116 • UNIV E R S I T Y O F A R K A N S A S - F O R T S M I TH : TH E F I R S T 85 Y EAR S
the nation’s toughest junior college athletic conferences, consistently displaying the class and poise that have become associated with Lions athletics. The scores of former Westark student-athletes who transferred and continued their playing careers at four-year institutions where they graduated give eloquent testimony to their quality. In the 1997–98 NCAA basketball season, Alisa Burris of Louisiana Tech, Sherman Lusk of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Kenny Price of Colorado University, Patrick Hunter of Baylor University, and Reggie Love of Centenary College presented examples of transfer success by Westark College basketball players.
Westark cheerleaders, 1995. The excitement of basketball games includes not only live ball action, but cheers, dances, and heart-stopping floor-to-ceiling triple flips by the Westark cheerleaders.
During baseball seasons of the 1990s, Ryan Nye of Texas Tech, Scott Cunningham and Todd Abbott of the University of Arkansas, Brett LeGrow of Southern Mississippi, Chad Soden of Arkansas State University, and Chad Frazier of Arkansas Tech, all players who had played two years for and graduated from Westark, were the leading pitchers on their respective collegiate teams.
In spring 1998 Charles Ripley retired after completing three years as head basketball coach of the Lions. Ripley, like Kaundart before him, had been a highly successful high school coach, his Little Rock Parkview Patriots going to the finals of the state tournament 10 times and winning five Arkansas state championships over the 21-year span that he guided his young men.
Overall, however, it is the following letter to the editor of the Southwest Times Record, published March 13, 1981, that perhaps captures the essence of Westark athletics:
Kenneth “Doc” Sadler was named to replace him. Sadler, a former assistant coach at Arizona State University, also assumed the role of athletic director. Jim Wyatt, who had held that position since 1982, took on other important responsibilities with Westark College, including that of heading the Westark Employee Wellness program, directing Westark’s Health Education Center, and coordinating the planning and construction of the new arena that now houses Westark College athletics and extracurricular activities in the 21st century.
On the night of March 6, 1981, my wife and myself had dinner at the Family Steak House in Clarksville. Partway through our meal, the entire varsity baseball squad from Westark Community College came in for supper. Having recently moved here from Southern California, we were quite apprehensive about what would happen next. It is with great satisfaction and pleasure that this letter is written to compliment all of these young men, their coach and their school for the high-class, gentlemanly demeanor and appearance that they exhibited. Absolutely no loud rowdyism, vulgarity, or horseplay. Simply a group of fine-looking young men holding up to view a promise of superior citizenship for the future. In our previous location, the situation would have been much more disagreeable for all. Our hats are off to them, with best wishes for a successful season now and in their lives ahead. Signed: Bruce Herbert, Ozone, Arkansas
The University of Arkansas - Fort Smith Lions won their first NJCAA men’s basketball national championship in 1981, but it would be 25 years before the tradition-rich program would capture another national title. Heralded as the 2005–06 pre-season No. 1-ranked team by one national publication and the NJCAA, the Lions overcame a pair of early losses to not only win the NJCAA Region II tournament but win the national title with an impressive 68–59 win against Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College on Saturday, March 25, at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.