CONWAY, Ark. (March 31, 2014) – Five former student-athletes will be inducted
into the Hendrix College Sports Hall of Honor during the annual Sports Hall of
Honor Banquet during Alumni Weekend 2014.
The 2014 Sports
Hall of Honor inductees include:
- Wes Crawford ’65
- John Kane ’76
- Kim Ralston Kelley ’97
- Millard Williams “Dub” Phillips, Jr.
’38
- Franklin Albright Poff, Jr. ’79
The banquet will begin at 6 p.m. in Worsham Hall
in the Student Life and Technology Center.
FULL
INDUCTEE BIOS
Wes Crawford ’65
From Blytheville,
Ark., Wes Crawford was a multi-sport letterman, including basketball and track
and field. He was a four-year basketball letterman at Hendrix, led the team in
scoring two years and was a four-year starter on a team that opened Grove
Gymnasium in 1961 with a four-year record of 63 wins, 37 losses and a 63
percent winning percentage.
When Crawford was a
Hendrix student-athlete, the Warriors qualified for the NAIA District playoffs
all four years and finished third in the AIC one year and runner-up in the
tournament another year. He was twice named All-AIC honorable mention, All-AIC
second team once and finished second in scoring on the team his junior year.
John Kane ’76
A central California
native, John Kane was a four-year swimming letterman and a member of three AIC
championship teams. As a freshman in 1973, he set a new 200-yard breaststroke
conference record and was a member of a record-setting 400-yard relay team.
In 1974, Kane was
high point man in the AIC meet, where he set a new 200-yard breaststroke record
and won the 100-yard freestyle and 1,000-yard individual medley. He was high
point man again the next year and won the 200-yard breaststroke, setting a new
Hendrix and AIC record, and won the 200-yard medley, tying the AIC record. He
also won the 1,000-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley and 200-yard
breast stroke. During his senior year, he was first in the 200-yard individual
medley and the 200-yard breaststroke and third in the 1,000-yard freestyle.
After Hendrix, Kane set state records in masters swimming.
Out of the pool,
Kane has received several excellence awards for innovation and achievement at
Acxiom Corp. He is involved with the choir and the praise team at First Baptist
Church in Vilonia and has led the mission program on trips to Costa Rica,
Mexico and Peru.
Kim Ralston Kelley ’97
Kim Ralston Kelley
came to Hendrix from Mount Vernon-Enola High School, where she was a four-year
basketball letterman, All-Conference team member and led the conference in
steals. At Hendrix, she was a four-year basketball letterman and All-Conference
second team selection in 1994-1995. She was named SCAC Player of the Week and
received the Sears Collegiate Champions trophy in 1995-1996.
Millard Williams “Dub” Phillips, Jr.
’38
When Imboden, Ark.,
native Dub Phillips came to Hendrix College in 1934, he was the state pole
vault champion and record holder, and he was the state’s best pole vaulter
during his four years at Hendrix.
As a freshman, he won
each pole vaulting event with results from 11 feet-6 inches to a high mark of
12 feet-6 inches and tied for first in the state meet. In the first meet of his
sophomore year, Phillips was the high scorer of the meet with 13 points,
finishing first in pole vault and shot put and second in discus. Against the
Razorbacks, he won the pole vault at 12 feet-6 inches and finished second in
discus and third in shot put.
Hendrix won the
state championship in 1937, Phillip’s junior year. At an early dual meet,
Phillips was the high point man with 16 points, first place in the pole vault,
shot and discus and second in the high jump. Phillips finished at the state
meet by setting a new state record in the pole vault of 13 feet -six inches and
placed second in the shot and discus. In 1938 at the state meet, Phillips was
first in pole vault and shot and second in discus. The Warriors won the state
track title for the second year in a row.
Phillips was also
active in baseball and football and was only the third athlete in Hendrix
history to letter all four years in three different sports. A center on the
basketball team, Phillips played on the
1938 Arkansas championship team with a 9-1 record and an overall record of
18-6. On the football team, Phillips started at guard in his first game as a
Warrior and started throughout his career, except during times of injury. He
was picked as a first team All-State guard his senior year by the student
newspaper’s all state selections.
Franklin Albright Poff, Jr. ’79
Before coming to
Hendrix, Frank Poff, a Hot Springs, Ark., native, played on a state
championship football team and placed third in the state swimming and diving championships.
At Hendrix, Poff was
a four-year swimming and diving team letterman. Hendrix won AIC conference
championships in 1977, 1978 and 1979. He was an All-Conference team selection
for three years, as well as conference and Hendrix record holder. Poff was an NAIA
national qualifier in 1978 and 1979, the year he captained the team and
received the Carl Babcock Leadership in Athletics Award. He was a three-year
member of the water polo team, which he captained his senior year
Poff was also active
outside of the pool as a Hendrix student. He was a freshmen representative on
the Student Senate, a Social Committee representative, co-chair of Freshman
Orientation, student representative on the Athletic Advisory Committee and
member of the Student Athletic Committee, which he chaired his senior year.
Poff was also a basketball cheerleader in 1975-1976 and intramural table tennis
champion in 1978-1979.
After Hendrix, Poff
practiced law, litigating throughout Arkansas and Texas. He received numerous
awards for his legal service throughout his career and was appointed by Gov.
Mike Huckabee as Special Associate Justice to the Arkansas Supreme Court to
hear the appeal of a case decided by fellow 1979 Hendrix graduate Justice Tim
Fox. Poff has continued to serve his alma mater as a member of the Alumni Board
of Governors and by hosting student recruitment receptions and events in
Texarkana.
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in
engaged liberal arts and sciences education. For the sixth consecutive year,
Hendrix was named one of the country’s “Up and Coming” liberal arts colleges by
U.S. News and World Report. Hendrix is featured in the latest edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change
the Way You Think about Colleges,
as well as the 2014 Princeton Review’s The Best 378 Colleges, Forbes magazine's list of America's Top Colleges, and
the 2014 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United
Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.