HIGH PROFILE: Price Cravens Gardner went from lineman to lawyer

Price Gardner went from lineman to lawyer. His time as an ASU football player aided his work ethic in law school.

Price C. Gardner on 09/21/2021 at his office for High Profile cover. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Cary Jenkins)
Price C. Gardner on 09/21/2021 at his office for High Profile cover. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Cary Jenkins)

Once a football player, always a football player.

Price Gardner's days as a starting left tackle for Arkansas State University are well behind him now. The 6-foot, 3-inch, 260 pound lineman ("I was big for the 1980s but I wouldn't be thought of as big for today," says Gardner) made his mark at ASU, being a four-year letterman.

As proof that football is still on the mind of the 59-year-old lawyer, Gardner refers to his current stage of life as being "in the fourth quarter." If you want to continue on in this way, you'd have to say that Gardner is way up on the scoreboard. The list of Gardner's accomplishments once he hung up his cleats for good are numerous and would certainly include being a managing partner for the Friday, Eldredge and Clark law firm with offices in Little Rock and Rogers.

On Oct. 22, he gets to add one more to his list with being named a Distinguished Alumni for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law. Gardner is being honored for his "contributions to the legal community, commitment to legal education and leadership within the state."

"We are pleased to recognize Price's commitment to the legal profession and his service to the community," says Theresa Beiner, Bowen's dean. "When we reached out to the Friday firm, Price stepped up and arranged for the firm to support the law school's transition to online learning during the pandemic, generously funding technology upgrades to the Friday Courtroom, the largest classroom at the school that is named after Herschel Friday, so that we could safely teach classes remotely. The Friday firm also funded the Friday Forward Fellowship, an innovative program to help students from diverse backgrounds succeed on the LSAT and in law school, which furthers the Gardner family's commitment through their pre-law scholarship at Arkansas State University."

Gardner is happy to tell anyone who will listen what he thinks of his alma mater.

"I can testify at what a good school Bowen is," Gardner says. "I witness how our lawyers [who graduated from UALR] go toe to toe with lawyers from law schools from all over the country. I remember how well I was prepared coming out of law school. We are getting a good education here."

CYCLES TO THE RIVER

Though born in Florida, Gardner's first memory is of Arkansas and his home in Little Rock's Breckenridge neighborhood. Dad was a Navy helicopter pilot and Mom was a homemaker. Gardner has one sibling -- a younger sister.

The indoors didn't have much appeal for the young Gardner.

"We were outdoors all the time," Gardner says. "I was out with my friends. I remember riding bikes to Terry Elementary."

At that time in the mid-to-late '70s, the Gardners lived out in west Little Rock. The construction of Interstate 430, complete with regular dynamite blasts, was a major event.

"Dad bought us motorcycles when I was 10," Gardner recalls. "My best friends had motorcycles growing up and I remember riding down to the river along the interstate as it was being constructed. It was a neat time to grow up in west Little Rock."

When Gardner was in 4th grade, his family moved to the Pleasant Valley neighborhood. Gardner remembers a very active scene with "always a football game and always a baseball game going on somewhere near me."

For the future left tackle, football wasn't the only sport that occupied Gardner's time in junior and senior high school.

"At that point in time, you played whatever ball was in season and you looked forward to playing when the time came. I played the YMCA football league. I played baseball at Junior Deputy. I played basketball and football when I was in high school."

Gardner notes that today kids are pushed to specialize in one sport, devoting all their spare time to one pastime.

"I had coaches encourage me to play multiple sports," Gardner says. "I had a baseball coach who told me [playing baseball] would help my football. A basketball coach said that basketball would help with my footwork in football. As an offensive lineman, you have to have good feet."

When it came to having dinner, Gardner's family stuck to a schedule and "we ate dinner at 6 every night." Board games took up a lot of time as did attending all of Gardner's games.

"I think [my parents] missed one game of mine in all the time I played," Gardner says. "Every Friday, they would load up my poor sister and make her go to whatever away game was being played."

By the time Gardner was in his first year at Pulaski Academy, the private school in Pleasant Valley was practically new. Even though Gardner was a ways away from college, he thought he was headed to medical school.

"I was taking AP biology," Gardner says. "Our next door neighbor was an orthopedic surgeon and I would spend time talking to him. I was fascinated with medicine."

What caused the change of mind?

"It's kind of funny," Gardner says. "I decided I didn't want to work doctor's hours and take calls on weekends and late at night. I failed miserably. Lawyers tend to work more hours than doctors -- people are calling you all the time, especially now in the age of the iPhone."

Today PA plays high school football in the 5A conference and has, in the last several years, made routine appearances in the state championship and is considered one of the best football teams in the state. During Gardner's time, PA was in the smaller single A classification and "we had 20 kids on the football team and nine of us [played offense and defense]."

"My senior year was the first time [a PA football team] had gone to the state playoffs," Gardner says.

The size of PA at that time meant that the school wasn't a hotbed for recruiting by college programs. Gardner thought he might try to be a walk-on to the team at Baylor University. Then Gardner's head coach reached out to his old friend Larry Lacewell, who was coaching at ASU.

"He said, 'I got a kid you need to look at,'" Gardner says. "I only learned of this story in the last years, which has been pretty cool."

BRIGHT LIGHTS, LAW BOOKS

Along with the cheers of fans while he was on the field, Gardner felt stereotyped as someone who was only enrolled because of his football skills.

"I can remember when I turned in my first paper in my first class at ASU," Gardner recalls. "A professor asked, 'Where did you go to school?' and then 'You play football, don't you?' She was trying to see if I had help. She thought she had a dumb football player in her class."

In fact the professor had a student who was racking up the grades to be eventually admitted to law school. Gardner's football career was about to end but not before the NFL expressed some interest.

"I had letters of interest and free agency offers," Gardner says. "I didn't feel like I was good enough to make it to the next level. It would have delayed me a whole year in getting in law school and I didn't want to do that. Before [NFL] draft day, the Detroit Lions called and said be on the lookout, we might draft you. That didn't happen."

Graduating from ASU with a degree in accounting, Gardner would take and pass the CPA exam while at the UALR law school. His affinity for decoding tax law caught the attention of the law firm that would eventually hire him.

"I've known Price since he was 10 or 11," says Byron Eiseman, senior partner at Friday, Eldredge and Clark. "He was always someone I knew had a lot of potential. I taught tax classes at UALR and he was the top of the class. His leadership ability came to the fore early on in the firm."

There is a dispute between Gardner and his wife, Sara, on exactly how the two went from acquaintances to the first date that led to marriage and two children now grown.

"We kept bumping into each other," Gardner says. "She would tell you that she asked me out. She said, 'Are you gonna take me to lunch or what?'"

"Sara is one of the smartest and nicest people you would ever meet. She is a middle child and a pleaser. She is lot of fun and one of the best judges of people I know. She is smart and has a whole lot of common sense."

From his perch at the law firm, Gardner has worked with his real estate and corporate clients as well as serving on boards, including several years on the board of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.

In 2017, Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed Gardner to a five-year term on the Arkansas State University Board of Trustees. Gardner admits the first year or so of his appointment found him immersed in studies on the state of higher education.

"It's been a great experience," says Gardner of being a trustee. "It did take me a while to catch up and make a contribution. Higher education faces a huge challenge. You try to look through the eyes of students and parents paying the bill [for college]. It has to be affordable and a quality product. The administration and faculty [at ASU] do tremendous work in times that are not easy -- whether it's live classes or online classes. Those people truly have a calling. I see how professors really want to help educate kids and adults."

The concern for ASU and colleges around the state is increasing enrollment and not just to lift the university's bottom line.

"If you look at high school graduates in Arkansas, about 45% don't do any additional education," Gardner says. "We call that the Grey Box. We are trying to shrink that number to help our state and raise the level of our state economy. That high amount in the Grey Box will keep Arkansas stagnate for years."

When giving credit for his ability to serve on boards and keep up his work at Friday, Eldredge and Clark, Gardner doesn't hesitate to go back to those days of football -- days of hot summer practices and intense preparation for stepping on the field and trying to win.

"I learned so much from playing football," Gardner says. "It taught me a work ethic that has remained with me to this day. You learn so much about discipline and the amount of time that it takes. It helps you work well with other people. It helps you overcome adversity and make relationships that have lasted a lifetime. It has helped me in life."

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