Four men from the River Valley & Ozark Edition coverage area were inducted into the halls of fame for high school coaches, athletic administrators and officials July 10 at Horner Hall in the Hot Springs Convention Center.
Tommy Reed of Greenbrier joined Lanny Dauksch of West Memphis (football), Willie Parker of Dermott (basketball), Jim Pennington of Emerson (basketball), Linda Thomas of Eudora (basketball) and the late Dave Williams of Pocahontas (football) as 2015 inductees into the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Jack Fulmer of Heber Springs and James Magie of Perryville joined Danny Black of Little Rock (basketball), Bob Dunham of Bartlett, Tennessee (basketball), Danny Sheets of Mount Ida (basketball) and Shirl Williams of Marshall (basketball) in the latest class of the Arkansas Officials Association.
Jim Dickerson of Russellville, along with Ronnie Carter of Hot Springs and Harvey Smith of Hope, comprise the 2015 class of the Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators Association.
Lou Wood of Mountain Home, master of ceremonies for the event, summed up the evening that brought a near-capacity 1,000 people to Horner Hall: “I’m not calling anybody old, but these 15 inductees represent almost 700 total years of working with high schools in the state of Arkansas,” Wood said. “That is a great accomplishment and deserves a round of applause.”
The crowd responded enthusiastically.
Reed, born in Paragould, graduated from Leachville High School and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and a master’s from the University of Central Arkansas in
Conway. He spent 34 years coaching basketball, baseball and softball before retiring from Greenbrier in 2012.
During his videotaped remarks, he mentioned John Widner, Joe Dillard and C.D. Taylor, calling them “Hall of Fame mentors I’m very proud to call friends.”
“I am forever indebted to them,” Reed said.
Fulmer, a Conway High School graduate, played baseball and basketball at UCA. After playing professional baseball from 1967-70, he coached baseball at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and UCA, and was an assistant women’s basketball coach at UCA in 1986-87.
He started officiating in 1963 and has more than 50 years of service in football, basketball and baseball. He continues to work college baseball.
Magie, from Bigelow, officiated his first basketball game in 1958, a few months after he graduated from high school. Throughout a long career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, he continued to officiate, revving up again after he retired from the Corps and moved to Perryville. He has worked basketball, baseball, football and softball.
Dickerson, born in West Memphis, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Monticello and a master’s in educational administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He spent 32 years in education, including stops at Elaine, Little Rock McClellan, Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Clarksville and Russellville, where he served from 1998-2012 as director of athletics and transportation. He continues to officiate volleyball.
Dickerson retired from the military in 2008 as a command sergeant major. He served 32 years.
Dee Doyle of Russellville shared the News Media Award with his son, Mickey Doyle of Rogers. The father-son duo have a combined 85 years of media-related services. Dee Doyle has nearly 50 years of service working in radio in Missouri and Arkansas. He has served as play-by-play announcer for Arkansas radio stations in Conway, Hope, Russellville and Searcy. He is a former public-address announcer for football and basketball games at Russellville High School and Arkansas Tech.
Mickey Doyle, who has worked for several years for the Northwest Arkansas edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, started his newspaper career in 1980 while he was still in high school. Since graduating from Arkansas Tech, he has been a sportswriter for the Springdale Morning News, The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs and the Northwest Arkansas Times in Fayetteville.
Other awards presented during the evening were the Curt King Award to Williams, the Joe Reese Award to Grafton Moore of West Memphis and the Jerry Hall Award to Billy Joe Hulse of White Hall.