Familiar voice set to hear own name

Seventh in a series profiling the nine newest members of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies will be held Friday at the Statehouse Convention Center.

Jim Rasco has introduced the inductees at the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame banquet since 1990.

This year, he will receive his own introduction when he is inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on Friday.

When asked how his introduction will be handled, Rasco wasn't sure, but he has an idea for future banquets.

"Probably the simplest thing would be to ignore that I'm in, and the emcee can just say it if he wants to and I'll keep doing it," said Rasco, who also runs Rasco Winter Abston Moore & Associates, a CPA firm in Little Rock.

Rasco, 75, was an accomplished athlete at DeWitt High School and Hendrix College in Conway before becoming known as a sports historian and speaker.

At DeWitt, Rasco participated in football, basketball, baseball, and track and field. He set the single-season scoring record in basketball at DeWitt, pitched two no-hitters in baseball, won medals in the first two Arkansas Meet of Champions track meets, and held the school record in the 880-meter run, which stood for 29 years. Rasco graduated from DeWitt in 1959 as the valedictorian of his class.

He earned a basketball scholarship to Hendrix. He set the meet record in the 880 as a freshman on the track team in the Harding Relays in 1960, and he won five medals in AAU Olympic Development track meets, held as preliminaries to the 1960 Olympic Trials.

Leg injuries ended Rasco's college athletic career, but he remained active in sports by playing tennis. He won more than 50 men's doubles and mixed doubles tournaments during the 1970s and 1980s and won the men's singles title at John Gardiner's Tennis Ranch in 1975 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Since 2004, Rasco has introduced guest speakers at the Little Rock Touchdown Club.

When asked who has been his favorite athlete or coach to introduce, Rasco admitted he was stumped.

"I've enjoyed doing them all," Rasco said.

Throughout the Touchdown Club's history, Rasco has received praise for his introductions from sports figures ranging from high school to NFL players and coaches.

"Best introduction I've ever had," wrote former Notre Dame wide receiver Raghib "Rocket" Ismail to Rasco in a letter.

"I didn't know they had my town's paper on microfilm," Texas Athletic Director Mike Perrin, a native of Cameron, Texas, told Rasco at the Little Rock Touchdown Club last year.

Rasco began keeping scrapbooks when he was 6 years old. His sports heroes growing up were former Detroit Tigers third baseman George Kell and Arkansas Razorbacks great Clyde Scott. He has every copy of Sport Magazine and said he learned how to read because of the magazine.

Rasco's home has more than 1,000 square feet devoted to his sports memorabilia collection. He has items such as autographed pictures, baseballs and media guides in his home and in his downtown Little Rock office.

"I have a knack for remembering things," Rasco said. "I wish I could remember tax law as well as I remember old sports stuff. I think everybody has a certain amount of photographic memory, and I do really obtain a lot of sports stuff. I've been genuinely interested."

Rasco's fascination with sports statistics and facts began while playing sports in DeWitt.

"I liked keeping up with all of the statistics on the team," Rasco said. "We had our own little leagues of basketball, and I'd keep statistics for all of them. I've got all of the stats for our teams from the time I was 13."

Rasco is looking forward to Friday's banquet. He'll be joined by his grandson, Jamison, at the Hall of Fame's head table for the inductees.

"It will certainly be a one of a kind thing I never dreamed of, growing up in DeWitt," Rasco said. "I would have never dreamed that I would be inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. It's quite an honor."

Sports on 03/01/2017