BRYANT — A reception will be held at 6:30 p.m., with induction ceremonies to follow at 7 on Saturday, May 30, for the first group voted into the Bryant Athletic Hall of Honor. The event will be held at the main building at Bryant High School, in the multi-media center. It is open to the public.
Presenting sponsor is Everett Buick GMC. The ceremony is also sponsored by First Security Bank, Saline County Lifestyles and the Elrod Law Firm.
The inductees are former athletes Travis Wood and Tina Webb, former coaches Carla Crowder and Joe Treat, former school superintendent Ed Love, along with three teams. The teams are the 1987-89 back-to-back State championship girls basketball squads, the 1980-81 State championship boys basketball team, and the first Bryant High School football team.
The group was voted on by theBryant Athletic Hall of Honor Board of Directors, which trimmed an original group of 30 nominees to 15 then to eight.
— Wood, currently a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, was all-State three years for the Bryant Hornets baseball team and the Louisville Slugger Player of the Year in Arkansas for 2005. Picked in the second round of the 2005 Major League amateur draft, Wood made his debut for the Cincinnati Reds in 2010. He was named to the National League All-Star team for the Cubs in 2013.
— Webb, a former professional basketball player in Europe, was an all-State player for the Bryant Lady Hornets basketball team from 1982-84, leading the 1982 team to the program’s first State championship. She’s also in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Arkansas-Monticello Hall of Fame where she was a consensus first team NAIA all-American four times and the 1990 National Player of the Year.
— Crowder, currently the head basketball coach at Cabot, coached 16 years at Bryant, leading the team to three State and Overall tournament championships. Bryant went 408-108 while she was coach. From 1988 to 1990, her Lady Hornets teams won 62 consecutive games. In her 34-year career, she’s coached teams to 772 wins.
— The Lady Hornets teams, coached by Crowder, that won consecutive State and Overall titles provided the bulk of a 62-game winning streak. The teams included Marla Goshien, Sally Moore, Becky Patton and Amanda Stuart, who all went on to play in college.
— Treat was the head coach of the Bryant Hornets basketball team for 20 years, compiling a record of 280-182, leading the team to 12 State tournaments. He was 407-253 in his coaching career. He was the head coach of the 1983 McDonald’s All-American West team and won.
— The Hornets’ 1980-81 AAA State championship team was coached by Treat, who was named Arkansas Coach of the Year. The team featured Brad Goshien, Tim Hall and Willie Cutts who all went on to college careers.
— Love was the Bryant superintendent for 21 years after 25 years as a teacher in the district. The school had two sports teams when Love took over as superintendent in 1979 and grew to 13 by the time he retired in 1990.
— The first Bryant football team hit the field in 1949. Now known as the 49ers, the squad was coached by Leonard Rollins and included 22 players led by team captain Bobby Sample.
Plans are being made to set up a Bryant Athletic Hall of Honor display that will feature the honorees with additions made each year.
