ARKANSAS SPORTS HALL OF FAME: Players fought for Bettye Wallace

The fifth in a series profiling the nine newest members of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony is Friday at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

Several of Bettye Wallace's former players at Henderson State University were determined to get her inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

Wallace, 88, was the women's tennis and volleyball coach at Henderson State in Arkadelphia, with her taking over the tennis program in 1963 and starting the volleyball program in 1965.

Several of her former players -- called Bettye's Reddies -- meet for an annual reunion. It was in 2016 they decided it was time to get the longtime coach into the state's top athletics hall of fame.

Lou Ann Howell, who played volleyball and tennis for Wallace from 1975-1978, said it was a year-long process to get Wallace on the ballot. Letters and postcards were addressed to the hall of fame. In November, Wallace got the call.

"It took all of us. It took a village," Howell said. "We're glad she's going in when she still has her health."

Wallace, who will be one of nine 2018 inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, said she was surprised but grateful for her players' efforts.

"I knew my former players had worked so hard and it meant so much to them," Wallace said. "I was so proud for them. They had for some reason or another thought that I ought to be there. They made it happen."

The hall of fame banquet is set for Friday at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

Wallace played tennis at Henderson State (then known as Henderson State Teachers College) and graduated in 1950. After teaching stints at Rison and Malvern, Wallace was hired to coach women's tennis by Athletic Director Duke Wells and teach physical education in 1963.

"I thought it would be great for the girls," Wallace said of wanting to lead the tennis program.

When Wallace took over the Henderson State women's tennis program, she had four players.

"We weren't very good, but they had a good time," she said.

The school had four tennis courts, which meant in the 1960s the women would practice on two courts and the men's team had the other two courts. On Fridays, the women's team had all four courts since the men didn't practice.

One year, Wallace said, she had 18 players come out for tennis.

"Six of them came at 3 p.m., six came at 4 p.m. and six came at 5 p.m.," Wallace said of her team's practice schedule.

Wallace's impact was made away from the courts as well.

In 1966, she helped develop the Arkansas Women's Intercollegiate Sports Association (AWISA). Two years later -- with the help of Margaret Downing of Southern Arkansas University, Patricia Gordon of Arkansas Tech University and Betty Swift of the University of Central Arkansas -- Wallace was part of the formation of the Association of Intercollegiate Activities for Woman (AIWA). That organization allowed women to compete on a national level in NAIA, rather than just a state level.

Henderson State made Wallace the first female athletic director in school history in 1976 when she was put in charge of women's athletics (0fficially assistant athletic director).

Wallace coached AWISA championship tennis teams in 1967, 1969 and 1972, and championship volleyball teams in 1972 and 1975. She also led the school to AWISA South League championships from 1977-1979. Also, she was the AWISA tennis coach of the year in 1980 and 1981, and volleyball coach of the year in 1982.

Wallace wasn't just a coach. She was also a physical education teacher at Henderson State.

"I had a full 15 hours [of teaching per week]," Wallace said. "I wasn't paid [to coach]. None of the other coaches were being paid to be a coach. We were all doing it to help the kids."

Howell arrived at Henderson State from Sylvan Hills in Sherwood. She wanted to play volleyball in college. Wallace gave her that opportunity, but with the caveat that academics came first.

"Her impression on us was to be students first and athletes second," Howell said. "She checked to make sure we were in class. If your grades aren't what they should be, you stayed home."

Wallace's coaching style resonated with Howell, who went on to become a volleyball coach at North Little Rock and a boys golf coach at Lonoke.

"She set up every scenario that she could," Howell said. "When we took the court, we were prepared. She was just calm. We were prepared to win when we got on the court."

Since retiring in 1988, Wallace has kept busy by helping maintain the Ouachita National Recreation Trail and volunteering in Arkadelphia.

Wallace, a 1997 inductee into the HSU Reddie Hall of Honor, said she'll enjoy the induction banquet and getting another opportunity to see her former players.

"We gave the young ladies a chance to get out on the court and compete," Wallace said. "I was doing something that I loved to do. I had fun. The kids had fun."

Sports on 04/01/2018