FORT SMITH -- Though he was noted for winning more than 1,000 games as a junior college coach, Bill Crowder will remembered as a molder of young men at Westark.
Crowder died Monday morning at a Fort Smith hospital at age of 89. Funeral arrangements are pending.
"He is from a different generation of men ... he was a humble man." former Westark assistant coach Jim Wiley said. "The two greatest men and mentors in my life were my father and Coach Crowder."
In 33 seasons, Crowder compiled a 1,003-559 (.642) record as the baseball coach, and for his first three years at the school, was the basketball coach. While coaching both sports, he also integrated the teams in 1966.
As the Lions' baseball coach, Crowder built a 981-527 (.651) record playing in arguably the toughest conference and region (Bi-State East, Region II) of the National Junior College Athletic Association. Yet every season, Crowder's teams were in the hunt for conference and regional championships.
He had four players reach the major leagues -- Jeff McKnight (New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles), Aaron Looper (Seattle Mariners), Kevin Lomon (Mets, Atlanta Braves) and Ryan Nye (Philadelphia Phillies). More than 500 players went on to play at four-year colleges and dozens more signed professional contracts.
He was inducted into the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2001 and into the UAFS Hall of Fame in 2010.
"When he got inducted in the (NJCAA) Hall of Fame (in 2001), he never talked about himself," Wiley, who played for the Lions in the late 1980s, said. "All he wanted to talk about was meeting (former Dodger manager) Tommy Lasorda."
Before becoming baseball coach at Westark (now the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith), Crowder was an assistant football and basketball coach at Springdale High from 1958-65 and was head coach for football, basketball and baseball at Ozark from 1956-58.
While at Westark, Crowder also turned players into coaches and youth leaders such as Fort Smith Southside's Steve Haaser, Fort Smith Northside's Johnny Mason as well as baseball coaches like Northside's Chad Frazier, Southside's Travis Biggs and former Harrison coach Greg Crow.
"It was not the baseball lessons I remember from Coach Crowder but the life lessons on how to be a coach and an educator," former Alma basketball coach Stan Flenor, who played for Crowder in 1982-83, said. "He taught us how to deal with all different types of people every day. He was and still is a role model. He was an ambassador for Fort Smith, UA-Fort Smith and the region. He was well respected in the community."
Crowder even published a book titled "Success is More Than Wins." In 1994, Westark opened a new baseball facility and named it in honor of Crowder.
"That was neat to be on the first Westark team to play at Crowder Field," Biggs, who played for Westark in 1993-94, said. "He tried to get the best kids out of the [Fort Smith] region and the state of Arkansas, that he could get."
A native of Perryville, Crowder graduated from the College of the Ozarks in the mid 1950s (now University of the Ozarks in Clarksville) at a time when it was one of the cradles for top-notch coaches and youth leaders such as Fort Smith Northside's Gayle Kaundart, Pine Bluff's Billy Bock, Fort Smith Southside's Merrill Mankin, one-time coach and Westark athletic director Wyatt, former UAFS women's basketball coach Louis Whorton and longtime Fort Smith Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Jerry Glidewell.
"He wanted as many players to play baseball at Division I schools, but he really wanted them to go to any four-year school to further their education," Glidewell, who played for Crowder in the mid-1970s said. "He wanted to see them graduate from a four-year school, get a good job and contribute to their communities, whether or not it was coaching."
Biggs remembered that Crowder would never take his players after games to a McDonald's or Wendy's after road trips to small Oklahoma towns such as Wilberton, Miami or Seminole, preferring to have his players not eat fast food.
"He knew every diner and cafe with a buffet in those small towns," Biggs said. "We all would laugh about never eating fast food on the road. He would rather eat at those places, so that is where we had our meals."