By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Texas native Dante Wright has been named director of the nine-county East Arkansas Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Wright, a former high school and college footballl player and former Arkansas State University coach, hopes to move into his new office and begin his day-to-day duties in March.
For more than two years, the East Arkansas FCA has been working toward establishing a local office which would serve the regions nine-counties -- St. Francis, Cross, Arkansas, Crittenden, Lee, Monroe, Phillips, Prairie and Woodruff -- through rallies, banquets and other fund raising efforts.
Originally scheduled to open in June, the local FCA office will become a reality in March thanks in part to First Baptist Church in Forrest City, which will provide the office space needed.
Pastor James Dean said his church is delighted and honored to have the opportunity to help in an effort such as FCA.
"We had some available space at the church and decided this would be a great way to put it to good use," Dean said. "All of the necessary tools needed to perform his duties are there and we will be more than happy to continue to provide this space for as long as FCA needs it."
Wright was an assistant football coach for the ASU Indians last season under Head Coach Steve Roberts. He is also senior pastor at True Light Missionary Baptist Church in Blytheville, a position he will continue to hold.
Growing up in the Dallas area, Wright attended Thomas Jefferson High School where he was a standout wide receiver. Upon graduation he attended Southeast Missouri State and Croswell Bible College before going into the coaching profession.
"I became a Christian in 1987," Wright said. "I was at an FCA breakfast in Dallas and former Notre Dame wide receiver, now NFL product Tim Brown, was speaking. He gave his testimony and it literally turned me around and changed the course of my life forever."
Wright said he looks at himself as a "missionary at large" in his new role as director of the East Arkansas FCA.
His duties will be to oversee the FCA chapters in each of the nine counties.
That will be done by Wright, made possible by past fund raising efforts as well as future efforts.
One such effort, spearheaded locally by Forrest City's Bill Baxter, is the "Green Team" comprised of several persons in each of the nine counties.
Baxter is chairman of the East Arkansas FCA Green Team project.
The Green Teams are the fund raising arms of the FCA ministry, Baxter explained. "What we hope to do is for each county to have its own Green Team and each county will raise their fair share of the budget needed to support the FCA chapters for their county.
While most of the organizational work to establish a local FCA office has been done in Forrest City, Baxter and others are quick to point out that it is not just a Forrest City or a St. Francis County deal, it is "all nine counties working together as one."
Using his athletic past as a springboard to reach out to coaches, students and others throughout the nine counties, Wright believes he can share the Gospel of Christ on a one-to-one basis.
"The ground work has been laid and now it is my job to help water what has already been planted," Wright said. "I want to be a vital part of the work that has been started here."
"FCA offers hope and since most of these kids are unchurched, we need to do whatever we can to provide that hope," Baxter said.
Wright said he plans to relocate to the West Memphis area to be closer to the work here.
Wright is married and he and his wife, Tracy, have four children, Dante II, Tiffany, Kai and Jeremiah.
"We are going to start making some noise as soon as we can," Wright said. "This is a dream that has come true, and within the next few weeks we want to put together an FCA rally to let the general public know more about FCA and what FCA is about.
"There are still a lot of people who don't quite understand what the organization is. Hopefully, we can present that package to the people and see the results."
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Mustang Arena will be rocking next week.
Beginning Monday, Forrest City will host the AAAAA-East Conference Tournament, which will feature seven junior high boys and seven junior high girls teams vying for the tournament championship.
The tournament will begin on Feb. 16 and continue through Friday, Feb. 20. Games will be played on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights. Sandwiched in between, on Tuesday, the Forrest City high school basketball teams will host Jacksonville.
Seeding for bracket positions will be held tonight following the conclusion of the regular season schedule.
Forrest City will play at Jonesboro Annie Camp tonight while Blytheville will play at West Memphis West and West Memphis East will play at West Memphis Wonder.
Tuesday, Jonesboro MacArthur wrapped up the regular-season conference title and will be the No. 1 seed into the boys' bracket.
MacArthur will receive a first-round bye and will open play Thursday, Feb. 19, at 5 p.m.
The Forrest City Junior Mustangs have already clinched the No. 2 seeded position and will open play Wednesday, Feb. 18, at 5 p.m., against the tournament's seventh-seeded team, which will probably be West Memphis West.
The Junior Mustangs are 9-2 in the league, going into tonight's final at Annie Camp. West is 0-11 in the conference.
The boys' No. 3 seed is up for grabs with three teams -- Wonder, East and Annie Camp -- tied with identical 6-5 league records.
In the girls side, Wonder will more than likely be the No. 1 seed, while MacArthur is expected to be No. 2 and Blytheville No. 3.
The Forrest City Junior Lady Mustangs are expected to be the No. 6 seed into the bracket and will play Monday at 7 p.m.
It will an all-Turrell-Earle evening at the 3AA-South junior high district tournament tonight.
Turrell and Earle will decide the boys and the girls' championship.
The girls game will tip at 6 p.m. followed by the boys at 7:15 p.m.
Wednesday night, Turrell's junior boys edged Parkin 47-45 in overtime to get to tonight's final while Earle rolled past Hughes 44-29.
In the junior girls' semifinal game played Thursday, Earle downed Marked Tree 33-12 to advance. Turrell's junior girls defeated Cross County Tuesday night to advance to the title game.
The 3AA South senior high district tournament will begin Monday, Feb. 16, and will be played at Earle.
Going into the tournament, the Turrell boys and girls were seeded first while the Earle teams were seeded second.
NFL official Walt Coleman will be the featured speaker at the annual Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce Banquet tonight at the Forrest City Civic Center, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Coleman, a graduate of Little Rock Central High School and the University of Arkansas, is part of the Coleman Dairy family and can be seen most Sunday's working NFL football games.