Worthy of fame

Among the six deserving coaches chosen to be honored this summer with induction into the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame stands an authentic man I've long respected.

Tommy Tice spent 45 years as a junior high and high school football coach, 42 of those as a head coach in Huntsville and Harrison. Before retiring last year, Tommy had become the winningest active head coach in Arkansas history. Today, he's the third all-time winningest coach with an enviable record of 289-160-6.

And still, no one has caught the good-natured, silver-haired man from Huntsville when it comes to 454 consecutive games as a head coach, or as six-time head coach of the All-Star Game and twice recipient of the state's Lowell Manning Award designating Coach of the Year.

Tommy's lengthy resume of coaching achievements rivals that of the very best anywhere in America. For instance, in 1993 as Harrison's head coach and athletic director, he was first runner-up as National High School Athletic Director of the Year to a counterpart from Massachusetts.

Anyone fortunate enough to enjoy the inspirational film Greater, in theaters last summer, saw an actor who bore an uncanny resemblance to Tommy delivering his trademark line to players gathered around him. "Boys, have I told you lately that I love you?" he asks.

After a pregnant pause, he offers a wry smile and says: "Well, I'll get back to you on that." Tommy is widely appreciated for his dry wit.

News of Tommy's selection raced through Facebook, drawing over 500 supportive responses from former players and coaches. One player teasingly wrote that Tommy "hasn't told me lately that he loves me."

It's difficult to fathom how many pleasant memories this effective coach has left in the hearts, minds and memories of so many others since landing his first high school coaching job at hometown Huntsville in 1974. That was following a brief stint as an assistant football coach for Fayetteville's Ramay Junior High.

While each of the six coaches to be honored in Hot Springs come July certainly have earned their recognition, I'm naturally partial to Tommy not only because I know him, but recognize his character and the capacity of the man's earnest heart.

As one who played football and other athletics in high school, I also understand the lasting impact a coach can have on young lives and fellow coaches alike, both negatively and positively. Tommy's ripple effects have been nothing but pure-dee positive.

Tommy is actually one of the more fortunate among us. He clearly realized early in life that he'd been born into the role of mentor. That's one reason he shined as an All-State quarterback and leader at Huntsville High back in 1968.

The affection and respect he's since freely spread across five decades among countless lives he's touched flares like a meteor across a twilight sky. While that might sound a tad corny, it's also true. "I share this recognition with all my players and coaches over the years. It took all of us working together to achieve the goals we shared," he said in a voice inflected with humble sincerity.

It's this genuine warmth of spirit he openly shares that enabled him to become remarkably successful at relatively smaller schools such as Huntsville and Harrison (where he inherited a woeful 1-9 Goblin team in his first season) before buckling his chin strap and blitzing on to coach three undefeated teams and win the overall state championship in 1996. Amazingly, he achieved it all while quietly suffering with debilitating Crohn's disease.

"I had the greatest job imaginable for my first 20 years there," he said of those winning seasons at Harrison that included a 22-6-1 record against arch-rival Mountain Home.

So congrats, Coach. My hope now is that jurors for inclusion into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame also will recognize what an indelible and incredible difference you've etched into so many lives. There are many of us pulling for that.

Stuck below half

It's painful to read, with the exception of occasional bright flashes, that our beloved state remains perpetually stuck in the lower half of many quality-of-life surveys.

Earlier this week the website known as WalletHub released an in-depth study of 2017's best and worst places to retire.

With No. 1 being best, Arkansas ranked 42nd overall out of 51, including the District of Columbia.

The study was based on 31 categories from an adjusted cost of living to weather and quality of public hospitals.

I suspect part of the problem is we remain a mostly rural state with relatively small communities.

The WalletHub analysis in part had Arkansas ranked 41st in the percentage of those over 65 still working. We ranked 45th per capita in number of museums, theaters, rate of property crime, and in life expectancy. The good news, if you can call it that, was that Arkansas did rank 30th in health-care facilities per capita.

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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.

Editorial on 01/28/2017

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