Rogers Ceremony Cements Stadium Name

Whitey Smith, right, shakes hands with Rogers High defensive line coach Mike Bush during a dedication ceremony renaming the Rogers High stadium after Smith before the football game between Rogers High and Mountain Home on Friday September 6, 2013 in Whitey Smith Stadium in Rogers.
Whitey Smith, right, shakes hands with Rogers High defensive line coach Mike Bush during a dedication ceremony renaming the Rogers High stadium after Smith before the football game between Rogers High and Mountain Home on Friday September 6, 2013 in Whitey Smith Stadium in Rogers.

ROGERS — Whitey Smith Stadium officially got its name during the Mounties’ first home game Friday night.

Coaches and players lined the field as Whitey Smith, 76, of Rogers, was handed a commemorative football at the 50-yard line. Then Smith tried to hand it back.

Chicken cooks, known as Whitey’s Chicken Cookin’ Crew and organized by Smith, have benefited school teams and clubs, individuals and civic groups over the past 55 years. Volunteers have sold the chicken near the corner of Second and Locust since about 1958.

“It’s 99 percent profit and the kids get all the money,” Smith said.

His crew is a like a football team and deserves some of the credit. Everybody has to do their part, he said.

At A Glance

About Whitey

Whitey Smith graduated Rogers High School in 1956 and played football for five years and was a tackle for the Mounties. During basketball season he played guard. Sports were underfunded and some were dropped when he was in high school. Other facts:

• There were 99 students in his graduating class.

• He picked up his nickname in junior high school when his hair was blond and longer.

• Whitey, he went by Alvis.

• He married his wife, Janice in 1958.

• The first chicken cook he worked was at Lake Atalanta for a big celebration. There was a queen contest and he cooked all night for “The Chicken of Tomorrow.”

• He ran the clock for Mountie football home games from 1959 to 2002 and at basketball games from 1980 to 2002.

• He was in the first class of inductees in the Mountie Athletic Hall of Fame.

Source: Staff Report

“You’ve got us cooking and the sellers selling and the people buying. Everybody has got a hand in this,” Smith said.

Friends estimate he’s raised $1 million for charity when he won a national award for volunteerism from National Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association in 2000. The new total is probably closer to $1.5 million, friends said.

“It’s never been about Whitey,” said Jerry Carmichael, School Board president.

Smith has always been the one to ask what students need and then ask again, Carmichael said.

Friends and members of the Cookin’ Crew, petitioned the School District to name the stadium after Smith when it was built. A second request last year was approved by the School Board in December.

It’s an honor Smith deserves because of his history of promoting athletics in Rogers, said Mike Jones. Smith has been finding ways to benefit youth sports for years, Jones said.

“He’s one of a kind. He’s one of those diamonds in our community,” Jones said.

Most people support school activities when they have school-aged children, said Rick Stocker, recreation director for the city and crew member. Smith started before he had children and is still at it, Stocker said.

Smith’s crew worked concessions for seven years as the Quarterback Club, but they didn’t always start cleanup at halftime, Stocker said. Sometimes they’d fire up the grills to cook another 200 hamburgers for a team that didn’t have much money.

“He understood what it was like to be on that bus 16 years old and hungry,” Stocker said.

The chicken and the wood for the chicken cooks are donated and teams bring the ingredients for the secret sauce. The one thing Smith won’t share is the recipe.

Crew members said the racks can have 30 to 50 halves and weigh 40 pounds.

Spencer McClung, junior at Rogers High School, watched the crew start the fire and helped turn the wire racks used to grill the chicken last year with the football team.

The fire flames up and the smoke gets heavy when they lift the chicken off, McClung said.

“It wasn’t easy work,” he said.

Rebecca Daniel, senior at Rogers High School, said she has been to about seven chicken cooks. Cheerleaders are out twice a year, once for themselves and once for the football team.

“It’s become kind of a staple in Rogers,” Daniel said. “It really wouldn’t be football without Whitey,”

The students stand at the street with chicken bundled and ready to sell. By noon they’re usually out, she said. The chicken is sold by a donation, but sometimes people just give.

“I’ve had people stop, hand me $20 and say ‘Just keep it’ and drive off,” Daniel said.

“If you’ve lived in Rogers for a while, the smoke is the best advertiser,” said Tom Olsen, boys basketball coach at Heritage High School.

Olsen, a Rogers High graduate, remembers turning chicken as a 15 year old. The cook isn’t just a way to raise money, but a community event, he said.

Team members sell the chicken, parents wrap up the cooked birds and everyone gets a chance to talk.

“It’s a real bonding time. The benefits are more than the money raised,” Olsen said. “It’s a real-life, team function.”

Ryan Hale played basketball and football for the Mounties before playing football at the University of Arkansas, then New York Giants in 1999-2001.

As a teen, Hale knew Smith as the timekeeper. Once as the basketball team was heading out for a long road trip, Hale saw Smith pull out his wallet and push a $100 bill toward the coach.

“Make sure the guys have plenty to eat tonight on the road,” he said.

The team was on a tight budget, Hale said, but Smith’s generosity wasn’t because it was a championship game.

“We weren’t even good,” Hale said.

Friends say everything Smith does is “for the kids.”

When he calls, it’s probably for a favor, said Randy Hill, member of the Cookin’ Crew. People don’t seem to mind, Hill said.

The district cross country meet was named Whitey Smith Relay Carnival in his honor and there is a Whitey Smith Scholarship. His office is filled with photos, signed banners, helmets and footballs decorated with Mounties and War Eagles.

“He keeps track of all those kids,” Hill said of the scholarship recipients. “He knows where they’re going to school and how they’re doing.”

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