By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Former Arkansas Razorback football coach and Helena native, Ken Hatfield will be just one of several headliners at this year's Ralph Memorial Golf Tournament.
The tournament will be held Monday, June 30, at the Forrest City Country Club. A shotgun start at 10:30 a.m. will send individual golfers and more than 30 teams onto the course.
The charity golf tournament named in honor of the late Ralph Thompson, helps raise money to benefit the East Arkansas Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and like-minded charities. A year ago, the tournament raised $10,000. organizers hope to exceed that figure this year.
Thompson's son, John, now the head football coach at East Carolina University will be at the tournament.
Besides Thompson and Hatfield, guests will include Forrest City native's Donnie Kessinger and his son, Keith, who is the head baseball coach at Arkansas State University; Harding University (Searcy) football coach Ronnie Huckeba; long-time Hendrix basketball coach and Forrest City native, Cliff Garrison. Long drive golf champion Mike Dunnaway and several representatives from the University of Mississippi will also be in attendance. Dunnaway will give a demonstration at 10 a.m., just before the start of the tournament.
Hatfield, who has been the head football coach at Rice University since 1993, has been actively involved in FCA for many years. At the recently held FCA Banquet, Hatfield spoke via tape to the crowd who gathered at the Forrest City Civic Center.
Hatfield has been an active leader of the American Football Coaches Association, he is president of the American Football Coaches Foundation, the charitable arm of the FCA.
Before going to Rice, Hatfield led highly-successful programs at Air Force, Arkansas and Clemson.
He brought Arkansas to dominance in the SWC with six bowl trips in his six seasons in Fayetteville. The Houston Post named Hatfield the SWC's coach of the decade in the 1980's.
Under Hatfield, the Razorbacks were league champions in 1988 and '89 before he moved on to Clemson.
As a player, he was an academic all-America selection for Arkansas' 1964 national champions, and he led the nation in punt returns in both 1963 and '64 after a second-place finish as a sophomore in 1962.
His most memorable play took place against Texas in 1964 when he raced 81 yards during a punt return for a touchdown in the Hogs' 14-13 victory. It was the key win in Arkansas' championship season. Altogether, Hatfield scored five TDs on punt returns, including a record 95-yard effort vs. Tulsa in 1963.
Hatfield owns a 155-108-4 record in 23 seasons and has demonstrated the ability to win regardless of the conference, competition or program.
Garrison, professor of kinesiology, senior advancement associate for athletics and head men's basketball coach at Hendrix College, recently announced his retirement from coaching.
Garrison completed his 31st season as head coach of the Hendrix College Warriors when the basketball team closed out their 2002-03 season.
With the close of the 2002-2003 basketball season, Garrison finished his 31st year serving as the head coach of the Warriors, the Hendrix basketball team.
After earning a master's degree in the same field, also from UCA, Garrison began his coaching career with assignments at Wynne and Stuttgart. While at Stuttgart, he directed the Ricebirds to three state tournament appearances in seven years.
During that time, Garrison was selected twice to the Arkansas All-Star basketball coaching staff. Following his success at the high school level, he coached briefly at Henderson State University before joining the Hendrix coaching staff.
During his coaching career at Hendrix, Garrison amassed a total of 463 wins against 377 losses. His victory total is tops among active college basketball coaches in the state of Arkansas. In 1975 and again in 1980, Garrison was named NAIA District 17 Coach of the Year. In 1980, Garrison's Warriors captured the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference title, marking the end of a 47-year period in which the Warriors did not win a conference championship. The Warriors went on to repeat the feat in 1981, 1983, 1985 and 1991. During the 1984-1985 season, the Warriors captured the NAIA District 17 tournament title, earning the team a berth in the national small-college basketball tournament.
Kessinger was an outstanding Forrest City athlete and was a high school All-American who went on to play major league baseball with the Chicago Cubs, St. LOuis Cardinals and the Chicago White Sox.
He was head baseball coach at Ole Miss, where from 1991-96, put together a 185-153 record. he had a string of five consecutive winning seasons at Ole Miss.
For more information about the tournament, contact Mallory Parker at 870-633-3505.
Nimocks Oil Company and Pepsi America are serving as the tournament's major sponsors this year.
The Forrest City 10 and 12-year-old All-Star youth baseball teams begin play today at their respective district tournaments.
The 10-year-old All-Stars, coached by Cornelius Tucker, will take on Wynne today at 5 p.m., at Helena as the seven-team District 7 Tournament gets underway.
A win brings Forrest City back on Friday at 5 p.m. while a n opening round loss leaves he team playing Friday at 7 p.m.
The 12-year-old All-Star team is coached this year by Jim Machen and Randy Pearson and the team opens play today at 5 p.m. against Pine Bluff Seabrook, at Pine Bluff.
A victory brings Forrest City back on Friday at 5 p.m.
All of the other All-Star teams will start district or state play next weekend.
The 9-year-old All-Stars will go straight to state at Lake Village over the July 4 weekend while the 11-year-old team will step into state play at Maumelle beginning July 11.
The Forrest City All-Star T-Ball team will open play at the state tournament on July 4, at Sylvan Hills Optimist Park while the 7-8-year-old pitching machine team, will open play at Sylvan Hills on July 11.
The 13-year-old All-Stars, coached by Wayman Cochran open play on July 3, at Marion as will the 14-year-old team, coached by Jeff Turner.
Forrest City's Sports Complex will host the District 7 15-year-old tournament, which begins July 3. The 15-year-old team is being coached by Darius Banks.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Just when everything seemed to be falling into place for the Forrest City football program, the coaching staff suffered a blow.
Jeff Hudson, who has been defensive coordinator for the Mustangs for the past three seasons has resigned his position and has taken an assistant coaching position at Paragould High School.
Hudson, a Paragould native and graduate of Greene County Tech, came to Forrest City in 2000 along with Forrest City coaches Chuck Sartin, Reggie Murphy, Karen Carrier, Michael Work and Gwen Franklin.
From that class, only Sartin and Murphy remain on the school's coaching staff.
Hudson also served as head track coach the past three seasons but stepped down from that position last month when former Forrest City coach Clark McBride rejoined the staff.
Hudson said at the time that he "wanted to devote all of his energies to the football program.
He was scheduled this fall to be defensive coordinator and was part of a four-man staff to oversee the seventh-grade football program.
Hudson will be an assistant with the Paragould High School football team and is expected to coach soccer in the spring.
"We are losing a good coach," Mustang Head Coach Donnie Willis said. "Jeff has always been a hard worker and he brought a lot to our coaching table. Losing a coach of his caliber hurts, but when an opportunity such as this comes along, you have to let them go."
The move to Paragould is a return home for Hudson and his wife.
Forrest City Athletic Director Mike Bender said the search is on to replace Hudson, but added "at this late date, it may be hard to find someone, since almost everyone has already signed contracts for the upcoming school year."
Willis said if a replacement can't be found, his staff will have to double up in their duties to make up Hudson's role.
"We'll do what we have to do," Willis said. "We hope to find someone with experience. That is a must for the program."
Hudson called his three years at Forrest City a "learning experience."
"I learned a lot about the game of football from the staff here and for that I'm grateful," Hudson said. "It's probably not the best timing for me to leave, but sometimes when this kind of opportunity comes along, you have to consider not only what may be best for you, but what is best for your family and that is what I did."
Hudson said that paragould is taking steps to build their football program and that was attractive in his decision to make the move.
Hudson will officially submit his resignation to the School Board tonight.
Paragould is a member of the AAAA-East Conference which includes Wynne.
Forrest City Sports Complex will host the July Baseball Bash, sponsored by the Delta Storms traveling youth team, July 11-14. The tournament will feature ages divisions from T-Ball through 14-under.
Entry fees are $150 per team and interested teams can call Wayman Cochran at 870-633-8668 during the day or 870-633-4441 at night. The tournament is Pool Play and each team is guaranteed three games.
The Bash will use Cal Ripken rules for the younger age groups and Babe Ruth rules for the upper divisions.
Marion will host Marion Mayhem Aug. 1,2 and 3, for age divisions T-Ball through 13-under. competeing in Pool Play.
For more information, contact James Wilson at 870-243-1895 or 870-739-1346.