It’s been 16 years since Orville Henry and Paul Eells were inducted into the first class of the Arkansas Sportscasters and Sports Writers Hall of Fame.
It was a bittersweet day. Family accepted their plaques.
It will be much more fun this year as sportswriter George Schroeder and sportscaster Chuck Barrett are honored at Home2 Suites in Bentonville on June 28. Both will be there to join the select fraternity.
I talked to Hall of Fame organizer Mike Harrison at length about the decision of the Arkansas Sports Club, the host organization, to only induct those two that first year.
What if there were several honorees from each side of the aisle, two sportscasters and two sportswriters?
“No, two a year will be just fine,” he said. “There are several more to be inducted posthumously, so we will just have a fun evening for their families.”
And, that’s the way it went down.
Harrison’s events were big and often longer than needed because he always found a few from the local sponsoring club that should receive an award. It was just as much their event as it was for the new inductees in the Hall of Fame.
Because I worked at the Log Cabin Democrat for three years (after college at UCA), most everyone associated with this operation – and it was quite the operation – were old friends.
The first few dinners were in a back room at Ryan’s Steakhouse. There were a few times UCA hosted it in a cafeteria where I ate as a college sophomore. The cooks would hold some food for me so I could practice with the golf team until dark. I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t fun going back to that building.
Harrison took everything a step bigger when Hal Crafton offered his Event Center adjacent to Centennial Valley Country Club. It was a big room, but Harrison routinely filled it for the inductions.
It was full in 2014 when I joined Dizzy Dean as new inductees. I felt for Harrison as all of the featured speakers went long. Instead of five minutes, I went 15. Sandy Dean, stepping in for his late uncle, went even longer.
Harrison always gave a special merit award. Some, like Jim Bailey and Frank Broyles, eventually were inducted.
That night in 2014, Clyde “Smackover” Scott was honored under special merit. Steve Scott, his son, gave quite the speech on his dad. I learned a lot, but also knew that I had to try to shorten my speech. I failed.
There was a pause for two years after Harrison passed from covid. He was among the first to contract the disease in Arkansas and passed quickly. As soon as word made it to me, I knew it was possible that the hall of fame had died, too.
Two years later it became obvious that it needed to be revived. After discussing the possibilities with several members of the Arkansas Sports Club, it was decided to move it to Northwest Arkansas under the umbrella of NWA Media and Hawgs Illustrated.
Brent Powers, president of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, had already launched the Hawgs Illustrated Sports Club with regular luncheons throughout the year. The hall of fame could fill one of his dates.
With a new selection committee comprised mostly of past inductees, it was determined that we’d make up for the pause by inducting four in 2022. I’m sure Harrison was trying to get word to me that it will be too long, but we pulled it off with only a few folks leaving early.
Sportswriters Bob Holt (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) and Chis Mortensen (ESPN) along with sportscasters Mike Irwin and Mike Nail delivered great messages. Oh, and in case you are wondering about Mortensen being honored as a writer, that was an either/or opportunity because he’s won just as many awards for his writing during his early years as a baseball writer. He liked that idea.
The 2023 inductees – both by unanimous vote – could have fit about anywhere in the last 15 years after the pioneers in the two categories had been honored. They are both among the finest professionals in their fields ever produced by our state.
Barrett, a Clarksville native, is in his 16th season as Voice of the Razorbacks in football. He’s starting his 28th year as part of the football broadcasts. He was executive producer for 14 years.
Of course, Barrett has also been the basketball play-by-play announcer since the 2010-11 season. He was the baseball play-by-play announcer from 1992-2014.
A three-time state broadcaster of the year, Barrett developed a statewide sports talk show, “SportsRap,” that drew massive ratings from 1994-2007. Prior to that, he won awards as a news reporter in Fort Smith. He was hired by Demeree Media in Fayetteville in 1992.
Schroeder grew up in Little Rock throwing paper routes simultaneously for the Arkansas Gazette and Arkansas Democrat (his family subscribed to both) and eventually covered sports for the Democrat-Gazette from 1991-99.
A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Schroeder also holds a Masters of Theological Studies from Southwestern Seminary with a concentration in Cross-Cultural Missions.
Schroeder covered the Oklahoma Sooners and the Big 12 beats for The Oklahoman of Oklahoma City from 2000-07, and from 2007-12 was sports columnist for The Register-Guard of Eugene, Ore. He was a contributor to Sports Illustrated during his Oregon days.
He also covered national sports for USA Today from 2012-20 and was considered a must-read for anyone interested in college football. During that time he also was a regular host on SiriusXM’s college sports channels.
Schroeder won awards throughout his writing career. He won nine national awards from the Associated Press Sports Editor’s competitions, including first place for columns in 2012.
He is a past president of the Football Writers Association of America and a board member of the FWAA and the United States Basketball Writers Association.
Arkansas Sportscasters and Sports Writers Hall of Fame Inductees
Nate Allen
Jim Bailey
Chuck Barrett
Frank Broyles
Bud Campbell
Dizzy Dean
Paul Eells
Jim Elder
Wally Hall
Mike Harrison
Clay Henry
Orville Henry
Bob Holt
Mike Irwin
Keith Jackson
George Kell
Harry King
David McCollum
Jerry McConnell
Joe McGee
Wadie Moore
Joe Mosby
Chris Mortensen
Mike Nail
Rex Nelson
Clyde Scott
George Schroeder
Donna Lampkin Stephens
Steve Sullivan
Pat Summerall
Terry Wallace
Bob Wisener
Dave Woodman
