Allen Weatherly, executive director of the Arkansas Educational Television Network, was admired by friends for his knowledge of history.
But his trove of trivia didn't impress the moderator of a high school quiz bowl the public television network was once taping, recalled AETN deputy director Tony Brooks.
While students grappled with tough questions, Weatherly and Brooks stood offstage and attempted to answer the posers, too. At one point, when filming stopped, the moderator approached the two men.
"She said we were being a distraction," Brooks said.
Weatherly apologized for being too loud.
"She looked at us and said, 'You're more of a distraction because you're getting all the answers wrong,'" Brooks said.
Weatherly, 64, died Tuesday morning in a Little Rock hospital just before he underwent surgery for a third replacement of his aortic valve. He is survived by his wife, Peggy Weatherly; a daughter, Lauren Geier of Conway; and a son, David Weatherly of Little Rock.
"We are heartbroken to share that our long time leader passed away early this morning," the network announced Tuesday on its website. "We celebrate his life and mourn his passing."
Weatherly has been with Arkansas' public television network since 1993 and spent seven years as its deputy executive director before being named executive director in 2001.
While there, Weatherly increased educational services to the state, including online professional development for educators, and produced programming and training for the network's Ready to Learn service. He also archived testimonials from World War II veterans from Arkansas and won multiple awards for productions.
In 2008, he was named the Arkansas Citizen of the Year by the Scottish Rite in Little Rock.
"I am deeply saddened by the passing of AETN's Allen Weatherly," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in an email. "I appreciate his service to our state and the passion for public broadcasting he exhibited in his work every day. Arkansas lost a good man, and he will be greatly missed."
Before joining AETN, Weatherly worked with Ozarks Public Television in Springfield, Mo., from 1990 to 1993. He began as a writer and became a producer, host, communications director, programming director and finally director of broadcasting.
He graduated from Missouri State University with a degree in history and education, and in 1991 he co-wrote a memorial history of the Battle of Wilson's Creek and the Civil War in the Ozarks.
Weatherly also served as an adjunct communications instructor at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and at Drury University in Springfield, Mo.
"He was a ravenous reader," Brooks said. "He truly was a Renaissance man with his love of history."
Brooks said Weatherly was particularly astute on music, especially the Beatles.
"He loved doing pledge shows," Brooks said, referring to AETN's fundraising programs. "We'd run programs on musical acts and he would know more about the group than those who produced the piece."
Granger Davis, a financial adviser from Conway and Weatherly's friend, remembered when the two met members of musician Stevie Ray Vaughan's band at a hotel in Tulsa.
"We were checking out of the hotel after seeing a blues festival in Tulsa," Granger said. "There was the band getting on the bus. Allen started talking to them. He called everyone by name and he asked where other [former] members had gone to."
Davis said Weatherly was a history buff and often imparted on little-known tidbits of information.
"He knew more useless facts than anyone ever needed to know," Davis said. "That's what made him so unique."
Brooks said Weatherly often told him that if he had a hero, it would be Fred Rogers, the host of the children's education television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
"He was passionate about children," Brooks said. "He has been a mentor to me. He taught me how to be a manager."
Peggy Weatherly announced her husband's death on her Facebook page Tuesday morning, saying that her best friend had died.
"He told me soon after we met that he just wanted to leave a positive mark on this world," she wrote. "You did that, Allen. You did that."
State Desk on 11/02/2016