Diverse Hall of Fame class on the horizon
It was a lively meeting of good people.
Wednesday, 31 members of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame board of directors met at their museum/conference/ event center to select the class that will be inducted Feb. 27 at Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
A lot of other business was settled first. Kathy Vining Delone is the new director of development, and next fall the 1970 Arkansas State football team will be honored in Jonesboro by the Hall of Fame.
There were other things too, such as a financial report and board members John Bailey of Wilson Sporting Goods and Richard Johnson of Simmons Bank being presented pictures from last summer’s golf tournament. Ray Dillon and Deltic Timber received theirs as presenting sponsors early.
We also voted to have the inductees’ acceptance speeches on video to keep the banquet moving efficiently. The banquet committee is handling all other details.
The way induction into the Arkansas Sports Halls of Fame works is that the first two vote getters on the regular list and the top vote getter from the senior and posthumous lists are automatic if there aren’t objections and they can be there. That’s a by-law. You have to be present.
The board then votes on how many others are inducted, and this year’s class, which will be released Sunday morning, will have a total of 12 inductees (six from the regular list and three each from the senior and posthumous lists).
While it can’t be revealed who the newest inductees are, it is a diverse class that includes athletes and coaches from football, basketball, golf, track and field and baseball.
Sometimes it is very competitive with lots of discussions — OK, campaign speeches — that are informative and sometimes helpful.
Mostly it’s a bunch of good people working to keep the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame the greatest athletic honor in the state.
... This is going to be a really interesting finale to college football’s regular season and the first-ever pairings for the College Football Playoffs.
There is a great possibility a 12-1 Ohio State and an 11-1 Baylor are left out. So could a 10-2 Michigan State. The Big Ten having zero representatives would not be taken lightly by the fans of those schools.
This further emphasizes why the playoffs should be eight teams instead of four. It would add one week of football, presumably on the Saturday before Christmas, and the ratings would be through the roof.
Yes, ESPN has a contract that it could use as leverage for an eight-team playoff contract.
... It was a “what if” rumor that apparently started a couple of days ago on a website.
Someone wrote: What if Braxton Miller transferred to Oregon?
The Oregon rumor grew to include UCLA, Texas and finally Arkansas.
Miller was the returning starting quarterback at Ohio State and a preseason Heisman Trophy hopeful until he hurt his shoulder and missed the entire season.
Redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett has led the Buckeyes to an 11-1 season and a No. 5 ranking in the College Football Playoff poll by completing 203 of 314 passes for 34 touchdowns. He’s had only 10 interceptions and has rushed for 938 yards and 11 more touchdowns.
The problem is that Barrett was carted off the field Saturday and had ankle surgery three days ago.
The case that was being made for Miller ending up with the Razorbacks was what Bret Bielema did for Russell Wilson after Wilson transferred to Wisconsin for his senior season. Wilson led Bielema’s Badgers to the Rose Bowl and is now the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, the defending Super Bowl champions.
Miller, though, is from Ohio and hasn’t even hinted that he is transferring to avoid a competition with Barrett, who he beat out last spring and again in the fall before his injury.