Monday at 1 p.m., the process began.
The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame board of directors meets four times a year, and each meeting is important. The next meeting is in September, and the board will vote on the list of names that the selection committee -- which met Monday -- submits for this year's voting and 2020's induction class.
The submitted names had to appear on the master list prior to Monday. The master list consists of men and women who were nominated by a member of the Hall of Fame.
It is an open membership -- check out www.arksportshalloffame.com or call (501) 313-4158 for information about joining -- so anyone who belongs can nominate a person, and the master list is quite lengthy. Still, four more people recently were nominated.
The selection committee spends a great deal of time discussing who makes the regular and senior voting list. Sometimes nominees have been on the voting list for a while but haven't garnered much attention, so they may be tabled for a year or two.
There are dozens of worthy names.
Some names you may remember, such as Glenn Abbott, an outstanding pitcher in central Arkansas in the 1960s who played 11 years in the major leagues before dedicating his life to teaching the craft to minor-league pitchers.
Cecil Alexander guided Oaklawn Park through restructuring. As the racing commissioner for 24 years, he was a big factor in Instant Racing betting becoming legalized, setting the wheels in motion for Oaklawn to become one of the most prominent tracks in the country.
That's just two names on the front page of the senior list.
The senior master list is more than 30 pages, and the regular voting list is almost the same.
After the names are approved in September, every member will receive a ballot soon thereafter and have about 30 days to vote.
One time the voting deadline was extended when it was discovered that ballots had gone out without enough postage and were lost somewhere in a postal venue.
We aren't perfect, but we did fix that mistake.
Returned ballots are given to a certified public accountant for tabulation.
The top two vote-getters from the regular list are automatically in as long as they meet the criteria, such as whether they can attend the banquet. The top vote-getter on the senior list is in, too.
At the September meeting, those three will be approved by the board -- everything the Hall of Fame does has to be voted on by the board and get at least 66% approval -- and then the fun begins.
The board then votes on another four or five for induction. Those individuals must have finished in the top 15 on the membership's ballots.
This part is more fun than night baseball. Every college in Arkansas has someone on the board.
Endorsements are made, speeches are given and tears even fall. The board of directors is very passionate about the Hall of Fame.
That meeting is the most heavily attended, which is to be expected.
After the top vote-getters are approved, every director gets a vote for anyone who was in the top 15. If no one receives 66% of the votes, then the process of head-to-head competition begins.
By the time the meeting ends and the induction class has been voted on, there are no hard feelings, just a bunch of men and women who take pride in being part of the process.
It began Monday, and the next induction class should be another outstanding one.
Sports on 06/25/2019