Today's column is a detour from the normal.
Rarely do you read personal pronouns here, but it is impossible to refrain from that today because this is about being inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on Friday night.
I'm extremely honored and touched to have been voted into the Hall of Fame by the membership -- no wrong envelopes -- and will make this promise: If the banquet runs long it won't be my fault.
Also, the reason I'm writing this column today is that in Friday's editions there will be a story on me, written by my colleague and friend of 35 years Bob Holt, and that would have been too much of me in one day.
I'm going in as a journalist, not an athlete or coach. As an athlete I had deceptive speed. I was much slower than I looked, but I devoured sports pages, sports books and sporting events from the time I could read, and I respected the men and women blessed to have size, speed and athleticism.
At age 10 I knew what I wanted to do in life, and when I was 15 something happened that pointed me in the direction of my career path.
I sprained my ankle during a fast-pitch softball game trying to stretch a single into a double. I slid hard into second but the dirt didn't give, my ankle did. I was out by 6 inches.
Over the weekend a blood clot formed and the next week I was put on six weeks of bed rest with my left foot elevated. Doctors orders were I could get out of bed, using crutches, to bathe and use the bathroom.
I missed the last six weeks of the ninth grade and had to take English in summer school. Julia Ann McGehee, who was getting her teaching certificate, was the instructor.
Our first assignment was to write something creative. Punctuation was not my strong suit and I got an F.
A couple of days later the teacher told me she was changing it to a D because of content. It became a C and then a B and on the last day of summer school she pulled me to the side and said if I promised to take journalism in high school she would make it an A.
I worked on The Tiger at Central High, and after a year at the University of Central Arkansas (then State College of Arkansas) I transferred to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and went to work for Orville Henry at the Arkansas Gazette.
That same year, with the Vietnam War raging, our country had a military lottery and I won. I was almost assured of being drafted and Mr. Henry suggested I join the Air Force. He later apologized to my parents for giving me advice without talking to them first.
I was an air traffic controller, and after getting my honorable discharge, I tried other things but I couldn't stay away from newspapering. Incidentally, newspapers are going to be extremely important as the watchdog of the people the next four years. Millennials need to subscribe to the print newspaper or read it online.
In 1979 I became the columnist for the Arkansas Democrat, and in 1981 the sports editor.
In the early days I ran with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. I rode a bull, Old Dracula, when the World's Toughest Rodeo came to town and held on for almost two whole seconds. I ran Pike's Peak and held softball tournaments.
On a national level I wrote about Final Fours, Super Bowls, the World Series, Kentucky Derbies, BCS Championships and the Olympics.
Writing about the people in my home state was my true passion.
I've written about and been a witness to some of the state's greatest athletes and people getting inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, and I'm humbled and honored to join them.
Sports on 03/02/2017