and the second in education. He started at Southern State College, now Southern Arkansas University, in Magnolia and got his undergraduate degrees at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He later received a master’s degree in secondary administration from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
He did his student teaching in Lincoln, then got his first job in Marianna, “big farming country,” where he taught ninth-grade agriculture and science the first year and starting coaching basketball the next year. “They needed somebody, and I was there,” he said. Sellers said he played basketball in high school, and a little baseball.
In Marianna, there was a white school and a black school, and he taught at the white school. The students had freedom of choice, so a few blacks attended the white school,
Sellers said. By his third and last year teaching 11th and 12th grades in Marianna, students were integrated.
“I actually coached Dennis Winston in basketball, who played for U of A and Pittsburgh Steelers,” he said.
He came home to Vilonia as principal in 1972-73 when W.K. Manning was superintendent.
“I’ve got two statements — I blame him and give him credit both for getting me into this job,” Sellers said with a laugh. “He was a great fellow.”
The first year was “pretty stressful,” Sellers said. “I was 25. A lot of teachers who taught me were still here. They were respectful, and they gave me good advice.”
Once he tried to talk the teachers into having someone do extra duty on the playground, and they didn’t want to, so he didn’t push. A teacher pulled him aside and told him that if he needed or wanted something done, “just tell us, we’ll make out a duty schedule, and we’ll do it.”
Enrollment in the Vilonia School District kept growing, and he became principal of grades seven through 12, then 10-12. He was a principal for about 38 years before being named athletic director his last year as high school principal and then assistant superintendent seven years ago.
In July, he was named one of two Class 5A athletic directors of the year by the Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators Association.
“I was honored to be the recipient of that,” he said.
He’s still all about education.
“I’m not an athletic director to think parents should send their kids to school to play sports; it’s to get educated and get prepared for life,” he said. “You don’t want the tail wagging the dog.”
Still, he wants all the Vilonia athletic teams to be competitive, as well as band, FFA and all the organizations. “Getting to rise to the level of being competitive in state championships is what you strive for,” he said.
“Seeing our boys track win three state championships in a row was phenomenal,” he said. The girls softball team won a state championship the past two years; the football team played for the finals a few years ago. “Girls basketball over the last many years has been strong; boys basketball is getting stronger.” He pointed to girls track, which won a conference championship 10 years in a row, as well as bowling and golf state championships.
Being involved in athletics and other activities “teaches them a lot of things they don’t experience in a regular classroom setup,” he said. “Sometimes the biggest lesson you learn in life is working really, really hard and falling short of your goal,” he said.
Sellers said he never had the goal of becoming a superintendent.
“I thought about that a little bit — I guess I showed some interest at one point. I kind of consider myself a high school principal. I just think that’s what God gave me the ability to do,” he said. “I enjoy working, and I love the kids, and I want them to be successful.”
Superintendent David
Stephens, who is starting his third year in the district, said “it’s hard to put into words” what Sellers has meant to the district. “His integrity, his compassion for the district and the kids, and his commitment is unquestionable,” Stephens said.
“When I first got to know him, I told our administrative team, every person needs a Timothy, a Barnabas and a Paul in their lives — a Timothy they are mentoring; someone like Barnabas, who encourages, and their Paul, who is a mentor for them. He’s my Paul — his wisdom, his insight —he’s a good man.”
Sellers said he has had great staff members who were interested in raising test scores and doing their best.
That’s what he said he’s tried to do throughout his career. “I know that my better years are behind me, and I feel like I’ve given my reasonable best, and sometimes even neglected my family to do this job. I love it, and still love it, and I don’t plan on quitting being interested in the school; I’ve got granddkids in this school, and I will help in the transition if they need me to.”
Sellers said he doesn’t want to overstay his welcome, although he joked that some people might say he already has.
“I’m basing my decision on, I want to finish strong,” he said.
“As I retire, I plan on doing a little bit more farm work. I still enjoy the cattle, and I still enjoy the tractor driving and the farming. I find it therapeutic to get away and do that.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.