By: Houston Taylor
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Two athletes from the modern era and two from the golden era, including one of the nation’s top football coaches, and three former coaches comprise the 2008 Southern Arkansas University Sports Hall of Fame class. SAU’s sixth hall of fame class will be honored Saturday at halftime of the Mulerider football game against Delta State. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. at Wilkins Stadium.
Modern era athletes to be inducted are Bobby Evans (football) and Tommy Stewart (baseball), and from the golden era, Sammy Furo (football) and Tommy Tuberville (football and golf). Coaches to be recognized are the late Sam Bailey (football and baseball), Dr. Ginger Hurst (volleyball and tennis) and Steve Goodheart (baseball).
Bobby Evans (Modern Era – Football)
A native of Haynesville, La., Bobby Evans played defensive back for Mulerider football teams from 
1986-1989. He was named a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) First Team All-America linebacker in his senior season, and was also a first team selection that year on both the All-District 17 and All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) squads.
Evans set a Mulerider defensive record in 1989 that still stands for the longest return off a blocked field goal attempt that he returned 65 yards for a touchdown against Northeastern State. The score provided the difference in a 26-23 Southern Arkansas win.
Evans was consistent throughout his Mulerider career, recording 81 tackles as a freshman, 78 as a sophomore, 88 as a junior, and 81 as a senior, for a career total of 328. He had 43 tackles for losses totaling 211 yards in his four years at SAU, including 20 sacks for 149 lost yards, had six fumble recoveries, broke up 19 passes and had four interceptions, returning one for a touchdown.
Evans went on to play professionally in the Canadian Football League, starting in 1990 and playing a total of six years with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Following his first five seasons in Winnipeg, he became a free agent in 1995 and signed with the expansion Shreveport Pirates. After the folding of the American clubs, Evans returned to Winnipeg, playing his final season in 1996.
During his seven years as a pro, Evans made 339 tackles, with 23 for loss, including eight sacks, and had 21 interceptions. He was a CFL Eastern All-Star selection in his fourth season of 1993.
Bobby and his wife, Angela, reside in Bossier City, La. They have two children, a son, Terrance, and a daughter, Tya.
Tommy Stewart (Modern Era – Baseball)
Tommy Stewart left his hometown of Daingerfield, Texas, to come to Southern Arkansas as an outfielder, but ended his career (1992-1995) as an All-America shortstop.
Known as “Scooter” during his time with the Muleriders, Stewart helped lead SAU to its final two AIC and NAIA District 17 championships in 1994 and 1995 before the athletic program’s move to NCAA Division II.
In his senior season, Stewart led the team hitting .474 with a .703 slugging percentage and had an on-base percentage of .530. He was named All-AIC and both the conference and NAIA Southwest Region Player of the Year, and was a second team NAIA All-America selection. But what Stewart received the most national attention for was setting a NAIA national record by hitting safely in 54 consecutive games.
Stewart’s 54-game hitting streak actually began late in his junior season of 1994, and as a switch hitter the next year he erased the old record of 44 with ease. Only two others in all of baseball history have hit in more consecutive games, New York Yankee Hall of Fame legend Joe DiMaggio with 56, and major-leaguer Robin Ventura with 58, when he played collegiately at Oklahoma State.
Improving in every category throughout his Southern Arkansas career, Stewart ended his four years with a career batting average of .367, a .520 slugging percentage and a .414 on-base percentage. He obviously still holds the career hitting streak record for the Muleriders and the season record of 51. Stewart is still second all-time at SAU in games played (212), hits in a season (91 in 1995) and batting average in a season (.474 in 1995).
Stewart signed and had a brief professional baseball career with the Houston Astros, before returning to Daingerfield where he served as assistant baseball coach for four years. He currently is in his sixth season as head coach at Hughes Springs, Texas, where his teams have compiled a five-year record of 125-24-1 and collected four district championships. His 2006 squad went 35-1 and advanced to the finals of the class AA state championship.
Tommy and his wife, Kara, reside in Daingerfield. They have two daughters, Calli and Briley.
Sammy Furo (Golden Era – Football)
Sammy Furo played football in 1947 and 1948 at Southern Arkansas when it was still a junior college 
(Magnolia A&M). A native of Smackover, Furo was SAU’s initial All-America selection, chosen as a second team tailback. The Muleriders would not have another player recognized among All-America teams until 1954.
In his two years at Southern Arkansas, Furo led Elmer Smith’s Muleriders to records of 9-2-1 in 1947 and to 8-2 in 1948. In his first year, they had regular season wins against McNeese State and Northeast Louisiana, junior colleges at the time, but now NCAA Division I schools. The Muleriders closed that year with a scoreless tie against McNeese in a hurricane in the Cajun Bowl in Lake Charles, La.
In 1948, the Muleriders were AIC co-champions, playing against several four-year colleges in the conference ranks at the time. They again also made post-season play, beating Eastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College by a 41-12 margin in the Papoose Bowl.
The oldest football record at Southern Arkansas was set in 1948 when Furo returned a punt 80 yards for a touchdown against Henderson State. The record lasted 50 years before Jeff Sustaire returned 
one for 84 yards and a touchdown against Arkansas-Monticello in 1998. The current record is 91 yards with Jason Bennett returning it for a score against Central Arkansas in 2000.
Furo transferred to the University of Arkansas for his final two seasons, lettering with the Razorbacks in 1949 and 1950.
Now retired, Sammy and his wife, Kay, reside in Hot Springs. They have two sons, Sam, Jr. and Adam, three daughters, Patricia Leovich, Carol Fisher and Amy Horner, and seven grandchildren.
Tommy Tuberville (Golden Era – Football and Golf)
A native of Camden (Harmony Grove) and a 1976 graduate of Southern Arkansas, Tommy Tuberville is regarded as one of the country’s top football coaches, directing the Auburn Tigers to an 80-33 record over the past nine years. Now in his 10th season, his Tigers have a 42-9 mark over the past four years for an .824 winning percentage, fifth best in the nation in both wins and percentage over that span.
Tuberville guided his 2004 Auburn squad to an undefeated 13-0 season, the best record in school history. For that effort he was named the AFCA, Associated Press, Paul “Bear” Bryant, FCA, SEC and Walter Camp Coach of the Year. Tuberville has led the Tigers to a Southeastern Conference championship, five SEC West Division titles, and eight consecutive bowl appearances, including five New Year’s Day bowl berths. At Auburn he has coached 35 first team All-SEC players, eight All-America honorees, and has had 29 players selected in the NFL draft, including a SEC record four in the 2005 draft.
In his 13 seasons as a collegiate head coach, Tuberville has an overall record of 105-53. Before coaching at Auburn, he was the head coach at Ole Miss (1995-98), where he was 25-20 in four years despite inheriting a program under serious NCAA scholarship sanctions and probation. He was the AP SEC Coach of the Year in 1997 at Ole Miss.
Prior to Ole Miss, Tuberville was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Texas A&M in 1994 when the Aggies were 10-0-1, and was on the staff at Miami for eight seasons from 1986-1993 when the Hurricanes won three national championships and posted an 87-9 record. He got his collegiate coaching start in 1980 at Arkansas State where he served for five years, and his first coaching job was at Hermitage High School from 1976-1979, serving the last two years as head coach.
Tuberville played high school football at Harmony Grove before enrolling at SAU in 1972, where he lettered as a free safety for the Muleriders through 1975, and also played golf his final two years. He 
was encouraged to play college football by his father, the late C.R. Tuberville, a long-time and highly respected athletic official in the area.
While at Southern Arkansas, Tuberville played under legendary head coach Raymond (Rip) Powell, and during his tenure at Ole Miss, maintained that his days at SAU were the most formative of his future career. He requested of his then position coach, and still long-time friend, Sonny Whittington, that he wanted to attend offensive team meetings as well as the defensive meetings because of his desire to coach. Tuberville credits Powell, Whittington and the rest of the Mulerider staff (Calvin Neal and Eldon Hawley) with teaching him techniques, fundamentals, and more than he ever learned at any of his other coaching stops.
Tuberville was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in February of this year. He is married to the former Suzanne Fette of Guilford, Ind., and they have two sons, Thomas and Troy.
Sam Bailey (Coach – Football and Baseball)
The late Sam Bailey came to what was then Magnolia A&M Junior College in 1946. A short time 
after stepping on campus, he would start and play a full contest in the first football game he ever played or saw, and even more remarkable, at quarterback.
Bailey grew up in tiny Sandyland near Smackover, and graduated at the time the U.S. entered World War II. By the time he was discharged from the armed service he had a wife and two-year old son, and spent his time working in area oil fields and playing independent basketball.
Magnolia A&M had suspended athletics in 1942 because of the war. Elmer Smith was hired to create post-war athletic programs in 1946 at the school. There were no practice facilities, uniforms, or an on-campus playing field. Smith happened to see Bailey playing basketball on an independent team at Stephens and liked what he saw. He encouraged Bailey to visit the campus in Magnolia and showed his family where they would live, a very small trailer. When Bailey told Smith he had never played football, Smith gambled one of his 22 allowed scholarships on someone who had never even seen a football game.
In Bailey’s first season, the Muleriders were only 4-5, but they soared to a 9-2-1 record in 1947, including a tie with McNeese State in the Cajun Bowl at Lake Charles, La. After his two years at Magnolia A&M, Bailey moved on to Ouachita Baptist and played against the Muleriders in the now defunct AIC. Before the advent of most eligibility rules, Smith still sent Bailey money each month because Bailey’s scholarship at Ouachita Baptist was not enough for a player with a family.
Upon graduating at OBU in 1950, Bailey joined Smith’s football staff in Magnolia as the institution became a four-year school named Southern State College. As an assistant, he helped lead Southern State to consecutive AIC championships in 1951 and 1952. Bailey also coached baseball, leading the Muleriders to three AIC championships in 1953, 1954 and 1956. His baseball teams compiled a 41-36 record over six years (1951-56).
After Smith joined Paul “Bear” Bryant’s staff at Texas A&M in 1954, Bailey followed in 1956. When Bryant left for Alabama, Bailey went with him, serving as assistant athletics director and assistant head coach until the legendary Bryant died.
Bailey’s wife, Mildred, resides in Tuscaloosa, Ala. They had a son, Darryl, who is also deceased, and have two grandsons, Sam and J.R.
Dr. Ginger Hurst (Coach – Volleyball and Tennis)
Dr. Ginger Hurst coached volleyball at Southern Arkansas for 13 years (1977-89) and was named AIC Coach of the Year in 1988. Her teams finished first or second in the conference seven of the last nine seasons of her career.
Hurst coached the 1982 team to an unbeaten Arkansas Women’s Intercollegiate Sports Association
(AWISA) championship (14-0), and an overall record of 21-5 in that league’s final season before the move to the AIC. Hurst led SAU to back-to-back AIC titles in 1988 and 1989. Under her guidance, the Lady Muleriders accumulated a record of 223-110. The 1989 SAU team racked up a school record 42-4 mark in Hurst’s final year.
During her volleyball tenure at Southern Arkansas, Hurst coached 10 All-AWISA, 18 All-AIC, and 15 All-NAIA District 17 selections. She also signed Tracy Morgan, who was a 1989 All-AIC and All-District pick, and the District 17 Player of the Year, who would go on to be an honorable mention All-America selection in her senior season of 1991.
Hurst helped the Lady Muleriders make a successful transition from the AWISA to the AIC. She was the last elected AWISA president before the merging with the AIC.
Hurst coached women’s tennis at SAU from 1978-1985, compiling a 36-55 record over her eight seasons. In 1983 she had two players win both the AIC singles and doubles championships. She coached four All-AIC and five All-District 17 selections.
A native of Mountain Home, Hurst received her B.S.E. and M.S.E. degrees from Arkansas State University. Before her arrival at Southern Arkansas, Hurst was employed at Helena-West Helena Public Schools.
After retiring from coaching in 1990, Hurst attended graduate school at the University of Arkansas, where she completed her Ed. D. Residing in Magnolia, she has served since as associate professor of health, kinesiology and recreation, and as a member of the Southern Arkansas graduate studies faculty. Hurst has been associated with the Columbia County Animal Protection Society (CCAPS) and the Southern Arkansas University Senior Wellness Program.
Steve Goodheart (Coach – Baseball)
Steve Goodheart, who built the Southern Arkansas baseball program into a national power, retired in 2003 after serving 23 years (1981-2003) as head coach. Easily the most wins in school history, his 
Muleriders won 764 games, lost 416, and tied five, for a .647 percentage. Goodheart’s 764 wins places him second all-time among collegiate coaches in the state of Arkansas behind only the University of Arkansas’ Norm DeBriyn, who retired in 2002 with 1,161 wins in 33 years as head coach of the Razorbacks.
A native of Great Falls, Mont., Goodheart came to what was then Southern State College to play baseball for the Muleriders in 1972. In four years he was a part of two championship Mulerider teams in the now defunct AIC. He was an All-AIC selection in 1975 and played in the AIC All-Star games in both 1975 and 1976. As a student assistant in 1977, he once again helped SAU claim another AIC championship.
Following graduation, he spent a year at Camden Fairview High School as head baseball coach, before going to the University of Arizona for the 1979 season to become a graduate assistant with the baseball program. In his first year there, Arizona was ranked fifth nationally, and in his second year, the Wildcats won the NCAA College World Series. Goodheart received his M.Ed. in physical education from Arizona in 1980, and was hired as a young baseball coach by SAU’s late athletics director, W.T. Watson.
Goodheart, who operated with a non-scholarship program for approximately 15 years, guided his Southern Arkansas teams to nine AIC championships, including six consecutive from 1986-1991, eight 
NAIA District 17 titles and two area championships. He led the 1983, 1987 and 1991 teams to the NAIA World Series, with his ‘87 squad finishing third in the nation, posting an impressive 46-7 record, the best finish ever for an SAU team. Goodheart also oversaw the baseball program’s transition to the Gulf South Conference and NCAA Division II in 1996.
More than 50 of Goodheart’s former players signed to play professional baseball. He coached 54 first team All-AIC players, 26 first team NAIA All-District selections, five NAIA All-Area players, 12 NAIA Southwest Region selections, 17 NAIA All-Americans, 33 first team All-GSC choices, 11 NCAA All-Region picks, and two NCAA All-Americans.
Goodheart was chosen AIC Coach of the Year seven times and NAIA Area V Coach of the Year twice. In 1984, he was selected as one of five coaches to evaluate talent in the region for selections on the 1984 USA Olympic baseball team.
In Goodheart’s final eight seasons competing against the GSC West Division, his Muleriders finished runner-up seven times to established NCAA II powerhouse Delta State University. His record against Division II opposition was even better than against NAIA members, recording 287 wins, 126 losses, and two ties for a .694 percentage from 1996-2003.
Following his retirement in 2003, Goodheart served as an area scout for Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals through this past year.
Still a member of the SAU faculty, Steve and his wife, Cheryl, reside in Magnolia. They have one son, Matthew, and are expecting their second child in the spring.
