Where else in Arkansas can a high school basketball coach from a small Faulkner County town and a former Southwest Conference Player of the Year be considered equals?
That was the case at the 60th annual Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet Friday night at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
John Hutchcraft, the longtime basketball coach at Guy-Perkins High School, met prior to a group photo with former University of Arkansas, Fayetteville quarterback Kevin Scanlon, the 1979 SWC Player of the Year who led the Razorbacks to a conference title and a Sugar Bowl appearance.
"It's very cool," said Hutchcraft, who was joined Friday by a group of 20 people that included his daughter Ashley Nance, the girls basketball coach at Conway High School. "It's such a great honor."
Along with Hutchcraft and Scanlon, the induction class included former Razorbacks football players Shawn Andrews, Jerry Eckwood and Brison Manor; former Arkansas State University football player Jerry Muckensturm; former Arkansas athletic trainer Dean Weber; former high school basketball coach Oliver Elders; and former Henderson State University volleyball and tennis coach Bettye Wallace.
"As you look, we're diverse here," Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame President Richard Johnson said.
Andrews and Eckwood were not at the ceremony Friday. Eckwood's daughter, Jerval Watson, represented her father, who resides in an assisted-living facility in Nashville, Tenn., and Andrews was ill, Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Executive Director Terri Conder-Johnson said.
When asked by emcee Chuck Barrett what she wanted the crowd to remember Eckwood for, Watson expressed her father's pride for playing at Arkansas.
"He was, he is and he'll always be a Razorback," Watson said.
Wallace appreciated being a part of the 2018 class and said she enjoyed meeting Manor and Muckensturm, both of whom played in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears, respectively.
"I've watched these guys on TV," Wallace said. "It's been so much fun."
Former Denver Broncos linebacker Tom Jackson spoke in a video for Manor, saying his former teammate was an important part of the team's "Orange Crush" defense of the late 1970s.
"If Brison told me to do something, I did it," Jackson said. "He was the ideal fit for us."
Manor, who played for Arkansas in 1973 and 1974, was motivated to do well with the Broncos in 1977 after the New York Jets released him during the preseason of 1975.
"You always try to give that extra effort," said Manor, who didn't play football in 1975 and 1976 before joining Denver. "That's what the game is all about. Frank Broyles always said you have to have effort to play this game."
Muckensturm said his teammates were one of the best parts about playing football.
"Your teammates have a positive influence on you," Muckensturm said. "It's easy to stop. But you have at him [your teammate] and he's still going. That's all the motivation you need."
Scanlon is one of four inductees who did not grow up in Arkansas, along with Manor, Muckensturm and Weber. But he said he wanted to remain in the state after his playing career with the Razorbacks because he wanted to give back.
"Initially, we became Razorbacks," said Scanlon, a Beaver Falls, Pa., native who is the executive vice president and director of the private client group at Stephens Inc. "We became University of Arkansas graduates. Then, we became Arkansans.
"It's a great place to live. It's because of the people."
Sports on 04/07/2018