Allen Pulley hates being the center of attention.
“Folks who are really genuine don’t seek the spotlight,” said Lance Howell,
executive director of the Malvern-Hot Spring County Chamber of Commerce. “He doesn’t do this for attention or for people’s approval. He genuinely wants to make a difference in people’s lives, especially in the lives of kids.”
Pulley was recently awarded the Kristi Norris Community Service Award by the chamber.
“I have a passion for young people,” Pulley said. “God placed a burden on my heart when I was younger, and I, as a person, am probably not a very good person. Everything that I do, I try to make sure it is for the honor and glory of the Lord.”
Pulley has been the public-address announcer for the Malvern Leopards since 1978. He does all the announcing for football games, basketball, baseball and some softball games.
“I enjoy football, but basketball is more fun to announce because it is back and forth, with a lot of action,” Pulley said. “Baseball is probably my favorite sport to be around.
“It is a good mix of all of them. I really couldn’t say one is better than the other.”
Pulley graduated from Malvern High School in 1977, and that fall, he was asked to sit with the guy who was the public announcer at the time.
“I actually started announcing football games, and I did it for about eight years,” he said.
At that point, Rick Dial took over as the announcer so Pulley could spend more time with his family at the football games. Pulley continued to work in the press box as a supervisor.
“When Rick passed away in 2011, I went back to full time,” Pulley said, “but I have worked in the press box since 1978, in some capacity.”
Pulley has also volunteered as a coach, having coached T-ball, Little League, and Babe Ruth baseball. He also served on the board for the Boys & Girls Club of Malvern and Hot Spring County.
“I coached football, baseball and basketball,” Pulley said. “I did everything from T-ball up through Senior Babe Ruth baseball. I even coached elementary football for over 12 years.”
He said the most challenging thing about coaching youth sports is the time it takes up.
“It also helps you build your patience, for sure,” Pulley said.
Tammy Denham, chief executive officer for the Boys & Girls Club, said Pulley still volunteers his time, despite having retired from the board a couple of years ago.
“He does have a passion for [young people],” Denham said. “They can sense that. He treats all of them the same. He takes a very vested interest and treats them as if they were his own children.”
Howell has known Pulley for his whole life, having personally experienced firsthand how helpful and encouraging Pulley can be as a mentor.
“Kids know that he cares about them,” Howell said. “They wouldn’t be as likely to look up to him or open up to him like they do if they didn’t really believe that he truly cares about them.
“His track record is just too strong, and they sense something genuine in him, and they respond to that.”
About four years ago, Pulley started a prayer breakfast once a week for students. The breakfast has eight to 14 regular attendees. He said it is a good mix of student-athletes and nonathletes, ranging from seventh to 12th grade.
“It has just really grown,” Pulley said. “My grandkids are now getting old enough to attend, and they bring some of their friends.”
He said the prayer breakfast is one of the most rewarding things he has done as a volunteer.
“You get more of a relationship with the kids because you are right there with them,” he said. “We fix chocolate gravy and biscuits, and we have a devotional before they go to school.
“Most of the kids refer to me as Pop Pop.”
He also said the devotional doesn’t limit itself to just breakfast. Sometimes, he hosts bonfires in his backyard.
“We try to give them an alternative,” he said. “On Halloween, we host a bonfire in the backyard, and the kids come over and hang out.
“It is a wide variety of kids. There are no limitations. It is just a chance for them to get together and for us to share a devotional with them.”
He said watching them grow as individuals has also meant a lot to him.
“One of the young men — who was one of the first to attend the breakfasts — is actually leaving for state-trooper school next month,” Pulley said. “To see them progress is the biggest reward you get from working with them.”
Bo Gray, who graduated from Lavern High School in 2016, said Pulley is like a second father to him.
“He is a great person and a good mentor,” Gray said. “He helped me greatly through some of the things I have been through in my young life.”
Gray said when he was a junior in high school, his dad had a stroke and was left paralyzed on the right side of his body. And his senior year, Gray was in a car accident and broke his leg.
“Again, [Pulley] was there for me,” Gray said. “He said to trust in the Lord’s plan and have faith.
“He’s one of the only people I have opened up to fully. I knew he wouldn’t judge me if he saw me cry or anything.”
Gray, who is currently studying physical therapy at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said Pulley makes a good mentor because he doesn’t judge him for the mistakes he has made.
“He is such a godly man; it is inspiring,” Gray said. “He loves me for the person I am. He sees the man I am going to be.
“He just makes for a good mentor.”
Pulley said he felt called to volunteer work when he was 21 years old.
“I had little kids at that time, and when my kids were born, it just opened my eyes to the importance,” he said. “It made me realize and be appreciative of the people I had in my life.
“Be it my parents or youth teachers or teachers at school or coaches, they all made an impression on me to want to help.”
He said his parents raised him to give back.
“They always made sure I was involved in church,” he said. “They were always good servants in the church and still are to this day.
“I also have a wife who is very supportive of me. She has to spend a lot of time sitting at ballgames, making sure I’ve got what I need to do the breakfast with the kids.
“She’s super supportive.”
Pulley has been married to Traci for six years, and together, they have six children and 11 grandkids.
“My heart hurts for kids a lot of times,” Pulley said. “A lot of kids don’t have an adult mentor they can lean on.
“Kids nowadays need someone to point them in the right direction.”
Pulley earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Henderson State University in 1981 and has been in the real estate appraisal business since 1984. He formed his own appraisal firm, Arkansas Real Estate Appraisal Professionals, in 2004. His son, Justin, works with him in the business.
Pulley and his wife are members of Second Baptist Church in Malvern and have been for almost five years. Before that, Pulley was the youth director at South Main Missionary Baptist, where his parents still attend.
“I have found over the years, when you give to students, they always seem to give more back,” he said. “They are appreciative of the things you do for them.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.