Dallas County Hall houses vintage talent
Sometime during April in 1952, while the Southern Arkansas University baseball team took batting practice, a man old enough to be called elderly parked his car and took a seat on one of the benches.
It didn’t take more than 10 minutes until someone identified him as George Washington Harper, a former major-league outfielder who from 1916-1929 had played right field for the Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Braves. Harper had finished with a lifetime average of .303, including .349 during the 1925 season. At 60, he had played and managed for the Camden Naval Station.
In 1932, Harper had a patent on baseball cleats that was purchased by Spaulding Athletic Company.
Sam Bailey, the SAU baseball coach, shook hands with Harper and asked (jokingly, it seemed} if he’d like to get in the batting cage again. Looking ahead, Harper had brought his own bat. “Why, yes sir, I certainly would,” he said.
It turned out that Harper “put on a clinic.” He sizzled line drives all over the place.
At the end of the demonstration, he said, “You never get too old to hit. Unfortunately, you do get too old to run.”
Harper was born in Arlington, Ky., on June 24, 1892. Eventually he played baseball and basketball at Fordyce High School. Harper broke into pro baseball by signing with a Paris, Texas, minor-league team in 1913.
In retirement, he more or less settled in south Arkansas. At 86, he died at a Magnolia hospital Aug. 18, 1978.
The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inducted Harper in 1970, but then he languished more than 40 years until recently, when the Dallas County Sports Hall of Fame inducted him. His hitting credentials, you would think, should have interested any of the halls of fame.
NOMINATION RULES
1. A nominee must have lived in Dallas County at least five years.
2. Anyone may nominate a candidate providing they send in the information requested.
3. Each nominee selected will require a unanimous vote on the selection committee and then a majority vote of the whole board.
4. A maximum of five inductees can be selected each year.
1962 SPARKMAN BASKETBALL
The 1962 Sparkman senior boys won the state championship, with a 35-1 record, their only loss to El Dorado in a nonconference game. The team averaged more than 66 points per game while holding opponents to 43.
Danny Denton, Thomas Presley and Bobby Shirron were the main contributors, with Presley receiving the MVP award in the state tournament.
Seven members of the team became high school basketball coaches, and six members attended college on basketball scholarships. Four of those athletes became school administrators.
FIRST CLASS MEMORABLE
This will be the eighth Dallas County Sports Hall of Fame, starting with 2006.
“We had some pretty good material for that first one,” one of the Fordyce Redbugs boosters said, “And I doubt any other Hall of Fame of Fame could do better.
“Well, there was the Arkansas Razorbacks All-American end Jim Benton, Coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, The Jordan twins: Clark ‘Click’ Jordan and George ‘Jud’ Jordan. All that rounded out with the Sparkman Sparklers’ girls invincible basketball team, 1927-1930.”
The eighth banquet will be held April 26 in the Fordyce Civic Center.