Chuck Beale

TRI-LAKES AREA — Not many people can say they know when and where their lives changed direction forever. Chuck Beale can.

“It was at the National Camp of the Fellowship of Christian Athletics in Estes Park, Colo., in August 1959,” Beale said. “All my heroes were there, like baseball great Bob Feller and pro-football hall-of-famer Otto Graham. My heroes talked about their hero, Jesus Christ. It was a week that changed my life.”

Although he was born in the suburbs of New York City, Beale’s parents moved to Dallas, home to both his parents’ families, when he was 6 months old, and he was raised a Texan and a football player.

Beale was all-city running back in a Dallas high school when he attended the FCA event before his senior year. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is a Christian-based organization that was only 5 years old when Beale attended the camp. FCA uses the influence of coaches and athletes as a means of Christian evangelism.

Beale said that although he was attracted to the meeting because of the famous athletes in attendance, it was businessman James Jeffery, a former president of FCA, who had the greatest impact on the young athlete from Dallas.

“He a great encourager,” Beale said. “James Jeffery inspired me to speak to groups of students. When he would introduce you, you could feel like a king.”

Jeffery was also an entertainer, using sleight-ofhand tricks and juggling during his speaking engagements, Beale said.

Beale also learned to juggle and can do many tricks, such as seeming to pass a thimble from a finger to his

ear, or even hand to hand, in an instant and under

close scrutiny.

“The tricks catch young people’s attention and cre

ate some excitement,” Beale said while he juggled three

bright-yellow balls.

Jeffery’s influence would encourage Beale for many

years, but when he returned to Texas from that first

time at camp, Beale said he was determined to be the

“best athlete he could be,” not only for himself but as

a commitment to something more than sports.

His accomplishments on the football field led to the

offer of a scholarship to the Virginia Military Institute

in Lexington, Va.

“I never visited the campus, and they had never

seen me play, but that is the way it worked back then,”

said Beale, who played as both a running back and a

defensive back for the school.

In the 1950s, VMI was a major college football

power and was ranked 13th in the nation during his

freshman year.

“They were giving out 12 scholarships, and I got

one,” Beale said. “We played teams like Navy, Virginia

Tech, the University of Virginia and Boston College.” Beale remembers playing a Navy team lead by RogerStaubach, who won the Heisman Trophy and was later named to the NFL Hall of Fame for his 10 years as quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.

“I had my best game ever as a running back in that game,” Beale said, “but we still lost 21-12 because of a trick play.”

Walking off the field in his last game at VMI signaled another turning point for Beale.

“I realized this part of my life was over,” he said. “From the third grade until I was 22 years old, the focus of my life and discipline had been on the field. All of a sudden it was over, and I found out that a lot of people don’t care about sports.”

Following graduation from the military college in 1964, Beale expected to enter the armed forces.

“This was early in the war in Vietnam when the U.S. was sending military advisers,” Beale said. “I had every intention of entering the military, but I was turned down because I had asthma.”

Again, Jeffery influenced Beale’s choice of a career. Like his mentor, Beale started in the insurance business.

“James Jeffery told me that working in insurance, I would be my own boss, that my time would be my own and that I would make what I was worth,” Beale said. “Later, I added financial planning, and that became the largest part of the business.”

Beale moved to Arkansas when he took a job in Little Rock. He also lived in Conway for a while, then returned to Little Rock before moving to Hot Springs Village in 1998.

“What I do for a living is to evaluate what gives value to people,” Beale said. “What gives value to me is to try and make a difference in people’s lives.”

For Beale, that meant not only working for his insurance and financial clients but for young athletes around the state.

“I would seek out coaches and help them start FCA chapters,” he said.

After moving to Hot Springs Village, he got involved in the local FCA group after reading that former Dallas Cowboy coach Tom Landry would attend a golf tournament sponsored by the organization.

“I wanted to go and be a part of that, but I didn’t know who to call,” Beale said.

By the next year, Beale had joined the golf tournament committee.

“There is where I met Don Phillips, the head football coach at Jessieville High School,” Beale said. “We were meeting almost every week.”

Beale, along with Philips and other FCA supporters, send 70 to 90 young football, baseball and other team-sport players to one of the 300 camps conducted by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, much like the one Beale attended in 1959.

“It is a place where a lot of difference is made in young lives,” he said.

Beale said sending the young people to camp can cost as much as $25,000 a year. He said the FCA and sports programs in the region have helped open doors for the projects.

“The residents of the Village have really been supportive,” he said.

At age 69, Beale is making a slow move to retirement. He sold his Hot Springs Village office but still owns an office in Bella Vista, but he said he spends little time there.

“I still have clients in Texas and Missouri that I see,” he said.

Beale said he enjoys living in the Village, but said it can be a sobering place.

“The average age in the Village is 68 years old. That means half of the population is older,” Beale said. “It causes me to stop and evaluate what life is and to remember to value the blessings I have.”

Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or wbryan@arkansasonline.com.

up close getting to know Charles W. Beale III

Birth date: May 10, 1942

Birthplace: Flushing, N.Y.

Family: My wife, Michele, and we have four

children between us and 10 grandchildren.

Biggest influence: James Jeffery, a former

president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes

First job: In the insurance business

As a child I wanted to be: A good athlete

Most people don’t know I am: An introvert

Favorite quote: “You have to be the best you can

with what you have.”