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Four will get special honors for contributions to program |
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Thursday, 28 February 2008 |
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Courier Staff Four men will be honored Saturday night for their contributions to the Benton School District and its athletic program.
Aaron Calvin “Happy” Westbrook Jr., Robert “Red” Nelson, Dr. C.W. Jones Jr. and his father, the late Dr. Curtis W. Jones Sr., will be honored during the 13th annual Benton Athletic Memorial Museum Wall of Fame banquet.
Westbrook and Nelson will receive distinguished alumni awards. Meritorious service honors will be awarded to the Joneses.
Five people will be inducted into the Wall of Fame this year. They are Brian Callahan, Ritchie Keene, Debbie Doughty Cushing, James Mansfield and Norman Tubb.
The banquet begins at 6 at the high school cafeteria.
Donnie Burks, executive director of the museum, said people wanting to visit prior to the banquet should arrive around 5:30 or earlier.
This year’s banquet is dedicated to the memory of Tom Hardin, former BHS football coach. He was instrumental in organizing the on-campus museum that bears his name.
A few tickets remain for the banquet. They are $15 each, or $12.50 each with the purchase of two or more.
To purchase tickets, call Burks at 776-4054 or Mary Kay Mooney, president of the museum board, at 315-1919.
‘Happy’ Westbrook
Westbrook joined the museum board in 1995 at the request of Hardin. He is a 1944 graduate of BHS and a World War II veteran.
Westbrook tried out for football in 1940, earned a reserve letter in 1941 and started at quarterback and halfback the following two years under coach Raymond Richards.
Following the war, Nelson Rainey arranged a meeting for Westbrook with Duke Wells, football coach at then-Henderson State Teachers College. Wells gave Westbrook a scholarship and Westbrook and other athletes lived in a bunkhouse under Haygood Stadium.
Westbrook played in the band in high school and college. He retired from the secretary of state’s office in 1986.
‘Red’ Nelson
Nelson is a 1942 graduate of BHS, where he starred in football and basketball. He once scored 44 points against Hope in basketball.
Nelson’s father served as the street department manager for the city of Benton. When he was 17, and recognized as one of the state’s best fast-pitch softball pitchers, Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. gave Nelson a summer job at union wages in exchange for him pitching for the company’s team. He ended up making more money that summer than his father.
Nelson earned 11 letters at what is now Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, including four each in football and basketball and three in baseball.
He is a veteran of World War II and coached at Newport following the war.
Nelson and his brother later built Southwest Sporting Goods Co. into what is now one of the state’s largest providers of athletic supplies.
Drs. Jones
Dr. Jones Sr. and his family moved to Benton in 1924 from Little Rock and he practiced medicine in Benton until his retirement in 1980. He served as the Panthers’ team physician from 1929 until the late 1950s.
Dr. Jones Sr. died in 1982 at age 86.
Dr. Jones Jr. is the oldest of three sons, all of whom practiced medicine. Dr. Robert N. Jones died in 2006 at age 80. Dr. William N. Jones, the youngest son, continues to practice dermatology in Little Rock.
All three sons played football for the Panthers.
Dr. Jones Jr. joined his father in practice following his graduation from Tulane Medical School in New Orleans in 1948. He is a 1941 graduate of Benton High School. He played football for the Tulane Green Wave.
They both served as the Panthers’ team physicians until the late 1950s at no cost to the players or the school district.
Drs. Jones Sr. and Jr. built Jones Clinic in 1953 as a maternity hospital. It was located on South Market Street adjacent to C.W. Lewis Stadium and where the First Baptist Church sanctuary is now located. They closed the maternity unit when Saline Memorial Hospital was built in 1955. The clinic continued to operate until Dr. Jones Jr. retired in 1989.
Westbrook, Nelson and Dr. Jones Jr. all played football for the Panthers at the same time.
Other officers of the museum board are Robin James, vice president; Renee James, recording secretary; and Barbara Nix, corresponding secretary.
Other board members are William Weaver, Tim Wright, Doug Hawkins, Dwight Fite, Jim Holland, Clark Brewster and Susan McClendon; Paul Childress and Sam Stueart, Benton School Board representatives on the board; Scott Neathery, school district athletic director; and John Dedman, BHS principal.
The museum will be open to visitors from 3:30 to 5:30 Saturday, Burks said.
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