There's prom, there's commencement, and for gifted and feted athletes in the state, there's this other late-spring thing requiring finery and separate forks for salad, entree and dessert: the All Arkansas Preps awards banquet. In just its third year, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's ceremony inside the Wally Allen Ballroom has the feel of a statewide "graduation" for A-list high school athletes.
After a VIP reception for celebrity speaker/college basketball sportscaster Dick Vitale at the Little Rock Marriott hotel, the crowd gathered at the Statehouse Convention Center: about 200 student athletes, their parents and coaches, executives and writers from the newspaper, and sponsors such as CHI St. Vincent, First Security Bank, Arkansas Select Buick/GMC dealerships and Deltic Timber Corp.
After the spectators took their seats, the athletes made their way into the ballroom from behind a black curtain and a glycol fog at the front of the house. Following an invocation and dinner, the 14 Outstanding Players of the Year were presented. These are the best male and female athletes in golf, tennis, track, soccer, baseball/softball, football, basketball and volleyball.
At the head table sat Nat Lea, president of WEHCO Media Inc. (parent company of the newspaper), Hall of Fame football player Keith Jackson, former Razorback and master of ceremonies David Bazzel, Vitale and his wife, Lorraine, and Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Hutchinson, who'd just returned from a recruiting trip in Europe -- not athletes but industries -- told the teenagers that despite not starting a single game in three years as a high school football player under legendary Coach Jarrell Williams, he gathered that in sports, as in life, you "showed up every day, you give it your best, you play for the team and you finish."
He said, "in sports, we strive, we sacrifice and we dream of greatness ... this is a good thing, but every athlete who achieved greatness in sport reminds us that greatness is fleeting. What lasts is that spirit of competition that we learn."
Vitale gave a stemwinder of a speech that began topically enough by singling out Ty Storey and Jordan Danberry -- football and girl's basketball, respectively -- who have committed to play for the University of Arkansas. That proved to be the lead-in to a zinger on Jackson, who famously decamped Arkansas to play for a Razorbacks alumnus, Coach Barry Switzer, at the University of Oklahoma.
Now 76, Vitale's voice has softened a touch, but no one would say he wasn't enthusiastic about his duties this night.
The event was not a fundraiser, but a silent auction raised $3,780 for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
High Profile on 06/28/2015