Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Saluting Farmington’s RONNIE DAVIS
Saluting Retiring Farmington Coach Ronnie Davis
Retiring after 32 seasons of coaching. Only on Sports
Editor’s Note — This is Part 1 of a tribute to Ronnie Davis, who retired at the end of the school year after 32 seasons of coaching. FARMINGTON — The low key guy on the sideline might just hold the key to deciding the outcome of the game.
That’s the assessment Farmington head boys basketball coach Beau Thompson has of his mentor, Ronnie Davis, who served as head coach for the Cardinals from 1985-2001.
“Ronnie Davis has never got the credit for being the basketball mind that he is because of the personality that he has,” Thompson said, adding, “If Ronnie Davis had more of a brash outgoing personality, people would think he’s John Calipari or somebody like that.”
Thompson believes Davis’ introverted nature has led people to mistakenly think he’s not knowledgeable of the game because they don’t see him up yelling and screaming.
“Ronnie Davis knows everything that’s going on on the floor,” Thompson said.
Chase Lightner, who graduated from Farmington in 2011, recalled Davis’ steady influence as playing a significant role in the Cardinals’ 62-56 quarterfinal win over heavily- favored Pulaski Academy during the 4A state tournament in 2011.
“That was a great day. I was just on,” Lightner said of his seven 3point shots made in the contest, adding, “My teammates kept finding me, everybody played good, it was a total team effort.”
For Davis it was very satisfying to witness a successful on-court execution of a game plan resulting in a big win.
“Chase took good shots, he didn’t force anything up when he wasn’t open. When he caught the ball and his feet was set, he had the green light,” Davis said, calling Lightner a complete player, who played both ends of the floor with equal energy.
Davis said in Lightner’s senior year, the Cardinals usually put him on the other team’s best guard and he usually shut them down.
“He was a good shooter, plus a good defender, plus a pretty unselfish player,” Davis said.
“That was one of those games that everybody thought PA was definitely the better team and we ran a little box-and-one on their best player and we pretty well shut him down,” Davis said.
champion Farmington Lady Cardinals found themselves locked in a dogfight with Westside Jonesboro. The contest remained scoreless after six innings in a classic pitchers’ duel between Farmington’s Madison Barnes and Westside Jonesboro’s Sharon Bishop.
To start the seventh inning, Farmington fans thought the Lady Cardinals had Oakley Sisemore on board after she banged out a base hit. Instead, Sisemore was ruled out of the batter’s box and called out. Ironically on the game’s next pitch, Jordin Smith hit a home run with nobody on base.
“Instead of a two nothing ball game, now it’s a one nothing ball game,” said Farmington coach Randy Osnes.
The out would be the difference in the game as Westside Jonesboro scored two runs in the bottom of the inning and the loss sent Farmington home.
In an almost identical scenario, Lincoln battled Genoa Central, a school out of Texarkana, on May 12 in the semifinals of the state 3A baseball tournament held at Prescott. When Blake Sullivan, Genoa Central’s starting pitcher, hit a solo home run in the sixth inning it irked Lincoln fans.
It was a play that should have never happened according to Beth Robinson of Prairie Grove. In a posting on Facebook, Robinson indicated she thought the pitcher should have been ejected from the game prior to his at-bat in the sixth inning.
In the fourth inning, Sullivan ran to home plate but didn’t slide and crashed into Lincoln catcher, Dustin Simmons. Sullivan was called out but not ejected by the home plate umpire. Rules stipulate a base runner, who does not avoid contact at the plate can be disqualified, and Lincoln coach Brad Harris said typically that’s what happens.
Genoa Central won the 1-0 on Sullivan’s solo home run while Lincoln was eliminated.
One of the features of having a sports page on Facebook is the electronic venue allows fans to dialogue regarding game issues. Giving fans the capacity to vent in a respectful tone is a healthy thing. This empowers fans, many of whom feel deeply connected to sports teams and take a loss personally, an opportunity to express their frustrations.
Freedom of speech must be preserved in the sports arena. Recently, Prairie Grove head football coach Danny Abshier told me coaches, who voice objections to game calls in the media, may not receive consideration for Coach of the Year awards. It shouldn’t be that way, coaches are hired to build winning programs and expected to be an advocate on behalf of their teams.
There are examples of positive reinforcement, which is an appropriate response in dealing with adversity.
“Our seniors gave it all tonight and we should be very proud of them. They have exhibited great leadership throughout the year and have not one thing to be ashamed of,” said Claudette Smith, in a post on the Lincoln, Arkansas sports page on Facebook, adding, “Cheyenne Vaughn pitched the game of his life tonight and our other starters played their best game of the year.”
In her posting, Smith said the community should be proud of their young men, who represented the city of Lincoln and Lincoln High School extremely well and carried the message that Lincoln is a force to be reckoned with.
The same thing could be said of the Farmington Lady Cardinals softball and Prairie Grove Tigers baseball teams, all of which advanced before losing out in state tournament play.