Coach couldn’t prevent Wasted Talent
As a Southern Arkansas University freshman, George Eriquezzo ran the 100-yard dash in 9.3 seconds on the Little Rock Central High School track in the spring of…
Stories by Jim Bailey
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Pujols making winner tougher to pick
Apparently, it took until his 10th major-league season to convince Albert Pujols he wouldn’t always bat higher than.300 — much higher, usually — drive in 100 o…
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Evers set bar high in SAU record book
The late Orville Henry will be remembered primarily for coverage of the Arkansas Razorbacks, but people who shared the old Arkansas Gazette sports department w…
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Scott, Broyles had a good run, too
At first glance, Arkansas Razorbacks return man Joe Adams appeared to have no chance with the 61-yard punt he fielded in the Tennessee game last fall.
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Boning up as Hendrix unearths football
Hendrix College isn’t the only school to discard football and eventually restore it, but such a list would be short.
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Inverted NL standings boggle mind
Major League Baseball’s pursuit of parity might finally be overdone.
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Ex-Wildcats coach still impressive
Over and over, Jimmy Culp’s athletic career strongly suggested that no one could have invented a game he couldn’t have mastered, either playing or coaching.
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Top boxers kept division between them
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, boxing’s welterweights, lightweights and featherweights were dominated, respectively, by Sugar Ray Robinson, Isiah “Ike” Wil…
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Arkies few but fabled in Cooperstown
Only six Arkansans have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (and one of them grew up in California), but I grew up following my favorite hitters — whi…
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America no heavyweight in boxing
From John L. Sullivan’s competitive time until Mike Tyson’s defeat, American boxers dominated the world’s heavyweights over the amazing span of 120 years.
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AIC cronies still possess gift of gab
On top of Mount Nebo last Thursday evening, in Yell County near Dardanelle, fewer than a dozen people were invited to a tribute to the memory of the Arkansas I…
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Sain sought share of raises in pay
The late Johnny Sain used to be quoted occasionally to the effect that nothing much changes in baseball except the financial figures.
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Spahn misses benefits of dimes deal
Warren Spahn, the great left hander, might have busted the baseball salary barrier years ahead of anyone else if he had been willing to take a gamble 60 years …
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Sevier sized up for Tech contributions
No one could prove it now, but 59 years ago Don Sevier was no doubt the largest college athlete in Arkansas.
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Is real age catching up to Pujols?
According to an ESPN report, Albert Pujols was booed Friday night by a crowd of 33,160 while the Los Angeles Angels lost a home game 4-0 to the Toronto Blue Ja…
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Halls erected around popular picks
It makes sense that halls of fame take special care while picking popular honorees for a charter banquet.
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Spahn, Sain linked by slogan, success
Many adult Americans find “Spahn and Sain, pray for rain” or “Spahn and Sain, two days of rain” familiar phrases, although some no longer recall what they mean…
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Bad injury bad break for Baucum
Quality athletes were always scarce in our family until Don Baucum, one of my cousins, surfaced as a national blue chipper at the beginning of the 1950s. It tu…
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Best teams struck out with Series loss
To be vividly remembered down through the ages, any first rate major league team must avoid the pitfalls of the postseason. In other words, don’t lose the Worl…
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Pujols showed promise from the start
National League pitchers finally managed to deny Albert Pujols his 11th consecutive .300 major league season last year. He settled for .299, while prospering o…
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Inexplicably, ‘Rube’ outsmarted them
In 1929, a left-handed pitcher called Rube Robinson quietly concluded a remarkable career by going 2-2 in eight games for the Atlanta Crackers in the Southern …
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Dallas County keeps celebration going
The most puzzling aspect about the Dallas County Sports Hall of Fame is why it took the county’s residents so long to celebrate the area’s rich athletic tradit…
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Tech route worked out for Meador
Hawking the opening of the 1958 football season, an Arkansas Gazette Sunday supplement proclaimed in a headline: “Tech sticks out with Meador, a big-time boy.”…
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No mystery about Liston’s ranking
Most casual boxing fans could inform you Charles “Sonny” Liston belongs among the top 10 heavyweight champions of all time. The prizefighting industry’s more k…
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Previous bowl stabs hung up by Hogs
At a meeting of the War Memorial Stadium Commission last week, speculation was raised about establishing a bowl game in Little Rock. By my count, this would be…
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LeFevers disguise unleashes Thornton
As a four-year defensive tackle for the college now called Southern Arkansas, Orris Thornton patiently answered to nicknames like “Tiny” and “Bud,” while rathe…
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European vacation losing venture
Two football teams, Texas A&I and Henderson State, tried 36 years ago to convert Europe to the game’s American style.
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Sporty quick with nicknames, quips
Ralph “Sporty” Carpenter’s Henderson State Reddies reached the eighth playing date of their 1981 schedule with a 7-0 record that rated them No. 1 in the NAIA.
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1994 team big draw for Hall
The 54th Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet Friday night was unlike any of the previous 53, which wasn’t a bad thing for the organizers.
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Bright brought success to UCA in track, football
Friends and followers of Raymond Bright’s coaching career sometimes wondered if his favorite sport was football or track and field. He worked zestfully with bo…
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Second calling became first sport for Lindsey
This is the fifth in a series profiling the 11 individuals and one team that will be inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on Feb. 3 at Verizon Arena …
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SEC hogs titles, shows playoff need
SEC football teams turned ruthlessly efficient during the final weeks of the regular season, making certain Monday night the BCS national championship remained…
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Boxing cycle takes about 20 years
For some reason, about 60 years came and went before I noticed that outstanding middleweight boxers appear in this region about every 20 years. Essentially, th…
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Clark was good fit for ringing in DH
Next week on New Year’s Day, baseball’s designated hitter rule enters its 40th year, but don’t expect any rousing celebrations.
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Bonds bypassing prison ... Cooperstown?
When crunch time arrived for San Francisco home run king Barry Bonds last week, he had to be pleasantly surprised, although the judge delayed imposing sentence…
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Old buddy shed pads for life of hoops
Cal Dilworth turned 80 in November, eager for the start of a new basketball season. He still plays the game, and counts 2011-2012 his 68th season.
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OSU finally through being hogtied
How long had it been since the Oklahoma State football team looked as powerful as in Saturday night’s furious 44-10 walloping of the Oklahoma Sooners? It depen…
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So long A&M-Texas, hello Houston
Thursday night, Texas and Texas A&M played the 118th game of a football series dating to 1894. They probably will face each other sometime in the future, b…
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Big game stirring memories, fervor
On both sides of the state line separating south Arkansas and north Louisiana, reverberations from a 1929 football game at Shreveport stirred peevish echoes fo…
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Boxing missing ‘golden age’ of Ali, Frazier
To Americans of a certain age and inclination, the most recent “golden age” of boxing started about 1960, then hit its peak as the 1970s got under way before g…
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Cards not rushing to reveal manager
In search of a new field manager, the St. Louis Cardinals seem to have started at the bottom of the process rather than the top.
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Napoli forgettable for not being Card
A distinguished Arkansas Travelers alumnus barely missed MVP honors in the 2011 World Series, but there was scant indication that Travs fans who watched him on…
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Otey, 88, Travs’ fixture for 40 years
Examining baseball rosters in the winter of 1948-1949, Ray Winder (the man, not the ballpark) got interested in a player on the Pampa (Texas) club of the Class…
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Dolan’s hook shot still an eye-opener
Hook shots are still legal in basketball games, although by no means as common as the profusion of the 1940s and 1950s.
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Vanishing ball still intriguing mystery
Pressured by popular demand — a postcard in 2004, a phone call a few weeks ago — I decided it might be time to repeat the mystery of the vanishing baseball.
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GAC having mixed results in first year
An odd confluence of college football leagues took place Saturday, involving the Great American Conference and the Gulf South Conference. You might even includ…
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Williams’ .406 year no fluke, accident
On the final day of the 1941 Major League Baseball season, Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams went 6 for 8 at the plate, winning the American League batting tit…
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Mayweather controversial, not rusty
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is easy enough to forget while in one of his hibernations, but the prize-fighting industry always seems to have $20 million or so ready fo…
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Wallace’s block turns into SAU lore
Bald Knob Mayor Doyle Wallace turned 81 in July, looking and acting younger than his age. His favorite football coach was the late Elmer Smith, and judging by …
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Pujols already primed for Hall of Fame
Baseball players have to spend a minimum of 10 years in the major leagues to qualify for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The vast majority of inductees…
