By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
A Korean War veteran, two Arkansas Razorbacks and one of the best all-around athletes ever from Forrest City, make up the quartet of former Forrest City athletes -- prior to 1970 -- who will be inducted into the 2001 Athletic Hall of Fame.
Pat Todd, Jim Lindsey, Sonny Holmes and Bill Kessinger will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during the banquet Friday at the Forrest City Civic Center.
The banquet begins at 5 p.m. Advance tickets are $10 and are available at edwin houston, Freeman's and Baxter, Horner and Devereau.
Lindsey, Holmes, Todd and Kessinger join Lincoln High School inductees Rodney Echols, Clarence Jones, Jr., Florine Bingham, John Henry Watson and former Forrest City athletes (after 1970) William Hampton, Charlotte Fields Wright, Dudley Parker and Jimmie Rogers as this year's Hall of Fame Class.
Kessinger's younger brother, Donnie, was part of the charter Hall of Fame class inducted last year.
Former University of Arkansas Football Coach and current Athletic Director Frank Broyles will be the special guest speaker.
Broyles was responsible for recruiting Lindsey and Holmes to play for the Razorbacks.
Lindsey played on Broyles' 1964 National Championship team at the age of 20.
Lindsey, who graduated in 1962, was the son of E.E. and Ida B. Lindsey and reared on a farm near Caldwell. He has one brother, Elmer "B" Lindsey, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame a year ago and four sisters, Tommy Satterfield, Betty Holman, Joyce Clark and Claudette Ferguson.
At Forrest City he was an all-around athlete competing in football, basketball and track.
He was known to those close to him and to his teammates as a "fierce competitor."
He was a member of the National Honor Society and was captain of the Mustang football team.
Following graduation from FCHS, Lindsey attended the University of Arkansas and graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1966.
In between, he made himself a presence for Broyles' Razorbacks as a wingback in the Hogs' backfield.
Lindsey's first season at Arkansas saw the Razorbacks struggle to a 5-5 mark in 1963. The team went 11-0 in 1964 on their way to the national title by beating Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl.
In 1965, the Razorbacks rolled undefeated through the regular season to post a 10-0 mark and won the Southwest Conference championship.
The only blemish on the Hogs record was a 14-7 loss to LSU in the Cotton Bowl.
Lindsey's senior season, 1966, saw the Hogs go 8-2.
Lindsey went on to play in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings for seven seasons. He was captain of the special teams unit for five of those seasons.
Lindsey is a member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and of the University of Arkansas Hall of Honor.
In 1973, he founded Lindsey and Associates, Inc. Real Estate Company and then in 1985 added Lindsey Construction Company from which has sprang 14 subdivisions, 18,000 apartment units and 12 commercial properties.
His management company has more than 18,000 apartment units throughout Arkansas Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Kansas and Tennessee.
He continues to hold a farming and ginning interests in the Forrest City area along with his brother.
He remains faithful to the University of Arkansas serving as a member of the Razorback Foundation and a member of the Board of Trustees.
He resides in Fayetteville.
Since the late 1960s, Sonny Holmes has called Forrest City his home.
A 1958 graduate of Forrest City High School, Holmes was an all-around athlete, lettering in football, basketball, track and baseball. He competed in prep sports from his seventh-grade year until his senior season.
"I think probably football was my strongest sport," Holmes says. "After playing fullback, I switched to quarterback during my ninth-grade year."
Holmes played in two All-American high school football games as a senior -- one in Memphis and the other in Hershey, Pa.
He played his entire school sports career under former Forrest City coach Jim Devazier, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year.
Like Lindsey, Holmes was recruited by Frank Broyles and attended the University of Arkansas for a short time before transferring to the University of Southern Mississippi.
While his efforts as an athlete are certainly etched into Forrest City's history, it was as a basketball and football official that carried Holmes to much greater heights.
Holmes began his officiating career in the late 1960s beginning in the junior high and high school ranks.
He worked his way up into the college level, working games in the AIC, Southland, Southwest, SEC, Big East, Metro and Western Athletic Conferences.
He worked several NCAA basketball tournaments and twice officiated in Sweet 16 games.
"Probably the biggest football game I ever worked as an official was the Army-Navy game," Holmes said.
Holmes has conducted officials' clinics and many of his students are now working in the NBA and NFL.
Holmes has also taken his clinics overseas, touring Europe with former University of Houston Coach Guy Lewis, working camps at Air Force bases in Italy, Germany and England.
Holmes was inducted into the Arkansas High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
During his athletic career at Forrest City High School, Bill Kessinger was considered to be one of the best all-around athletes the city had seen.
That is, until his younger brother, Donnie came along.
Nonetheless, Bill Kessinger starred for Forrest City in football, basketball and track until he graduated in 1951.
He would have played baseball too, but it wasn't offered as a high school sport.
He was offered and accepted a scholarship to the University of Central Arkansas (Conway) where he lettered in four different sports -- football, basketball, track and baseball -- which was considered a rare feat at the time.
"In those days, a lot of kids played all four sports in college," Kessinger said. "We didn't think much about it then."
Kessinger went into the high school coaching ranks and spent 10 seasons as head coach of the West Memphis Blue Devils.
He made the move into administration and has been the school superintendent at West Memphis for the past 30 years.
A former Marine and a Korean War veteran, Pat Todd lettered in football, basketball and track at Forrest City.
He graduated in 1947 and attended Arkansas College where he played football and basketball.
In football, Todd played both defense and offense and won All-State honorable mention status during his junior year. He lined up at right end, right halfback and fullback.
He lettered for three years in basketball and was named All-District.
During his junior season Forrest City won the district title and reached the quarterfinals of the state tournament.
Forrest City reinstated its track program during Todd's senior year which gave him the chance to run the 100, 220 and 880-yard dash as well as compete in the broad jump, high jump, discus and pole vault.
Todd was selected the Best All-Around Athlete as a senior and earned the Frank King Memorial Award.
After college, Todd worked for Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Forrest City and joined the Marines in 1950. He spent 13 months in Korea and ended his tour of duty as a sergeant in 1952.
He spent 36 years with Arkansas Power and Light, retiring in 1988.
Since then, he has officiated football and basketball and youth and American Legion baseball.
Forrest City Grocery will be the corporate sponsor for the 2001 Rumble on the Ridge high school basketball tournament.
The tournament will be played Nov. 22, 23 & 24 at Mustang Arena.
The games will begin at 3:30 p.m. each day.