CLINT CORNETT

Hometown: Prairie Grove Spouse: Shirley

Years married: 55 Children: Tammy, 54, of Prairie Grove; Timmy, 52, of Springdale

Occupation: Proprietor of CS Pawn and Gun Shop at Springdale, retired Arkansas Officials Association basketball and football referee

Career history: Active referee — basketball 1967-1984; football 1967-2007

Certification: Arkansas Activities

Association

Memorable sports hi-lights: Worked two state championship football games (1996,1998) and one All-Star game (1984). Coached Babe Ruth baseball for six years at Prairie Grove, served as league director of Fayetteville Youth Center Softball — eight years; coached softball for 18 years at Prairie Grove

Favorite fields to work at: I loved to work games at Prairie Grove and at Harrison with Coach Abshier and Coach Tice. Shiloh Christian was another place I liked to work. Motivation: I love sports.

Favorite pro team: New England Patriots, I’m a Ryan Mallet fan. I know all the Mallet boys, I worked for all of them. Jim was at Lincoln. Mark was at Prairie Grove, Calvin is at Yellville. I worked many games for all of them.

Contributions to community: We are still doing all the Prairie Grove benefit games. We never charge for those. Sponsored teams from all over Northwest Arkansas for years and continues to do so.

Toughest challenge as an official: To make sure you had the game even, to make sure you had it even and fair. Don’t get carried away, make sure you’re fair to the youngsters. That was my main goal — regardless of whether it’s a sixth-grade game or a 7A game.