Springdale's cross county team started in Berlin in the 1960s. It’s a remarkable origination, but it took a leader like Tom Dietz, born to a serviceman and his wife in Berlin, to trail blaze the sport into a town that has always breathed, slept and devoured football.
Fifty-plus years later football is still the light that we are drawn to in Springdale, but cross-country running has become a phenomenon.
Tom discovered his passion for running when he was a seventh-grader in Germany. The student-athletes ran their cross-country routes around a lake and Tom couldn't resist the lure of the lake over sitting in a classroom. While he was a natural runner, winning the Berlin cross-country championship was the ignition of a lifelong passion, on that has come to greatly benefit the students in Springdale.
When his family moved to Springdale, Tom played football like most of the other teenage boys, but he wanted to run, too. Football coach Jerry Orr told him that if he got seven or eight kids to join him he would stand in as coach for the newly formed cross-country team. So Tom immediately began begging and conning his best buddies. Luckily, Chris Lisle, “Smokin' Joe” Wilcox, James McLaughlin, Victor Daniels and a few others were willing to help their friend out. In the fall of 1981, the team started meeting at Springdale High at 6:30 a.m. each day.
Tom knew he wanted to succeed, so after football practice he would take to the small streets of Springdale to run the 5 miles home from school. It paid off. He ran undefeated his senior year.
Naturally, he wanted to run in the state meet in Conway, but was told he would have to find his own way. Like most meek beginnings, the team did not have uniforms, much less the budgeted funds to send him.
Bill West, Fayetteville High's cross-country coach, happily offered Tom a ride to state with his team. A school rivalry paled in comparison to Tom's natural gift of running. Fortune was not on Tom's side, however. The Friday night before leaving for state Tom suffered a football injury and was unable to attend. Later, he did achieve a championship when he captured the AAU AR cross-country title.
Fast-forward to 2012 on a hot September day at J.B. Hunt park in Springdale and there are 130-plus Central Junior High athletes warming up for their cross-country practice meet. Their coach, Michael Sallings, is easily seen at the finish line shouting words of encouragement and throwing high fives to each kid that passes.
I stand with my husband, in awe of the positivity surrounding these kids. We look over at our seventh-grade son and we see the fire in his eyes. He is thrilled to be there and be a part of this team. Can anything make a parent happier than their own child's happiness?
The first conference meet at the Shiloh school field was swarming with families and teams from across the region. Springdale schools had 227 runners participate. There was talk that Springdale schools might have the largest cross-country team in the state. I will have to check in at the end of the season, but I would call the cross-country presence in our town phenomenal, regardless.
Tom Dietz is not currently in the Springdale High Hall of Fame. He was the true pioneer for Springdale's cross-country team and he was named athlete of the year by setting six SHS track records. Before transferring to the University of Arkansas to run with Wallis Spearman and Mike Connelly for the indoor/outdoor track team, he went to Arkansas Tech University on scholarship and was named to the state’s intercollegiate all-conference team. He is hall of fame in my book.
What started as a run around a lake in Berlin, Germany, has become a passion for hundreds of kids in our city. They are learning a lifelong sport and the discipline to participate is breeding success for them in endless ways. Thank you, Tom.
HEATHER ORRICK NICHOLS IS A SPRINGDALE NATIVE, A WIFE AND THE MOTHER OF THREE CHILDREN.