Southern Arkansas Ninth in GSC Football Pre-Season Poll
By: Houston Taylor
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Defending Gulf South Conference champion North Alabama has been selected by the league’s coaches to repeat that 
feat in 2010 with the release Monday of the annual conference pre-season football poll. Southern Arkansas was picked to finish ninth.
The Lions received the top spot in the coaches’ poll for the first time since 2006, garnering 97 total points and eight first-place votes. Only the head coaches vote in the poll, but aren’t allowed to do so for their own team. Teams received 10 points for a first-place vote, descending in order to one point for 10th place.
West Alabama, which advanced to the 2009 NCAA Division II playoffs, is expected to ride that momentum this season and was picked second (84), earning two first-place nods. Valdosta State received the other lone first-place vote in tallying 81 points for third. Delta State (72) is picked fourth, while the six Arkansas institutions in the league were voted fifth through 10th, respectively, in Arkansas Tech (62), Ouachita Baptist (51), Henderson State (47), Arkansas-Monticello (46), Southern Arkansas (26) and Harding (24). West Georgia (15) rounds out the poll.
The Muleriders received two votes to finish sixth, two for eighth, four for ninth and two for 10th.
In national publications, the Lions are ranked fourth in Lindy’s and 10th in SportingNews, while Arkansas Tech is 21st and 23rd and West Alabama 23rd and 24th, respectively, in the two magazines.
The GSC pre-season all-conference team will be released August 3.
SCHOOL 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Total
North Alabama 8 1 1 — — — — — — — 97
West Alabama 2 4 1 2 1 — — — — — 84
Valdosta State 1 4 1 3 1 — — — — — 81
Delta State — — 4 4 2 — — — — — 72
Arkansas Tech — 1 1 1 4 2 1 — — — 62
Ouachita Baptist — — 1 — 2 4 2 1 — — 51
Henderson State — — 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 — 47
Arkansas-Monticello — 1 1 — — 2 4 — 1 1 46
Southern Arkansas — — — — — 2 — 2 4 2 26
Harding — — — — — — — 5 4 1 24
West Georgia — — — — — — — 2 1 7 15
Athletic Conference Change Update
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The chief executive officers of nine universities in Arkansas and Oklahoma announced on Tuesday, July 13, 2010, that they intend to apply to the National Collegiate Athletic Association for permission to create a new NCAA Division II conference.
The members of the proposed new conference would be the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Arkansas Tech University, East Central (Okla.) University, Harding University, Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Southern Arkansas University and Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
“The intent of the conference is to group together similar institutions in terms of budgets and goals,” said the presidents, chancellors and directors of athletics from the nine institutions in a joint statement. “Furthermore, the conference is intended to be made up of universities that field an intercollegiate football program. Our most important goals in this new endeavor are to limit time away from class and limit our travel costs.”
The nine member institutions plan to submit a conference strategic plan, a conference constitution and conference by-laws to the NCAA by Dec. 1, 2010.
No decisions have been made regarding the name of the new conference or the location of the conference office.
The pursuit of creating the new conference will not affect athletic schedules for the 2010-11 academic year.
STATEMENT REGARDING POSSIBLE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHANGE
STATEMENT FROM:
Jack Lassiter, Chancellor, University of Arkansas at Monticello
Robert C. Brown, President, Arkansas Tech University
John Hargrave, President, East Central University
David Burks, President, Harding University
Charles Welch, President, Henderson State University
Rex Horne, President, Ouachita Baptist University
Larry Minks, President, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
David Rankin, President, Southern Arkansas University
Randy Beutler, President, Southwestern Oklahoma State University
The presidents, chancellors and directors of athletics from the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Arkansas Tech University, East Central (Okla.) University, Harding University, Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Southern Arkansas University and Southwestern Oklahoma State University held a meeting in Russellville, Ark., Friday to discuss the possibility of forming a new NCAA Division II conference.
Our ongoing discussion is producing positive results as we analyze the feasibility of creating a new conference that would reduce the amount of missed class time by our student-athletes and reduce our operating costs.
We found during the course of our meeting that we have similar concerns and that we are like-minded in our approach to intercollegiate athletics.
Regardless of the final results of these discussions, our athletic schedules for the 2010-11 academic year will not be affected.
Official SAU Statement on Possible Athletic Conference Changes
It has been noted that discussions have taken place between the Arkansas member institutions of the Gulf South Conference (GSC) and some Oklahoma institutions gauging interest in forming a new athletic conference.
Most of the GSC presidents and chancellors are attending the NCAA Division II President’s and Chancellor’s Summit in Indianapolis this weekend and will be meeting there Friday to further discuss this issue. The GSC presidents and chancellors’ annual summer meeting will be held at the end of next week in Birmingham where more discussion will take place.
“The GSC is a great conference, but the geographic expanse does pose travel length and expense issues,” stated SAU President Dr. David F. Rankin. “No official decision has been made, but discussions are ongoing and advanced.”
Southern Arkansas Hosts Annual All-Sports Banquet
By: Houston Taylor
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Tennis student-athlete Caitlin Korensek (Ennis, Texas) and baseball standout Cannon Lester (El Dorado) were honored Wednesday with the coveted Auburn Smith Awards at the annual Southern Arkansas University All-Sports banquet in the Grand Hall of the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Also receiving laurels were volleyball’s Maggie Glover (Waxahachie, Texas) and cross country and track athlete Michaela Krcova (Trnava, Slovakia), and baseball’s Andrew Whittington (Texas City, Texas) and football’s Ben Williams (Texarkana, Texas), all being named as this year’s Scholar-Athlete Award winners. Director of Athletics, Jay Adcox, presented the annual honors.
The Auburn Smith Award, given annually to both a women’s and men’s student-athlete, is the most prestigious honor a student-athlete can receive at SAU. The award is named in memory of Auburn Smith, who served as athletics director, administrator, coach, and instructor at Southern Arkansas. Athletic ability, performance, character, and scholastic achievement are all considerations by a selection committee of head coaches and athletic administrators at the university who select the honorees.
Korensek, a four-year member of the Lady Mulerider tennis team, holds 
a 3.88 GPA in early childhood education, and was honored on the courts this season in being a second team All-Gulf South Conference selection.
Three times Korensek has been named an Intercollegiate Tennis Association scholar-athlete and has twice been selected to the Gulf South Conference All-Academic Team. She is a three-time member of the GSC Academic Honor Roll, a five-time member of the SAU President’s List (4.00 GPA) and a two-time member of the SAU Dean’s List (minimum 3.50 GPA).
A 5-11, 185-pound third baseman on the Mulerider baseball team, Lester is the fourth consecutive baseball student-athlete to win the Auburn Smith honor. A senior, Lester has compiled a 3.06 GPA in physical education, wellness & leisure.
Leading the team in hitting with a .426 batting average, Lester has helped lead Southern Arkansas to a 39-6 record, a school record 24-game winning streak, the national No. 1 ranking, and to its 12th consecutive, and 13th overall, Gulf South Conference tournament 
appearance.
Lester was a first team All-America selection on both the ABCA/Rawlings and Daktronics teams and a second team pick on the NCBWA team in 2009. He was named to the first team on three All-South Region squads, and was a first team All-GSC and GSC All-Tournament honoree. Five times Lester has been named the GSC West Division player of the week, twice this season, and the most in league history. This season he set a new conference record with 69 career doubles, and he currently owns seven SAU career records, one season record and two single-game records.
In the classroom, Lester is a three-time member of the GSC academic honor roll, and has been named to the SAU Dean’s List.
The esteemed Scholar-Athlete Award is also given to both a female and male student-athlete. The nominee must have a minimum of a 3.00 GPA, have completed at least 56 semester hours, with at least one semester at SAU. Selection of the honorees is done by a committee considering GPA, athletic accomplishments, and citizenship.
The SAU scholar-athlete honors are normally awarded to only one female and male student-athlete, but a tie in the voting provided four winners this year.
Glover, a junior with the Lady Mulerider volleyball team, carries an impressive 3.73 cumulative GPA in psychology, with a minor in sociology.
Glover was named this past fall to the conference all-academic team. She is a four-time member of the conference academic honor roll, a three-time member of the Southern Arkansas President’s List, and is a two-time member of the school’s Dean’s List.
On the court, she was named a second team All-Gulf South Conference selection for the second consecutive year, and led the squad this season with a .242 attack percentage, 77 blocks and 316.5 points scored, and added 237 kills.
A senior, Krcova sports a perfect 4.00 GPA in business administration-finance. She has twice been honored as first team on the prestigious ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 6 team and selected twice to the GSC all-academic team. She is a three-time member of the GSC academic honor roll and a seven-time member of the Southern Arkansas President’s List with all “A’s” in her seven semesters.
In competition, Michaela placed 15th at this year’s GSC cross country championship, earning second team All-GSC accolades.
A 6-0, 200-pound shortstop, Whittington has a 3.93 GPA in physical education, wellness and leisure. He is a past member of the conference academic honor roll, a two-time member of the SAU President’s list, and has also been named to the Dean’s List.
On the field this season, Whittington set a new Gulf South Conference record by hitting safely in 37 consecutive games. Last year, he was honored as a NCBWA third team All-America selection and was named first team on both the NCBWA and ABCA/Rawlings All-South Region teams. Whittington was also a first team All-GSC pick and has twice been named the GSC West Division player of the week. He currently holds one SAU school career record, two season records and shares one single-game mark.
Williams graduated Cum Laude this past December with a 3.58 GPA in Chemistry-Science. The 6-1, 218-pound linebacker was a four-year letterman and started the past two seasons for the Muleriders.
Last year Williams received a nuclear and radiochemistry fellowship from the American Chemical Society and did his studies in California over the summer. He was voted three times to the GSC all-academic team, is a four-time member of the honor roll, a member of the SAU President’s list, and a four-time member of the Dean’s List.
In other honors, outstanding athletes were named in their respective fields by their head coaches or sponsors. Maggee Becker (Glenwood, Colo.) received the accolade for women’s golf, Peyton Mitchell (Quitman, La.) in men’s golf, Hannah Thomas (Waycross, Ga.) for women’s rodeo, Korensek and Krcova in tennis and women’s cross country, respectively, Kevin Perez (Cabot) for men’s cross country, Heather Rochelle (Texarkana, Texas) in women’s track, Colton Connelly (Comfort, Texas) for men’s track, Lester in baseball, Katie Lenderman (Plano, Texas) for softball, Elizabeth Myrick (Hot Springs) in cheerleading, Sanchez Dade (El Dorado) for men’s basketball, Lynzi Williams (Martin’s Mill, Texas) in women’s basketball, Glover for volleyball, Cedric Thornton (Star City) in football and Jessica McKenzie (Camden) received the student athletic training honor.
Dan Gregory, with KVMA/KVMZ radio served as emcee for the evening’s event.
SAU Football Wraps up Spring Practice Thursday
By: Houston Taylor
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas will wrap up spring football practice Thursday with its annual “Blue-Gold” game at Wilkins Stadium.
The Muleriders will use the game as their final practice, set to begin at 6 p.m., with the team taking the field at 5:30 p.m. for warm-up. No game-time clock will run for the game and the team is expected to execute approximately 120 plays during the scrimmage.
SAU returns 38 lettermen and seven offensive and six defensive starters from last season’s 3-7 team.
Southern Arkansas Head Coach Bill Keopple is in his second season running the Mulerider program.
Former Southern Arkansas Coach and Professor Passes away
By: Houston Taylor
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Dr. Delwin T. Ross, former Southern Arkansas athlete, coach and education professor, passed away Saturday, February 20 in Magnolia. He was 82 and born October 7, 1927 in Hope, Ark.
Ross attended and played quarterback for what was then Magnolia A&M Junior College from 1947-1949, and was also a star guard on the Mulerider basketball team during that time, being named to the junior college all-region team in 1949.
Following his graduation from A&M, Ross attended Henderson State where he was a three-sport letterman from 1949-1951 in football, basketball and baseball. He was co-captain of the Reddie football team, playing quarterback and wingback, and he won All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) honors as an outfielder on the Reddie baseball team in 1951. Ross earned six varsity letters while at Henderson State.
Ross received his B.S.E. from Henderson State in 1951, his M.S.E. from East Texas State (Commerce, Texas) College in 1954, and his Ed.D. from the University of Arkansas in 1970.
After leaving Henderson State, Ross began his coaching career as an assistant at Arkansas High School in Texarkana, coaching there one year before taking a football assistant position at De Queen. After two years, Ross became head coach of the Leopards, guiding them to a two-year mark of 21-1. He also was head basketball and baseball coach and served as principal while at De Queen.
Ross returned to Magnolia and what by then had become Southern State College in 1956 as an assistant football coach under the guidance of head coach Auburn Smith. He remained with the Mulerider football program for 11 years through the 1966 season.
One of the most versatile coaches ever at the university, Ross’ 1956 arrival began a span of 39 years of coaching and teaching at the institution, serving not only on the football staff, but also as head coach of the Mulerider baseball, basketball and swim teams.
Ross succeeded Sam Bailey as head baseball coach in the fall of 1956 and coached the team for 11 seasons through 1967. He took over from Duddy Waller as head of the Mulerider basketball team in 1957, coaching them for six years through 1963. His basketball teams advanced to two National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) district tournaments. In 1969 Ross began a 16-year career as head coach of the Mulerider swim team that led through 1985 when he retired from coaching. He was named both the AIC and NAIA District swim coach of the year in 1980. One of Ross’ swim highlights was coaching his son, Wayne, who was an All-AIC swimmer from 1980-1983. Wayne was inducted into the Southern Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame this past fall.
Following his coaching career, Ross continued serving as a professor in the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation for another 10 years, retiring from the university in 1994. He taught over a dozen different courses during his 39 years at Southern Arkansas and also served as supervisor of student teaching.
Through the SAU community swim program, Dr. Ross taught literally thousands of children and adults how to swim. He was an active volunteer for the American Cancer Society and received their Pacesetter Award on behalf of Columbia County. Ross was inducted into the Henderson State Reddies Hall of Honor in 2009.
A member of First Baptist Church, Ross served as both a deacon and Sunday school teacher. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Billie (Franks); sons David and wife, Brenda, of Tulsa, Okla., and Wayne and wife, Judy; and a daughter, Sharon Ware and husband, Joe, all of Magnolia; four grandchildren, Kerri Packwood of Fayetteville, Melani Dittfurth of Melissa, Texas, Christie Malone of San Francisco, Calif., and Cindie Nokes of Magnolia; four great grandchildren; a brother, Harrison and wife, Myra, of Hope; and a sister, Helen Levering from North Carolina.
Ross is preceded in death by his parents, the late Thomas Earl and Iris, and a sister, Violet Brooks.
Visitation with the family was held Monday at Lewis Funeral Home in Magnolia. Graveside services will be Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery, with a memorial service to follow at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church in Magnolia with Bro. David Watkins officiating and assisted by Bro. Richard Walters. Memorial donations may be made to First Baptist Church or to Southern Arkansas University.
