Billy Michael Presson

Billy Michael Presson, one of the most well-liked and respected men in the history of Sherwood/Sylvan Hills, died on Tuesday, December 13th, the day after his fifty-ninth birthday. The wintry, rainy day hardly suited his warm and colorful personality. The memorial service will be held at the Sylvan Hills Community Church, 8019 Sylvan Hills Highway (Hwy 107) at noon on Saturday. For more information, contact the Griffin-Leggett-Rest Hills Funeral Home at jnicklas@stei.com. Mike Presson was witty, charming, smart, athletic and about as talented as anyone I've ever met. He feared nothing, not even death. Rarely did he face a challenge he could not conquer. He lived life in a full sprint, often like an onrushing bull. It seems improbable that anyone with that kind of enthusiasm for life could succumb to cancer just five weeks after being diagnosed. Ironically, his lovely wife Doris died on October 1, 2007 after a valiant battle with leukemia at M.D. Anderson Medical Center in Houston. In her final days, Doris convinced her husband to run for mayor of Sherwood. "Do it for the kids, who were just like you growing up in Sherwood,'' she said. Presson lost a close race in 2010. Mike was extremely close to his two beautiful two sisters, Jan Presson Johnston and Sharon Presson Clark, and the kind of son that Bill and Juanita Presson could always be proud of. He was one of the greatest baseball players ever produced by the Sylvan Hills Optimist Club program. Playing for the Sylvan Hills Bears football team, he was the star that everyone talked about. He started as a sophomore as a defensive back and excelled as both a running back and quarterback. Baseball was his best sport because of his remarkable versatility. He could play any position, including pitcher, and was one of the leading hitters in the state for several seasons. Bill Presson coached his son in Little League baseball for Sylvan Hills Home and Auto, along with Robo Wash in Pony League "He was one of the best baseball players to come out of Sylvan Hills, right there with Kevin McReynolds,'' said Bill Presson. "He could do anything on the baseball field.'' Mike also played for three years with the Sylvan Hills American Legion team known as Delgman Supply. He joined the University of Arkansas baseball team as a walk-on freshman in 1971 and made the five-man pitching rotation on the varsity. But on the day of the season opener against Oral Roberts, the pitching coach informed him that he would not be suiting up that day. "Mike got mad, called me and said that he was coming home,'' Bill Presson said. "That is when he transferred to UCA (the University of Central Arkansas in Conway). Presson tried out for the UCA team, but suffered arm soreness that was attributed to a shoulder separation he suffered at the football Homecoming against Russellville High in the fall of 1970. A three-inch silver screw was inserted into the shoulder that was later removed by the late Dr. Roger Clark, an orthopedic surgeon from Sylvan Hills. Clark played football and baseball for several years with Presson before his death. Presson kept that silver screw in a drinking glass at his home. Joe Holladay, who played with Presson in three sports in Sylvan Hills, remembers him as a great all-round player. "He was one of the best athletes to ever suit up at Sylvan Hills,'' he said. "Of all the kids that I played with, he probably had the best shot at the Major Leagues. He was one of the greatest competitors I ever met and a great teammate.'' What separated Sylvan Hills from other high schools in the late 1960s and early ‘70s was choir director Bob Taylor, who recruited heavily from the football team. Mike Presson could sing tenor like a songbird, and served as the choir's main soloist. Because Taylor was more driven than most football coaches, the Sylvan Hills choir won first place during overall state competition in 1970-71. Mike won the gold medal for choir, but passed on a music scholarship to Sam Houston State University. Presson was also the lead singer in our band called the "Four Spirits'' that included John Hanks, Joe Holladay, myself, along with Rick Hamric and Roger Petersen on the drums. Mike was at his best doing the hard-rocking hits of the era like "Louie Louie,'' "Gloria'' and "Shake Your Tail Feather'' (YouTube the Blues Brothers version). One afternoon our little band broke into "Tailfeather,'' a song that contains an X-rated lyric sung quite loudly. Mike was dancing and singing in the middle of the Presson living room when his mother, Juanita, burst into the room and pulled the plugs on of our amplifiers. "Michael Presson, if you sing that word one more time, I'm going to kick all of you boys out of my house,'' Juanita hollered. Mike Presson was born on December 12, 1952, in Hot Springs. After moving to Sherwood, he came into my life in the third grade when he showed up in my backyard with a wild, horse-sized dog named Big Shot. Leanna Dent sent Big Shot home, but told Mike he could stay as long as he liked. He would show up every Sunday about lunch time. My mother would ask him to join us. Mike's stock answer was, "Nah, Mrs. Dent, I just ate.'' Of course, he always relented and ate everything on his plate. From the day he set foot onto Sherwood Elementary, he was the ringleader of the schoolyard. "There was nothing like him,'' said long-time friend, Sandy Williams. "He was the funniest kid I ever met.'' Jimmy Dent Sr., my dad, loved nothing better than pulling Presson and me behind the Dent family ski boat around Greers Ferry Lake in north central Arkansas. We were like two daredevils on our slalom skis and always came up laughing after the hard falls. One day, my dad named us the "B.Y.A.'' - the Bust You're A. Club. After college, in the midst of Mike's wild streaks, he met a pretty young woman named Doris Marie Butler of West Helena. She let it be known that it was time for Billy Michael to make some serious lifestyle changes. Mike and Doris were married on June 30th, 1984 in the backyard of Bill and Juanita Presson. Their oldest son, Chris Presson, 27, works as a cabinet fabricator for Dassault Falcon Jet. Chris and Brittany Presson are the proud parents of a five-year-old son, Andrew Michael. The youngest of Mike's sons, Marshall, 21, is stationed at the Naval Station Norfolk in the southeastern corner of Virginia and works in Logistics. The lion's share of the Presson athletic gene was passed along to Matt Presson, 24, a slugging first baseman who led Sylvan Hills High to back-to-back state 5A baseball in 2004-2005, and played for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Arkansas Tech. He earned his degree from Tech in 2011. Mike coached all three of his boys from the ground up, and the batting cage in his backyard was rarely silent. The day after their father died, Chris Presson gathered the family around the kitchen table in Sherwood. He told his brothers, "We will have to come back stronger than ever. We owe this to dad.'' Mike Presson also leaves behind five nieces and nephews and hundreds of faithful friends who stuck with him until his death. After a 20-year stint with Straus Distributing, Mike and Doris opened Press 1 Pizza in Sherwood in 2006, and it became a gathering place for friends and family. Night after night, it brought the old the Sylvan Hills band of friends back together. With the exception of our mothers and fathers, who built Sherwood/Sylvan Hills into a wonderful place to raise kids, no one cared more about his community than Mike Presson. He will be missed by everyone who ever knew him.