ROGERS -- When Tom Woodruff was named the baseball coach at Rogers High on September 5, 1990, Matt Nelson was at the school when the decision announced.
Nelson was a senior and was anxious to see who the new coach would be for a program that had just restarted high school baseball the previous spring after a 30-year break. Woodruff had been a successful Little League coach in Rogers and Nelson played for Woodruff as an Little League All-Star and he knew change was coming to the Mounties baseball program.
2014 Athletic Hall of Fame
Rogers High Mountaineers
The induction ceremony will be held Sept. 27 at Rogers High School
Player^Sport
Dickie West^Football, Track
Mindy Wishon-Brown^Basketball, Volleyball, Track
Tom Olsen^Basketball
Gary Jackson^Distinguished Service
Tom Woodruff^Baseball Coach
Charlie Johnston^Football, Track
Alan Davidson^Football, Track
"We are going to practice a lot, but we are going to win," Nelson said at the time. "That is something that Tom has always hung his hat on, he is not afraid to work."
Rogers did practice a lot, and the Mounties won a lot. Woodruff coached the Rogers baseball team for 18 years while compiling a 332-179 record. Over that span, the Mounties made 16 state tournament appearances, including twice making it to the semifinals in 1994 and 1999, while going 12-15 at state. He also guided Rogers to five regular season conference championships and three conference tournament titles.
For his contributions, Woodruff will be inducted into the Rogers High Mountaineer Athletic Hall of Fame Sept. 27. The seven inductees will be honored at the Rogers High football game versus Springdale Har-Ber on Sept. 26 before being inducted the next night in a ceremony at the high school.
Woodruff, a 1972 Rogers graduate, said he never envisioned being a high school coach. But he was encouraged to apply for the position after compiling a 140-21 Little League record that included an 83-game winning streak. He also coached the Rogers West All-Stars to several state championships and berths at the Little League Regional in Florida.
"With the players we knew that were coming up, we knew we could be successful," Woodruff said. "In Little League All-Stars, we practiced either 10 to 4 or 4 to 10, it didn't matter which. We had to cut that in half in high school, but I knew those players that came up to play high school baseball would be ready. When they were in high school, they came out and expected to win."
Rogers won a conference title in Woodruff's first year and he took the Mounties to the state tournament his final seven seasons before getting out of coaching at the end of the 2008 season. Woodruff, who still teaches at his alma mater, said it is to hard to pick out his best team at the school.
"My only regret is that Rogers, during my time, never won a state championship," Woodruff said. "We had the talent on two or three teams. Gosh, they were awful good. You have to have a little luck, and gosh darn it, we didn't have it. It was a play here and a play there. I always felt badly for those players because they were good enough to be state champions. It just didn't work out."
Current Mounties baseball coach Matt Melson was with Woodruff at the beginning. Melson was a 10-year-old on Woodruff's first Little League team and he then played three years for Woodruff at Rogers. After graduating from college, Melson was an assistant Mounties baseball coach for 15 seasons before succeeding Woodruff in 2009.
"Looking back, it is amazing to see what a trailblazer Tom was," Melson said. "He had so much foresight in some of the practice techniques and the things we did. Tom has been a mentor in every way. I remember questioning a lot of things he did when I was a player, "Why in the world does he do that.' But now that I am a head coach, now I see why Tom did that. High school baseball is healthier because of people like Tom."
One of the things that Woodruff remembers most about his tenure is the 50-plus players that went on to play college baseball, Melson and Nelson among them.
Nelson was among the first players to get a college scholarship and the 1992 Rogers graduate went on to earn All-American honors as a catcher at Missouri Southern.
"Coach Woodruff laid the foundation for me of discipline and working hard," Nelson said. "I played for him as a Little League All-Star and my senior year, and I learned lot playing for Tom."
Current Bentonville baseball coach Todd Abbott did his student teaching at Rogers in 1999 and was a volunteer coach for the Mounties. Abbott coached the Mounties junior varsity team during his time in Rogers and said it was a valuable learning experience to coach under Woodruff.
"Coach Woodruff gave me a great opportunity to coach those guys," Abbott said. "He gave me a few guidelines of what he wanted to see done, but he let me have it and we took it and ran with it."
Abbott later faced off against Woodruff as the Tigers coach and he said every game was a battle.
"Those were fun games because Coach Woodruff always had his teams ready to go," Abbott said. "It seems like Coach Woodruff was there for ever and he brought a good baseball to Rogers. He was a very good ambassador for the game, especially up here in Northwest Arkansas."
When Rogers restarted baseball in the spring of 1990, the program was funded by the community and that trend continued for several years after Woodruff took over the program in 1991.
"We did a lot of community service projects to show appreciation to the community," Woodruff said.
Rogers was 15-10 and lost 4-3 to 7A-Central champion Little Rock Catholic in the quarterfinals at the Class 7A State Tournament Woodruff's final season of coaching in 2008. It ended a remarkable run of 18 seasons that included 16 trips to the state tournament.
"If you are a coach and you are inducted into any hall of fame, that is a highlight of your career," Woodruff said. "A lot of times these things are presented after death. So, it will be nice to accept it in person."
Sports on 09/14/2014