For 16 seasons now, the name Gore has become synonymous with Osceola football.
This season, Clinton Gore started his 16th season as head football coach at Osceola High School. He recently earned his 125th career victory at Osceola.
Come Friday night, Gore, a 1958 graduate of Forrest City High School, will enter the Forrest City Athletic Hall of Fame for his achievements as an athlete and as a coach.
A native of Forrest City, Gore lettered three years in football and two years in basketball and track at Forrest City High School.
He was the starting halfback for head coach Jim DeVazier's Split T offense as a senior on a 12-0 team which went on to be the Class 2AA Champions and the No. 1 ranked team in the state.
The 1957 backfield was ranked by many as the best backfield in Arkansas with Sonny Holmes, B. Lindsey, Dan Wilford and Gore.
DeVazier, Holmes and Lindsey have all already been inducted into the Hall.
Gore played a key role in three region championship Forrest City teams which put together a combined record of 31-2-1 during his junior and senior seasons.
He was a member of two outstanding basketball teams at Forrest City under Hall of Fame member Ed Henderson, also a Hall of Fame member.
Following graduation from Forrest City, Gore attended Arkansas State University on a football scholarship and was an outstanding athlete for the Indians under coach King Block.
He turned his attention to coaching and went on achieve success as head football coach at Forrest City, Arkansas State, Paragould and at Osceola, where he has won two state titles.
Gore coached the Forrest City Mustang football team from 1985 through the 1989 season compiling a 31-20 record through five seasons, including the 10-1 finish his first year. He left to take the head coaching position at Osceola.
A native of Forrest City, Eldon Hawley was an outstanding all-around athlete at Forrest City High School until his graduation in1956.
He was a three-year letterman in football, basketball and track -- earning many individual honors in each of the three sports.
As a center, he was named All-Region on the Mustang football team that finished 8-1-1, which signaled the start of the Jim DeVazier football era at Forrest City. Hawley also played linebacker and fullback on offense.
As a forward on the basketball team, he was named All District during his senior year under Hall of Fame coach Ed Henderson.
On the track Hawley competed in the 440 and 880 events as well as running in the relay events and somehow managed to find time to play high school baseball playing first base and the outfield.
He went to Arkansas State Teachers College, now known as the University of Central Arkansas on a football scholarship and went on to become a four-year letterman. He was named to the All-AIC team during his senior season.
In track, Hawley was a three-year letterman, becoming the AIC half-mile champion two straight years.
Following his graduation from UCA, Hawley began an outstanding coaching and athletic administrative career that spanned more than 40 years. He retired in 2003.
Hawley's coaching career began in 1960 as an assistant coach at Wynne and he went on to spend time at Lubbock, Texas, New Mexico Military Academy and North Little Rock.
Hawley also held positions at Texas Tech, the University of New Mexico, Southern Arkansas University, UCA, Arkansas State University and Arkansas Tech University.
He served as the assistant head coach at UCA and Arkansas State and held administrative positions at Oklahoma State, Ole Miss and Auburn.
At Arkansas State, from 1979-1986, Hawley helped lead the Indians to four Southland Conference titles and 10 postseason appearances.
Hawley will be inducted in the Hall of Fame on Friday.
A 1957 graduate of Forrest City High School, Stuart Towns was one of the state's early pioneers in distance running, lettering with the Mustang track team for three years and also running cross country during his senior year.
Towns also played basketball for two seasons.
As a sophomore, he finished second in the District 880-yard run and was third in the state in the 880 event. He won the district 440 title during his junior year at FCHS and went on to finish third in the state meet.
As a senior, Towns finished second in the state cross country championship meet becoming the first Forrest City High School student to run cross country. Self-coached in cross country, Towns finished third at the University of Arkansas Invitational Cross Country Meet and third at the Little Rock Invitational Meet.
During his senior year, he won the District 440, 880 and mile finishing first in the state in the mile run and third in the state 440. He also anchored the mile relay team at the state meet.
Towns attended the University of Arkansas where he lettered in both track and cross country for three years. He was a member of the Arkansas cross country team that won the Southwest Conference title in 1959 and finished second in 1960.
After college, Towns competed with the U.S. Modern Pentathlon team and was a first alternate for the Pre-Olympic World Meet in Tokyo and other Olympic trials.
Towns helped establish the men's cross country and track programs at the University of West Florida in 1985 and coached the two teams until 2000.
His teams qualified for the NAIA National Cross Country Championship meet nine times. He was named NAIA District 27 Coach of the year several times.
Towns was a professor on staff at the University of West Florida and at Appalachian State.
Currently he is on staff at Southeast Missouri State University.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
MOUNTAIN HOME -- The Forrest City Lady Mustangs could not finish the AAAAA-East Conference tournament as a team Tuesday, but did qualify two for next week's Class AAAAA state tournament.
Katie Ramsey and Kayla Williams both qualified for state while the team's third member, Elizabeth Lee was unable to finish the course after becoming overheated on the back nine and having to quit.
"It was bad hot out there," said Forrest City Coach Wally Rauth. "Elizabeth just got too hot and we had to get her off the course."
It is the third straight year that Ramsey has qualified for state play while it will be Williams' first state appearance.
Ramsey carded a 101 through 18 holes Tuesday to finish in a tie for seventh place while Williams finished with a 105 to finish in a tie for ninth.
Cassie Huffer fired a 79 to earn medalist honors and lead Jonesboro to the AAAAA-East conference girls' golf title Tuesday at Big Creek Country Club.
Jonesboro shot 263 as a team to beat second-place Mountain Home (297) by 34 strokes in the play-5, count-3 format. Cabot finished third (332), followed by Searcy (340).
The second-place finish qualified the Mountain Home team for the state tournament for the third straight year.
Jonesboro's Hannah Martin shot an 89 to finish third in the tournament, followed by Lauren Copenhaver, whose 95 was good enough for fourth.
"Both Katie and Kayla played very well Tuesday," Rauth said. "Considering that Big Creek is not a course that is suited for the girls. It has a lot of sand and a lot of water in peculiar places. But they hung in and I was proud of them."
Rauth said both girls had a good practice round on Monday.
The state tournament will begin Monday at Fayetteville Country Club.
The Forrest City Mustangs, 15-3 in regular season, boys golf team will play through their practice round today and will play the tournament round Thursday.
Jonesboro's girls captured first, third and fourth place in
the individual standings. Searcy's Amy Lewis was the only non-Jonesboro
player in the top four, shooting a 97 for second place.
Teraye Lee ran for a pair of touchdowns Tuesday night to lead the Forrest City eighth-grade Mustangs past West Memphis West 16-8 at Sam Smith Stadium.
Tuesday's win lifts the eighth-graders to 2-0 for the season.
Ray scored with 6:15 to play in the second quarter on a short run after Romorious Westbrook used two long running plays to set up the touchdown. Westbrook added the two point run to put Forrest City in front 8-0.
The eighth-grade Mustangs scored again in th second half, on another run by Lee and added the two-point run to produce the final.
The seventh-grade Colts also ran their season mark to 2-0 by pitching their second shutout, a 14-0 win over West Memphis West in the first game of the Tuesday doubleheader.
The Colts opened the season last week with a 26-0 win over Wynne.
Dominique Tobar ran 36 yards with 3:32 to play in the first half and added the two-point play to put the Colts in front 8-0 at the half.
Theodis Goodwin went 70 yards on the first play of the second half to make it 14-0.
West Memphis moved inside the Forrest City 20 late in the fourth quarter but were turned away.
The Forrest City Junior Mustangs will travel to Jonesboro Thursday to play West Memphis Wonder.
The registration race is on for runners, walkers and wheelchair racers who have already registered for the upcoming Mid-South Championship Marathon and Half-Marathon.
The two marathons will be run at Wynne on Saturday, Nov. 5, and already more than 120 athlettes have signed up for the race, which is a Boston Marathon qualifier.
Last year, more than 550 athletes competed in the event.
This year, race organizers David and Karen Reagler, have added activities not related to the marathon.
Scheduled activities include glider flights with the Memphis Soaring Society based in Cherry Valley just up the road from Wynne. For a fee, pilots will give glider tours around the area.
The Wynne Saddle Club will offer guided horseback rides at Village Creek State Park.
The Chamber of Commerce is lining up tours of local farming operations. And the Wynne Camera Club will take visitors on a photo tour of "country living."
"With this marathon, we aren't going to have the largest, but we think we can put on the best, runner-friendly race anywhere," David Reagler said.
LEPANTO -- The East Poinsett County's boys improved to 9-0 on the season as the Warriors and Lady Warriors both swept Hughes and Marked Tree Tuesday in high school tennis.
EPC blanked Marked Tree 2-0 earlier, then topped Hughes 4-0.
Marked Tree's Lady Warriors (5-3) defeated Hughes 3-0.
Boys Singles
EPC 2, Marked Tree 0
Cameron Gean (EPC) defeated Mike Brown 6-4; Justin Parnell (EPC) topped Brown 6-2.
Boys' Doubles
EPC 4, Hughes 0
Adam Chamberlin and Steven Emrich (EPC) defeated Hughes' Steven Johnson and Dexter Hamilton 6-0; Matt Powell and Lando Bass (EPC) downed Hughes' Marlon Lemons and Michael Hutson 6-0; EPC's Cody Brown and Charles Stover defeated Johnson and Hamilton 6-1 while EPC's Bryan Branch and Chris Stover (EPC) defeated Lemons and Hutson 6-0.
Boys' Singles
Marked Tree 1, Hughes 0
Mike Brown (MT) defeated Hughes' Michael Hutson 6-1.
Girls' Doubles
EPC 3, Hughes 0
EPC's Sabrina Benton and Lauren Turner downed Hughes' Vertina Braddock and Jasmine Troup 6-0; EPC's Kim Harston and Candace Dorris defeated Sharnece Powell and Keshia Simmons 6-0; while EPC's Harston and Dorris got past Hughes' Braddock and Troup 6-4.
*The Forrest City Mustang tennis team returns to play on Tuesday, Sept. 27.
Robin Pipkin of Forrest City found the hidden horseshoe on
Monday at the Forrest City Public Library.