Wendy Scholtens changed the face of high school girls basketball in the state, but not just in a conventional way.
The former Fort Smith Southside phenom is still regarded by many as the best girls' basketball player the state has produced. The 6-foot-5 Scholtens was recruited by every powerhouse college program in the country in the mid-1980s before she signed with Vanderbilt. She is a member of three halls of fame.
But it wasn't just her on-court talent in the early years of girls' 5-on-5 that pioneered change. She also altered the way girls basketball was covered in the media, said longtime Fort Smith sports writer Leland Barclay, who has covered prep sports in the region since 1983.
"Back then, we used to show up in the third quarter of the girls' game and write just a couple of paragraphs," Barclay said. "We'd always cover the boys and write very little on the girls. Wendy Scholtens changed that."
Prep sports have always been a huge part of the communities that comprise the western Arkansas coverage area of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Beginning Tuesday and continuing through late July, the NWADG will honor the all-time top players and teams in the Prep Rally: Best in the West series.
Each day players will be highlighted and an all-time team will be released at the conclusion for boys and girls basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, soccer and football. Top track participants will also be recognized.
In boys basketball, the list of worthy former stars could have stretched from one end of the court to the other, but only 10 made the cut including former Bentonville High star Malik Monk and Fort Smith Northside's Almer Lee and Ron Brewer.
Football will be the final part of the series in late July, and at the top of the list of all-time greats is Matt Jones, who starred first at Van Buren, then at Northside before a record-setting career at the University of Arkansas, where he was one of the most prolific running quarterbacks in the history of the Southeastern Conference.
"I've got Matt Jones up there with guys like Tyler Wilson and Barry Lunney Jr.," said Grant Hall, who has covered prep and college sports in Northwest Arkansas since 1972. "You could think about a lot of others like Doug Greenlee at Springdale or Mitch Mustain, the only Parade Player of the Year."
Players from bygone eras like Martine Bercher of Fort Smith St. Anne's Academy and Billy Joe Releford, who was among the first group of African-American players at Fort Smith Northside in the mid-1960s are also featured in the series.
"Billy Joe Releford is Fort Smith royalty," said Kevin Taylor, who has covered prep sports for the Southwest Times Record for 20-plus years. "He's one of those rare people that you just say their first name, or in his case two names, and you immediately know who it is.
"His impact on Fort Smith as both a player and a coach are huge. He was just a great role model for so many kids."
Sports on 05/31/2020