Union County's best athlete of past 20 years?

Selecting the best athlete of the 21st Century of Union County sports was the original task. After considerable research, lots of thought and some discussion, the original task was discovered to be unreasonable.

After all, Strong’s Kenneth Dixon led the Bulldogs to a 2A state football championship, threatened the NCAA touchdown record at Louisiana Tech and started at running back in the NFL for the Baltimore Ravens. Is that more impressive than Junction City’s James Anderson, who led the Dragons to the 2007 2A state basketball championship, was Big 12 Player of the Year at Oklahoma State and a first round draft pick by the San Antonio Spurs?

Then again, El Dorado’s Amanda McCurdy was unbeatable on the links – literally. She went unbeaten during her last two years of high school before she helped put the women’s golf program on the map at the University of Arkansas. Throw in a runner-up performance at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships and the 5-foot-2 McCurdy, quite possibly, was the most dominant athlete over the past 20 years.

Union County sports fans could look back over the past two decades and acknowledge they witnessed some of the very best the state had to offer.

Smackover’s Jonathon Modica was the best basketball player in the state before he signed with the University of Arkansas in Nolan Richardson’s final recruiting class.

Junction City’s Kevin Payne had a stellar football career at Louisiana-Monroe before signing with the NFL Chicago Bears, where he started at safety behind linebacker Brian Urlacher.

The University of Arkansas’ football program made the long trip from Fayetteville to South Arkansas an annual trek. El Dorado’s Brennan O’Donohoe, Bijhon Jackson and Matt Emrich joined Junction City’s Byran Jones, Alan Turner and Jamario Bell and Smackover’s Jordan Jones on the Razorbacks’ roster.

El Dorado produced its first NBA player recently when Daniel Gafford, after starring at the University of Arkansas, made a name for himself as a rookie this past season with the Chicago Bulls.

Speaking of professional athletes, El Dorado’s Whitney Frazier, after leading the Lady Wildcats to their first state title in 2011, was one of the top scorers at Louisiana Tech under Teresa Weatherspoon and then Tyler Summitt. She then played professionally in both Iceland and Finland.

Izzy Gati didn’t graduate from El Dorado, but the Union County native won a state swim title as a freshman Lady Wildcat before going off to boarding school in Virginia. She’s currently an aspiring Olympian, making waves as an All-SEC swimmer at the University of Kentucky.

Union County even sent student-athletes to the hallowed Ivy League. El Dorado distance runner Irene Jadic went to Penn. Parkers Chapel football standout Phil Hay graduated from Harvard.

Union County was represented on a national stage in front of live television audiences. McCurdy made sure ESPN pronounced her hometown (Eldoh-ray-doh) correctly during her run at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. So did Gafford and thanks to Dixon, people all over the country now know there’s a town in Arkansas named Strong.

But, back to the original task. Who is Union County’s best athlete of the 21st Century?

Who knows? Just be grateful to have so many choices.