More than 1,000 will be on hand Saturday night to hear Peyton Manning speak and to celebrate the more than 300 high school student-athletes who were chosen for the 2012-2013 All-Arkansas Preps teams.
Manning, who has been to 12 Pro Bowls, has been named NFL MVP four times and was MVP of the 2007 Super Bowl. He accepts only a handful of speaking engagements each year, but he wanted to make this event work because it is honoring so many young men and women.
Technically the event is sold out, but Tabitha Cunningham, who has been the driving force behind this first time event, has squeezed in a couple of more tables because of so much interest, so anyone still wanting to attend can do so by going to www.allarkansaspreps.com.
The website is the only way to get one of the few remaining tickets, and those seats are on a first-come, first served basis. Once they are gone, there will be no more.
The dinner will start at 6:30 Saturday night in the Wally Allen Ballroom at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
This will be the biggest event to celebrate high school athletes - and there are awards for community service and academics as well - in the state’s history.
Longtime friend Herb Vincent, a native of North Little Rock and a 1979 graduate of Little Rock Catholic High School, has been hired as associate commissioner for communications by the SEC.
Vincent has a long history with LSU, where he currently is the associate vice chancellor for university relations and senior associate athletic director.
This is a great hire by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, especially as the conference enters the strategic planning part of creating its own network.
Vincent’s wife, Jamey, who has a long working relationship with the SEC, was a cheerleader at Kentucky. They have one daughter, Kennedy.
Vincent’s brother-in-law Gary Adams was a three time All-Southwest Conference defensive back for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Vincent is one of the good guys in the sometimes crazy world of the perspiring arts.
One of the more interesting moves at the SEC spring meetings was Slive’s announcement that all the men’s basketball teams will submit their nonconference schedules to Greg Shaheen.
Shaheen led and directed the NCAA Tournament for 12 years before leaving to take a job with ESPN.
Obviously, Slive still has a concern about strength of schedule hurting the 14 SEC teams when it comes NCAA Tournament time.
Sidney Moncrief, who helped lay the foundation for Razorbacks basketball as a player in 1975-1979, will speak at the Central Arkansas Library System’s Children’s Library and Learning Center in Little Rock at 2 p.m. on June 8.
Moncrief played 10 years for the Milwaukee Bucks, where he is currently an assistant coach. The event is free.
An odds maker has put out his early line on who will win the 2014 BCS national championship, and it was not surprising that Alabama was the favorite at 3-1.
Texas A&M tied for second, while Georgia was fifth, LSU seventh and Florida eighth.
For those interested, he listed the Arkansas Razorbacks at 250-1 to win it all.
Former Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, who plays for the Oakland Raiders, will host his camp June 6 at Maumelle High School.
The came is open to boys and girls in grades one through eight. It will start at 9 a.m. and end at 12:30 p.m.
More information is available at www.procamps.com/darrenmcfaddenprocamp .
Last year’s camp attracted more than 300 children, and many have preregistered to be there again.
Sports, Pages 17 on 05/30/2013