ARKANSAS SPORTS HALL OF FAME CHARLIE DEARMAN

Monticello home after 2 false starts

Warren native Charlie Dearman was named to two All-American teams as an offensive lineman at Arkansas A&M (now Arkansas-Monticello) in 1957 and is set to be inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on March 3.
Warren native Charlie Dearman was named to two All-American teams as an offensive lineman at Arkansas A&M (now Arkansas-Monticello) in 1957 and is set to be inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on March 3.

Second in a series profiling the nine newest members of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies will be held March 3 at the Statehouse Convention Center.

Charlie Dearman took the long way around to become a Boll Weevil.

An all-state lineman for Warren in the mid-1950s, Dearman made brief stops at Fayetteville and Monroe, La., before landing at Arkansas A&M in Monticello. It was an experience that turned out for the best.

A two-way guard for the Boll Weevils, Dearman was the first athlete in any sport in school history to be named to an All-American team. He was selected to two All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference teams, and he was part of three consecutive AIC championship teams from 1954-1957.

Dearman, 81, is one of nine in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2017, which will be inducted March 3 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

Dearman was offered a scholarship to play for the University of Arkansas, but his time in Fayetteville was short.

"I bought a bus ticket to Fayetteville for $9.37," Dearman said. "I checked into my room, and I was told someone would be there to show me around the campus. But nobody showed up.

"The next morning, I got up, had breakfast and walked around campus. No one ever came to greet me, so I went back to Warren."

A few days later, Northeastern Louisiana found out Dearman was available, offered him a scholarship, and he made the trip to Monroe.

It was not a long stay.

"The first night I was there, some of the boys decided to go drink beer, but I didn't go," Dearman said. "The coach came in at 4:30 the next morning. He said, 'Boys, you're here to play football, not to drink. I'm going to run it out of you.'

"I didn't know what he was talking about. I told the coach I wasn't out drinking and I didn't think I had to run, but he said, 'No, you're running, too, Dearman.' I said, 'No, I'm not.' "

Dearman hitchhiked his way back to Arkansas.

Before he got back to Warren, Dearman was given a ride to Monticello, where he stopped at the Weevil Cafe to drink a soda. It was there Horace Thompson, who was the president of Arkansas A&M, walked into the diner.

"[Thompson] kept looking at me," Dearman said. "He finally came over and asked if I was Dearman, and he asked why I wasn't in Fayetteville. I told him I had a bad experience, and he said if I came to Monticello he'd get me on the football team.

"The more I talked to him, the more I liked him."

Monticello has been Dearman's home since.

At A&M, Dearman quickly developed into a top lineman who rarely left the field. Playing both offense and defense, Dearman said he only came to the sidelines when the game's outcome had been decided. Dearman said that was true of all of the Boll Weevils' linemen.

"I wouldn't say any of us were real tough, but we were good football players," Dearman said.

Dearman said the highlight of his football career came during a 1955 game against State Teachers College (now the University of Central Arkansas) when he scored on a guard-around play.

"Coach [Convoy Leslie] called the guard-around, and I went 80 yards for a touchdown," said Dearman, who was then 220 pounds. "Nobody knew I had the ball. No one got within 30 yards of me. It was a play we worked on all the time, and when coach called it I was anxious to get the ball. They all thought the ball was going to the end. They left me all alone."

Dearman was part of a very stout offensive line that rarely allowed the defense to make contact with the quarterback. During that 1955 season, the Weevils quarterback suffered a broken nose in a game against Hendrix.

"The next week we had to play at Arkansas Tech," Dearman said. "And the coaches were all saying, 'No one can touch Jack Allen.' In that game, the only part of Allen's uniform that got any dirt on it was his knee from bending down in the huddle. It was amazing."

After his football career was over, Dearman went to work for a funeral home. In 1965, Dearman ran unopposed for the sheriff of Drew County. He was 25 and at the time the youngest county sheriff in Arkansas. From 1970 until 2015, Dearman served as the Drew County coroner.

"He had everybody's respect," said Chuck Dearman, Charlie's son. "Everybody liked him. He was a tough guy, but he had to be."

He served as sheriff for three years before returning to his original business. He is now one of the owners of the Stephenson-Dearman Funeral Home.

"It's been my life," Dearman said.

As far as been selected to the Hall of Fame, Dearman said it was an honor he never expected.

"This means so much to me," Dearman said. "It comes as a total shock. I never dreamed it would happen."

Charlie Dearman glance

COLLEGE Arkansas A&M, 1953-1957 POSITION Football guard

HOMETOWN Warren

AGE 81 (born April 2, 1936)

NOTEWORTHY A two-way guard, Dearman was a two-time Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference selection and was the first athlete in any sport in school history to be named to an All-American team. ... He was named to both the NAIA and Associated Press Little All-American teams after his senior season in 1957. ... During Dearman’s four years at UAM, the Boll Weevils were a combined 27-9-1, and they won three conference titles. ... He was inducted into the UAM Hall of Fame in 2004. … After college, Dearman served as the Drew County sheriff from 1965-1968 and the Drew County coroner from 1970-2015. ... He shares ownership of the Stephenson-Dearman Funeral Home in Monticello.

Sports on 02/23/2017

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