AT A GLANCE: Area Sports Events

John Hedgecock of Bentonville swims the fly in the 200-yard medley relay Wednesday during the NWA Conference swim meet at The Jones Center in Springdale.

John Hedgecock of Bentonville swims the fly in the 200-yard medley relay Wednesday during the NWA Conference swim meet at The Jones Center in Springdale.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Benefits To Be Held For Heritage Baseball

There will be a garage sale and chicken cook on Saturday in Rogers to benefit the Rogers Heritage baseball team.

The sale will be held at the Heritage football fieldhouse at 1114 S. 5th from sunrise until noon. The chicken cook will be at the community pit on the corner of second and Locust St. beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Bentonville To Host Classic

Bentonville will host 19 NCAA Division II softball team this weekend for the 7-State Classic played at the high school field and Memorial Park.

The field includes six teams from Missouri, four from Arkansas, four from Oklahoma, two from Kansas and one from Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska. The tournament began four years ago with teams from three-states and has grown by at least one state each year.

For host Arkansas-Monticello, the Cotton Blossoms will play six games against in-region opponents. UAM and the rest of the Great American Conference moved to the Central Region this year, featuring the GAC, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. UAM’s six in-region opponents include Nebraska-Kearney (MIAA), Missouri Southern State (MIAA), Fort Hays State (MIAA), Missouri Western (MIAA), Emporia State (MIAA) and Concordia-St. Paul (NSIC).

The Cotton Blossoms are 6-2 this season following four wins to open the season at home in the Hampton Inn Classic and a 2-2 showing in this past weekend’s Southeastern Regional Invitational.

The 7-State Classic begins today and ends Sunday. UAM kicks off the event against Oklahoma Panhandle State at 1 p.m. today. All of UAM’s eight games will be played at the high school.

Kossover Inducted Into Tennis HOF

David Kossover of Fayetteville was inducted into the Arkansas Tennis Hall of Fame on Feb. 8 at the Hilton Garden Inn, North Little Rock.

Kossover started playing tennis at the age of seven. He won the Arkansas Class "A" State High School Singles as a player for England three times, 1959-1961. He won the Arkansas State Juniors Singles and Doubles Championships three years, 1959-1961. He won the "AIC" Singles and Doubles in college at Ouachita Baptist University, 1962-1965, never losing a match. He won the District 17 Singles and Doubles at OBU, 1962-1965, (doubles partner was Jerry Kossover). He won the Arkansas State Closed Singles in 1963 and 1964, also winning multiple doubles and mixed doubles state titles in the 60's and 70's.

In the 1980s, Kossover was ranked No. 1 in 35 Men's Doubles and Mixed Doubles in Kansas and was ranked No. 3 in the Missouri Valley Section in 35 Mixed Doubles (partner was wife, Karen).

He was a tennis pro for 47 years. He began teaching in 1959 (age 16) for the Little Rock Recreation Department. He taught at the Little Rock Country Club for two summers in 1962 and 1963. He was tennis coach at Pine Bluff High School and head pro at Eden Park, Rosswood and Pine Bluff Country Clubs. He coached the University of Arkansas men's tennis team for four years. He was head pro at Wood Valley Racquet Club in Topeka, Kansas and Cottonwood Racquet Club in Manhattan, Kansas. In 1989 he returned to Arkansas at Summerhill Racquet Club in Fayetteville, retiring there in 2008. David served as a board member of the Arkansas Tennis Association and was Junior Endorser for the ATA in the 1990s.

Lewis Open Moves To Lost Springs 

The second KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior Open will move to Lost Springs Golf & Athletic Club in Little Flock on June 17-20, and will feature 132 of the top junior golfers, boys and girls, ages 12-18.

The event will be held in the early part of the same week as the LPGA Tour’s Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G.

“I really enjoyed meeting all of the juniors last year and look forward to attending another outstanding event,” Lewis said. “This is the only AJGA event where the juniors can play their tournament and then come watch the LPGA play at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, so it makes it pretty unique.

“I am grateful to KPMG, the Bentonville CVB and Walmart for making this happen. I also want to say a special thank you to everyone at Bella Vista for their incredible support last year. I hope that some time in the future, our schedules will permit a return to your beautiful community.”

Thanks in large part to the tremendous support from the Bella Vista community, last year’s event was awarded the AJGA’s Newcomer of the Year Award, which honors an event that displays the complete tournament experience in its inaugural year.