HALL OF FAME
Wisener, Wallace inducted into ASCSW Hall of Fame
Published daily in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, since 1877
CONWAY — Two of the most recognizable names in the Garland County sports community were honored Saturday night as late Oaklawn track announcer Terry Wallace and Bob Wisener, the newspaper’s retired sports editor, were inducted into the Arkansas Sportscasters/Sportswriters Hall of Fame Saturday at Centennial Valley Country Club in Conway.
Wallace, who was the track announcer at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort for 37 years, was inducted as this year’s sportscaster while Wisener, who served as the sports editor at The Sentinel-Record for 37 years, was this year’s sports writer inductee.
David Longinotti, a former sports writer for The Sentinel-Record who is now the director of Oaklawn Anywhere, presented the award to Wisener. Longinotti was hired out of college as a sports writer for Wisener in 1982.
“When I say ‘out of college,’ I don’t mean out of college with a degree,” he said. “I was in the School of Journalism at the University of Arkansas, and at the end of my sophomore year, I thought it might be a good idea for me to stay home for a year. I was not a good student … not by any means at all, but Bob took a chance on me and hired me anyway.”
Longinotti said that he learned many things from Wisener over his eight-year career with The Sentinel-Record, including the ability to “communicate sports in a way that is interesting … and in a way that is fair and honest.”
“The thing about a small-town newspaper, you have to be fair and honest,” he said. “Those high schools play each other, and if you appear to come down on one side of the fence or the other, you’re going to have a lot of angry fathers and mothers. Bob knew how to play it right down the middle.”
Wisener said that his induction into the ASCSW Hall of Fame “is the fulfillment of [a] dream.”
“All I ever really wanted was to sit at the Algonquin Round Table of sports writers in this state — Orville Henry, Jim Bailey, Wadie Moore, the great David McCollum, Wally Hall, Harry King,” he said. “I wanted to be in their presence. I wanted to be considered an equal of theirs. Some good things have happened to me over the years; I’ve won some awards. … This, tonight, is the fulfillment of that dream — that I belong at the same table, if you will.”
He went on to talk about many of his experiences while covering sports, saying that he hopes that he has inspired others.
“I am told that I have,” he said. “I don’t know. I hope that I’ve inspired people to go into this business. I hope there’s still a business when they decide to go into it. I hope that they will have the thrills that I’ve experienced. I will say this, and I’m proud of it: I have never applied for a job anywhere else. That’s going on 40 years.”
Following Wisener, Dick Antoine present
ed the sportscaster award to Wallace’s widow, Alice Naples-Wallace.
“Everybody knows Terry; everybody knows his voice,” he said. “He was the most recognized person in Arkansas … but what you didn’t know, maybe, about Terry was the other stuff that he did. The American Cancer Society — he started the Relay for Like in Hot Springs along with Alice. In the first four years, they raised over $1 million.
“It’s never been done before in Arkansas at a Relay for Life raising $250,000. They did it four years in a row. He raised well over $3.5-4 million in his lifetime with Relay for Life. He also started a foundation scholarship for the United Way for kids.”
Antoine also recalled a moment where Wallace’s consecutive race calling streak was going to be broken.
“He was going to get his record broken about 15 years ago,” he said. “He got up and couldn’t talk — couldn’t speak, couldn’t say a word. He was in Nebraska. He went to the track to tell them he couldn’t talk, and it snowed the races out. His voice got better for the next day, and he was able to call the races.”
Naples-Wallace said that “Terry would be proud” to have been inducted into the ASCSW Hall of Fame, but she said that his consistency was what made him great.
“When you see his record of calling those races, those races were just at Oaklawn,” she said. “That doesn’t include the ones at Nebraska, Minnesota and everywhere else. He did not miss a live race at Oaklawn, ever, even when he was sick.
“He also said that he knew if he wanted to be good — because there’s not that many track announcers like him — but if he wanted to be good, he had to be consistent. He couldn’t quit. He did all those things you talked about and more. That was his love; that was his passion, and he showed it.”
Also recognized at the induction was former Arkansas Razorbacks head men’s basketball coach Eddie Sutton. He was awarded the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which was accepted by Pat Foster, one of his assistants.
Vanderbilt running backs coach Tim Horton was the keynote speaker, recalling his time as a player in Conway and at the University of Arkansas as well as experiences in coaching.