Union County Sports Hall of Fame selects 5 for induction.
The Union County Sports
Hall of Fame recently selected its eighth class, which includes five inductees from the 1920s-1960s from three different areas of Union
County. The class includes
Judy Cameron, Wayne
Hardin, Warren Harshaw,
W.I. “Bill” Walton and Mike
Meeks.
This year’s banquet will be held Saturday August 4th at the El Dorado Conference Center.
Cameron, a 1963 graduate of Parkers Chapel High School, was a six times All-County and three-time All-District basketball selection. Playing women’s softball she was twice on State Championship teams.
Cameron is best known for playing professional basketball with the Arkansas based All-American Red Heads. With the Red Heads, playing full court 5 on 5 basketball, she traveled the nation playing over 200 games a season against all male teams. Her first year’s record was 140-63. The Red Heads were the first women’s team to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
Hardin was born in Smackover during the oil boom of the 1920’s. He played college football at College of the Pacific under Amos Alonzo Stagg. His 30-year coaching career was highlighted by his time as head coach at Navy where he coached two Heisman Trophy winners - Joe Bellino and Roger Staubach. As coach at Temple University he is still holds the career record for most wins. Hardin was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
Harshaw has spent his entire 49-year career in education working for the El Dorado School District. Most of those years he served as basketball coach either at Rogers Jr. High or EHS. as head high school coach. He won several conference titles, a state championship runner-up and a state championship.
He is also known for his long time career as a football referee and baseball umpire. His accomplishments in men’s softball are highlighted by his induction into the Arkansas Softball Hall of Fame.
Walton, a member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, was a two sport athlete at Hendrix for one year and three years at Ouachita. He coached on the high school level at Bauxite, Fordyce and El Dorado. A young man named Paul “Bear” Bryant was on his junior high team at Fordyce and at El Dorado he was the high school coach of one of Arkansas’s greatest allaround athletes, Lynwood “Schoolboy” Rowe. At EHS, Walton won 82% of his football games which is the best all-time at the school. Walton won district championships in basketball, track and, in football, he won state
championships in 1932 and 1933. He left EHS to coach Ouachita and was very successful, winning three conference championships.
As this year’s meritorious selection, Meeks is being recognized for his work with youngsters in Union County through his volunteer efforts with local youth baseball organizations. Graduating from El Dorado High in 1966 he completed his bachelor's degree at Ouachita Baptist where he was volunteer manager for the track team and also assistant track coach while completing his Master’s degree. He taught five years in El Dorado and was also a member of the El Dorado School Board for 22 years. He was instrumental in restarting the EHS baseball program in 1982. Meeks is best known for coaching and volunteer work running the local Babe Ruth Program for 50 years with the Goodwin Airport League.