CABOT -- Carla Crowder soon will say goodbye to a storied career.
Eight state finals appearances, four state championship trophies and 950 career victories spotlight a 38-year love of coaching that has never waned. A true pioneer in her field, Crowder helped usher Arkansas high school girls basketball away from the archaic six-on-six, half-court game into the sport it has become.
"The five-on-five game is faster," Crowder said. "The girls now realize they can play like boys. I think their skill level has exceeded what anybody thought it could."
Later this week, Crowder will lead her Cabot Lady Panthers (14-11) into one final state state tournament appearance. Regardless of the outcome, Crowder will be viewed as a coaching legend.
"Carla doesn't get enough credit," North Little Rock Coach Daryl Fimple said. "She was an innovator. A lot of stuff that people do, she was doing it before it was normally used. She's adapted to her personnel."
"She raised the bar for girls high school basketball coaches across the state," Fort Smith Northside Coach Rickey Smith said. "And she did it in a classy way. There's always the professionalism. When I've called her for a scouting report she was always very helpful, very in-depth. She's just been a great ambassador for girls basketball for the state of Arkansas."
Involved with basketball since she was in the fifth grade, Crowder graduated from Bradford High School in 1977, where she played guard for coach Ronnie Johnson. Although guards were not allowed to cross midcourt in the six-on-six game, she was good enough to earn a scholarship at Arkansas Tech University for coach Jim Yeager.
"I was the only girl who had played guard," Crowder said. "Everyone else had played as a forward [in high school], so I was very fortunate. But I could guard anybody and I could rebound. I played because if someone was averaging 38 points a game, I could hold them to about eight."
It was not uncommon for Crowder to collect a dozen or more rebounds in a game at Tech, which made her just as valuable as any of the team's top scorers.
"I could draw charges and I could rebound," Crowder said. "I didn't jump that well, but I could block out, watch it come off the rim and I could go get it. I didn't score, but that was because I couldn't shoot."
Her first year out of college, Crowder was hired as the girls basketball coach at Atkins in 1981 at the age of 21.
"My first year was really trying," Crowder said. "It was tough. It was just me, no assistant. I was coaching seventh grade, eighth grade, ninth grade, high school JV and varsity. And we played six days a week. I had games every day for six years."
Arriving at Bryant in 1987, Crowder turned a great program into a national powerhouse. The Lady Hornets won 63 consecutive games from 1988 to 1990. From 1987 to 1991, the Lady Hornets were a combined 133-10 with three Overall titles and a Class AAAA runner-up trophy.
"Those teams she had at Bryant, I think those teams could win now," Fimple said. "That's how much she was ahead of her time."
"We lost our first three games of 1987, and we didn't lose again until the 1989-1990 season," Crowder said. "The girls had had success before, but they had a little trouble getting used to me because I was doing things a little differently.
"That group would score in the hundreds a lot of games, and we weren't trying to score in the hundreds. [The starters] would play the first quarter and the first two minutes of the third quarter. That's how good they were. They would be mad because they didn't get to play enough."
A 59-50 victory over Lamar in the 1991 Overall finals capped a 39-1 season. Bryant averaged 72.6 points a game in its six postseason games, and the Lady Hornets' lone loss came to nationally-ranked Longview, Texas.
Bryant reached the state semifinals in 1992, lost in overtime to Fayetteville in the 1993 state championship game, reached the state semifinals in 1994, and was in the state finals again in 1995.
After 16 years in Saline County, Crowder settled at Cabot in 2002. She won her fourth state title with the Lady Panthers in 2012.
"The thing about Carla is that if you work hard around her, you gain her respect," Fimple said. "She knew I was a hard-working guy, and I think our respect for one another has grown because of that. I'm really going to miss her."
Although she loves coaching, Crowder admitted she does not recommend it to her players.
"Coaching is a hard life if you can't take people being on you," Crowder said. "Not everybody is going to be happy. That's just part of it. You're going to have your negative people. You're going to have people who want their daughters to play but don't want them to work for it. I advise every kid I have to go do something you love. Be a doctor, be a lawyer."
Since announcing her retirement at the start of this season, Crowder has been the recipient of several going-away gifts. North Little Rock presented Crowder with a rocking chair; Conway gave her a miniature court with a rim attached.
"She is one of those that I have always looked up to," Smith said. "When I first started coaching, she was the bar and we were all chasing her. She's just a legend."
"It's special that people from your conference care about you," Crowder said. "It's bittersweet. I'm excited about retirement, but I love what I do. I've got a great job. I work with great kids. I've always been fortunate to work with wonderful people."
Sports on 02/26/2019