Two SAU Baseball Players Drafted
Seniors James Schroeder, third baseman, and Aaron Terry, right handed pitcher, were both selected on day three of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. Schroeder was selected in the 33rd round by the New York Mets and Terry was taken in the 42nd round by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Rankin Selected to NCAA Division II Council
Contact: Rebecca Bell
MAGNOLIA– Dr. David Rankin, president of Southern Arkansas University, has been selected as a member of the NCAA Division II President’s Council. His appointment fills a vacancy in the southern region, and his term expires in January 2012.
The President’s Council is a 15 member body with representation based on weighted regional membership. There is one representative for every 22 institutions. Members serve four year terms and are not eligible for immediate reelection.
Rankin, who became president of SAU in 2002, has just completed a two year term as President of the Division II Gulf South Conference and currently serves on the GSC Executive Committee. Southern Arkansas University has been a member of the Gulf South Conference since 1995.
“It has been a great pleasure to be associated with the Gulf South Conference and NCAA,” Rankin said. “I am looking forward to representing the southern region on the President’s Council.”
The Division II President’s Council serves as a leadership structure and forum for presidential interests in Division II athletic matters. The role of the Council is to establish and direct the general policy of Division II, sponsor Division II legislation, and approve regulations providing for the administration of Division II championships. The Council meets four times annually – once at the NCAA Convention in January, once in April, once in August and again in the fall.
NCAA Division II is composed of 288 member institutions nationwide. Of this total, 53 percent are public and 47 percent are private. Over 1.3 million students attend NCAA Division II colleges and universities.
Keopple Named New SAU Football Coach
By: Houston Taylor
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Bill Keopple was introduced as the 19th head football coach at Southern Arkansas University in a press conference Friday in Overstreet Hall on the university campus. He has served the past six years as head coach at Texarkana Arkansas High School.
Keopple brings 25 years of coaching experience to the Muleriders, including 18 as an assistant on the collegiate level with stops at Tulsa, Arkansas, Boise State and Central Arkansas.
Keopple led his 2008 Arkansas High squad to a 5-7 record and the second round of the 6A state playoffs. His teams were 44-26-1 over the past six years, advancing to the state playoffs the last five and winning consecutive state championships in 2006 and 2007. Keopple’s 2005 and 2006 Razorback teams were 6A South Conference champions. He was honored in 2006 as the 6A State Farm Coach of the Year, as well as 6A Outstanding Coach by the National Football Foundation in both 2006 and 2007, and was selected to serve on the high school football All-Star coaching staffs in 2004 and 2007.
Before taking over the reins at Texarkana, Keopple returned to coaching in 2002 after a two-year hiatus by joining former Arkansas defensive coordinator Keith Burns’ staff at Tulsa. He spent that season coaching the defensive line and serving as recruiting coordinator for the Hurricane.
Prior to spending two years in private business, Keopple served as an assistant under Houston Nutt at Arkansas in 1998 and 1999, and was with Nutt at Boise State in 1997, coaching the defensive line at both schools. The Razorbacks were 1998 SEC Western Division champions and finished 9-3 and played Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. Arkansas had the fifth-ranked rushing defense in the nation that season and was ranked seventh in total defense. The 1999 Razorbacks went 8-4 and defeated Texas in the Cotton Bowl, finishing the season 12th in rushing defense and 17th in total defense.
Keopple went to Boise State from Newport High School where he was head coach and athletic director in 1996. He guided the Greyhounds to the state playoffs in an 8-3 season, giving him an overall mark of 52-29-1 in his seven years on the high school level.
Graduating with a B.S.E. in 1982 and an M.S.E. in 1986 from Central Arkansas, Keopple began his coaching career there in 1982 as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line. He spent 14 years with the Bears, tutoring the offensive line the entire time and serving as offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator from 1990-1995. During his tenure at UCA, the Bears won three NAIA national championships and 10 consecutive conference championships from 1983-1992 in the now defunct Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC).
A native of Little Rock, Keopple is the son of Hall of Fame high school coach C.W. Keopple. A 1976 graduate of Parkview High School, he played on the 1974 and 1976 state championship teams and was an all-state selection his senior season.
During his playing days at Central Arkansas, Keopple was a member of two conference championship teams and was an honorable mention selection on both the All-NAIA District 17 and All-AIC teams.
Keopple has a taste of his new Mulerider team’s conference affiliation in that his final three years on the Central Arkansas staff were its first three years in the Gulf South Conference.
No stranger to winning, Keopple has been associated with 18 championship teams as a player and coach. He has recruited extensively on the collegiate level in 13 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
Keopple, who celebrates his 50th birthday Monday, has been married 27 years to his wife, Marsha, and they have a 26-year old son, Landon, and a 24-year old daughter, Brittany. Landon is a graduate of Tulsa and a former wide receiver for the Hurricane, and currently serves as receiver coach at Ouachita Baptist. Brittany is a graduate of Arkansas and works in Fayetteville.
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS IS NO. 1!
Collegiate Baseball poll.pdf
Ping! poll.pdf
By: Houston Taylor
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – For the first time in Southern Arkansas baseball history, the Muleriders have reached a new zenith, in being ranked first in the nation by both the coaches’ Collegiate Baseball and the Ping! Baseball polls released this week.
SAU’s 5-0 record this past week vaulted them to the top spot as previous No. 1 Mount Olive 
(N.C.) (36-4), second-ranked Sonoma State (Calif.) (29-3), and No. 3 West Alabama (29-8) all suffered losses.
Southern Arkansas’ previous high mark in collegiate baseball polls was two weeks ago when Ping! placed the Muleriders second, and the tie at No. 4 last week was their highest finish in the Collegiate Baseball poll since being affiliated with the NCAA. Prior to that, SAU ended the 1987 season at No. 3 when that team finished 46-7 and was third at the NAIA World Series.
Southern Arkansas’ mid-week doubleheader wins at East Central (Okla.) and their three-game Gulf South Conference (GSC) series sweep of Arkansas-Monticello over the weekend gave them their 21st consecutive win, one shy of the school record 22 by the 1987 team. East Central had given the Muleriders (29-3) the first of their only three losses in a 5-3 setback in the back end of a doubleheader in Magnolia February 6 after SAU had won the opener, 12-3. Southern Arkansas outscored Arkansas-Monticello by a combined 51-1 in their three games Saturday and Sunday, posting a school record for runs in the game two 31-0 win.
Southern Arkansas’ stellar season has shown up in the NCAA national statistics as well, ranking first in Division II in four categories last week and in the top 10 in 12 categories. The Muleriders came into last week leading the nation in runs per game (11.8), doubles per game (3.41), total doubles (92), and slugging percentage (.630). They were second in batting average (.377), total runs scored (318), and homeruns per game (1.56). SAU was also tied at 
third in sacrifice flies (24), fifth in stolen bases (76) and tied at fifth in hit by pitches (58), sixth in stolen bases per game (2.81), and tied at seventh in total homeruns (42).
Southern Arkansas Coach Allen Gum is currently 110-38 in his third season at his alma mater. His 2006 squad garnered the university’s first-ever outright GSC title in any sport when they won the conference tournament championship in his first year. Gum played two seasons (1990-1991) for the Muleriders, helping lead them to the NAIA World Series in 1991.
The No. 1 ranking by the baseball team is the second in SAU athletic history, matching that same feat by the 1981 Mulerider football team when they won their first five games under Coach Jimmy (Red) Parker.
The National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association (NCBWA) poll will not be released until Tuesday. Southern Arkansas was fourth in it last week.
Photos by Aaron Morris, SAU sports information
SAU Sports Hall of Fame Will Induct Eight
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Four student-athletes from the golden era and four from the modern era will be inducted into the 2007 Southern Arkansas University Sports Hall of Fame this weekend. SAU’s fifth Sports Hall of Fame class will be honored at halftime of the Mulerider football game against Valdosta State on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Wilkins Stadium.
Athletes to be recognized from the golden era are Travis Farrar (baseball and football), Louis Sanford (football, track & field, and basketball), Jackie Seale (track & field), and Doyle Wallace (football and baseball), and from the modern era, Bob Block (baseball), Larry Lundeen (baseball), Mark Mason (football), and Rachel (Young) Moore (basketball and track & field).
Travis Farrar (Golden Era)
Travis Farrar was a two-sport student-athlete at then Southern State College from 1952-55, playing at quarterback in football and as a pitcher on the Mulerider baseball team.
It was on the mound in baseball that Farrar was exceptional. Numerous major league scouts flocked to SAU baseball games for Farrar’s fastball, which approached 100 miles an hour. Eventually, a football shoulder injury forced Farrar to give up plans for a professional career. He pitched SAU to a tri-championship in 1953 and to an outright title in ‘54. Farrar was an All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) selection in 1953 and 1954, throwing two no-hitters in ‘53. In football, he was a backup to All-AIC quarterback Louis Sanford, before starting in 1954.
Farrar left SAU for a football coaching role at Springhill, La., in 1955. He was an assistant for the Lumberjacks before being named head coach in 1963. In his 30th season as head of the Lumberjack program, Farrar suffered a fatal heart attack in a game against Minden.
Farrar ranked as one of Louisiana’s all-time winning coaches with a high school record of 231-98-13. He was the national Region 5 (Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas) Coach of the Year in 1991, and was District Coach of the Year 17 times. Farrar led Springhill to the Louisiana state championship in 1985, to the finals twice more, and to the state playoffs for 18 years. His ‘Jacks won 18 district championships. In 1987 he received the Select Circle Coaching Award, and in 1985 was presented the city of Springhill’s Ambassador Award.
Farrar was inducted into the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, the same year that Benny Baucum Stadium in Springhill was renamed Baucum-Farrar Lumberjack Stadium. Since his untimely death, the city of Springhill has named a street in his honor.
A native of Magnolia, Travis married the former Lib Nipper. The Farrar’s have three daughters, Karen Coon, Joan Milton, and Kathy Jackson, and eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Louis Sanford (Golden Era)
Louis Sanford quarterbacked Southern Arkansas from 1951-53 and led the Muleriders to AIC football championships in ‘51 and ‘52 with perfect league records of 7-0 and 5-0. Overall, Coach Elmer Smith’s Muleriders were 9-1 and 10-1, respectively, those two years.
Sanford was not even associated with the SAU program before football practice opened in the fall of 1951. He graduated from El Dorado High School in 1947, and was recruited by LSU as a running back. From there, he entered military service where he played football before walking on and earning a scholarship at SAU.
Sanford was the starting quarterback in his first game, and every game after, in his three-year career at SAU. He also punted and returned kicks. It is estimated Sanford passed for at least 25 touchdowns in his Mulerider career, spectacular for conservative offenses of the era. He was an All-AIC selection and a three-sport letterman in football, basketball, and track and field, where he was a key member of SAU’s sprint relay teams.
After a career as a high school coach and teacher, he is now retired in Bald Knob with wife, Bobbie. He has three daughters, Rhonda Roberts, Stacy Harrell, and Sandy Sanford, and a son, former Mulerider football player Skip Sanford, Jr., and 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Jackie Seale (Golden Era)
Jackie Seale was recruited out of Pittsburg, Texas, by Southern Arkansas track and field coach Rip Powell as a sprinter. He was at Southern Arkansas from 1966-69. Seale shared the AIC 100-yard dash record with teammate George Eriquezzo in 1967, after Eriquezzo had established the record a year earlier. Seale also set an AIC and school record in the 220-yard dash with a time of 21.4 in 1967.
Seale was also a member of four relay teams that set SAU school records, the 440-yard relay (40.8) in 1966, and the 880-yard relay (1:26.8), mile relay (3:14.4), and the mile medley relay (3:26.4) in 1967. He was a member of the 440-yard relay team that placed third and the mile relay that was fourth, in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national meet in 1966.
Tri-captain of the 1969 Muleriders, Seale had best times of 9.5 in the 100-yard dash, 21.4 in the 220, and 47.5 in the 440-yard dash. He was an NAIA All-America and All-AIC selection in 1966 and 1967. Seale missed most of the 1968 season, including the AIC meet, with a broken wrist. He returned for the national meet to earn All-America honors.
Seale is employed in his hometown of Pittsburg at Pittsburg Independent School District. He, and his wife, Sherry, are parents of two children, daughter, Brandi Wilkerson, and son, Jody.
Doyle Wallace (Golden Era)
A freshman at Magnolia A&M Junior College in 1948, Doyle Wallace earned a scholarship from Coach Elmer Smith during pre-season practice and lettered on an AIC co-championship team. By his sophomore year he was a two-way starter who played 60 minutes, and was All-AIC as a junior, scoring seven touchdowns as a receiver and another on a pass interception. Wallace was especially known for his savage hits on opponents while blocking.
After military duty in the Korean War, Wallace returned to Southern Arkansas in 1954 as a senior for Coach Auburn Smith. He also played baseball for Coach Sam Bailey in 1955 and ‘56, hitting .361 and .326, respectively, as the starting right fielder.
If SAU had a boxing team, Wallace surely would have been team captain. He was highly-respected for his boxing skills at both SAU and in the military. Wallace went on to coach high school football, and in 1970 served as defensive backfield coach and head baseball coach at Arkansas Tech. From 1978-90, he served as volunteer golf coach at Henderson State. In 12 seasons, Henderson State won nine consecutive NAIA District 17 championships and eight consecutive AIC championships, earning Wallace induction in the Henderson State Hall of Honor.
After serving as mayor, Wallace is now semi-retired in his native Bald Knob. He and his wife, Betty, have three daughters, Terri, Kim, and Lisa, and son, Mike, and four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Bob Block (Modern Era)
Bob Block was a First Team NAIA All-America, First Team NAIA Area V, First Team All-NAIA District 17, and First Team All-AIC selection as an outfielder at Southern Arkansas in 1987. Unquestionably the greatest baseball team in Mulerider history, the 1987 team was the runaway conference champion with a 25-1 league record, breezed to the NAIA District 17 title, and finished 2-2 in the region tournament, before advancing to the NAIA College World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, where they finished third nationally, ending with the best record in school history at 46-7.
In the NAIA District 17 tournament game against Arkansas Tech, Block blasted a school record three home runs over the centerfield fence, a distance of 395 feet, with all three shots going more than 400 feet. In his fourth plate appearance of the day, he hammered another shot that hit the top of the centerfield fence, missing a fourth homer by inches, for a double.
Block drove in a school record nine runs in the Arkansas Tech game. He also set a total base school record for a season in 1987 with 150 and set a school record for hits in a season with 86. He hit .453 with a slugging percentage of .789, with 13 home runs, and 17 doubles.
In his senior season in 1988, Block hit .386 with eight home runs and a .620 slugging percentage, helping lead the team to a 43-13 record. He was Honorable Mention NAIA All-America, and repeated First Team NAIA All-District 17, and First Team All-AIC honors. A 6-3, 190-pound right fielder who had a cannon for an arm, Block was drafted after his senior season by the Baltimore Orioles in the 39th round.
Block finished his two-year stay at SAU with a .420 career batting average, 21 home runs, 32 doubles, 126 RBI, and a .610 slugging percentage. He still holds the SAU record for total bases in a game (14), and shares school records of total bases in a season (150) and home runs in a game (3).
A native of Ground Mound, Iowa, Block now resides in Frisco, Texas, where he is employed with eVerge Group, a computer company in the Dallas area. He and his wife, Melony, have two daughters, Chelsea Rohde, and Lynsea Block.
Larry Lundeen (Modern Era)
Larry Lundeen arrived at Southern Arkansas in the fall of 1985 after stints at Illinois State, Blackhawk (Ill.) Community College, and Illinois Central Community College. In 1986, the Muleriders finished with a 36-12 record and won the AIC championship. Lundeen, a southpaw from Washington, Ill., suffered an elbow injury during his junior year that season, but still posted an 8-2 record, walked only 31 in 81 2/3 innings, struck out a team-high 54, and was an AIC All-Star.
As a senior in 1987, Lundeen helped lead the Muleriders to their best record in school history (46-7), with SAU finishing third in the NAIA World Series. Lundeen won 14 games that season, a school record that still stands today, and closed his final SAU season at 14-2. His 12 consecutive wins during that season were one short of tying the national collegiate record of 13 straight wins. He was named First Team NAIA All-America, First Team NAIA Area V, First Team All-NAIA District 17, and First Team All-AIC with the Muleriders, who again won the conference title with a 25-1 record.
Lundeen ended his two-year SAU career with a 22-4 record, striking out 126. A teammate with Bob Block, they remain the only two first team All-America selections in the history of the storied SAU baseball program, playing under the guidance of legendary coach Steve Goodheart.
A 6-3, 190-pounder, Lundeen played in the National Baseball Congress World Series in the summer of 1987, winning both the Most Valuable Player and Pitcher awards, the same honor won by the likes of Roger Clemens. In 1988, he signed a free agent contract with the Boise (Idaho) Hawks of the Class A Northwest League, the first player signed by the independent Hawks. He also pitched for the Red Oak (Iowa) Red Sox.
Lundeen was honored with the Distinguished Young Alumni Award at SAU in 1997. He went on to a career as a Special Agent with the United States Secret Service from 1996-2002, serving on the Vice-President’s protective detail in his final year. Lundeen was with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., from 2002-07, serving as Director of Corporate Services-Global Security his final two years. He currently serves as Assistant Federal Security Director for the Department of Homeland Security-Transportation Security Administration at Northwest Regional airport.
Larry and his wife, the former Jennifer Holyfield of Camden, reside in Bentonville, and have a daughter, Caroline.
Mark Mason (Modern Era)
Mark Mason, a 6-1, 190-pound tailback out of McGehee, played football at Southern Arkansas from 1985-88. He was NAIA Honorable Mention All-America in 1987 and a First Team NAIA All-America selection in his senior season of 1988.
Mason was a three-time NAIA All-District 17 and All-AIC pick from 1986-88. He still holds the SAU record for career rushing yards with 3,034. Mason is second in career rushing attempts as a Mulerider with 580, stands fourth on the all-time season rushing list with 1,151 yards (1987), is fifth in career rushing touchdowns with 21, fourth in touchdowns in a season with 13 (1986), and is tied for third in rushing touchdowns in a game with four.
As a senior, Mason rushed for 914 yards on 170 carries. That year, he broke a 16-year old school record with 1,417 all-purpose yards and finished with a career record of 3,745 all-purpose yards. In 1986 as a sophomore, he rushed for 969 yards on 199 carries, a 4.9 average, with 13 touchdowns.
Mason is now employed at Wells Fargo in Dallas. He and his wife, Irene, have three children, a daughter, Courtney, and sons, Daylon and Dexter.
Rachel (Young) Moore (Modern Era)
Rachel (Young) Moore played basketball and ran track at Southern Arkansas from 1992-96. She came to SAU from Nevada County High School, and played for coaches Judy Bourne and Sam Biley at SAU.
Moore is the all-time career scoring leader in Lady Mulerider history with 1,920 points. She played in 96 games over her four-year career, averaging 20.0 points a game. Moore twice led the 500-Point Club with 563 points, a 24.5 average, her junior season, and 529 points, a 21.2 average, her senior year in 1995-96. She was also a member of the 400-Point Club as a sophomore with 435 points, a 17.4 average. Moore is third in the 300-Point Club with 393 points her freshman season, a 17.1 average. She was the season scoring leader all four years at SAU.
Moore was NAIA Honorable Mention All-America in her final season of 1995-96, and was First Team All-Gulf South Conference (GSC) and NAIA All-Southwest Region during that first season of Southern Arkansas’ move to NCAA Division II and the GSC. She was All-AIC in 1993-94 and 1994-95, the final two years of the AIC.
Moore still holds the school records for points scored in a game (47), season scoring average (24.4), career two-point field goals (792), and career rebounds (1,019).
In track, Moore ran for Lady Mulerider teams that captured consecutive AIC championships in 1993, ‘94, and ‘95, the final year of the conference. She won consecutive high-point honors at the conference championship meets in 1993 and 1994. Moore was a member of the 1600-meter relay team that placed fourth in the NAIA national meet.
In the 1995 AIC meet, Moore was first in the long jump, second in the shot put, first in the 100-meter hurdles, second in the 100-meter dash, first in the 400-meter hurdles, ran a leg on the winning 1600-meter relay team, and scored an individual 22.25 points.
Moore is currently a paraprofessional teacher in the Prescott Public School system. She has two children, a son, Kenyan, and a daughter, Aja.
Babineaux Rewarded with Five-Year Contract Extension
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Former Southern Arkansas defensive back Jordan Babineaux was rewarded by the Seattle Seahawks Tuesday with a five-year contract extension worth $10 million. Combined with incentives, the total package could be worth as much as $17 million, and there is $3 million of guarantees in the deal.
Babineaux was set to be a free agent after this season, but is now signed in through 2012. He had been one of Seattle’s key targets to re-sign since the beginning of the season. Babineaux, along with kicker Josh Brown and right tackle Sean Locklear, were the main Seahawk free agents at the end of the season. Brown and Locklear may or may not have long-term deals coming, so that thrust Babineaux to the forefront as a priority to re-sign.
Babineaux’s versatility in the defensive backfield makes him a valuable commodity to the Seahawks, who have used him as a starter, off the bench, and on special teams play. His main role has been in the nickel defense package.
The deal for Babineaux was finalized around midnight Monday after negotiations had picked up over the past couple of weeks.
The former Mulerider All-American currently has six tackles on the season through two games, giving him 117 total tackles in his four-year career. Babineaux has also broken up 12 passes, forced one fumble, and has four interceptions in his Seahawk career.
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SAU’s McDonald Named Pre-Season All-America
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas is represented by fullback Tony McDonald on the 2007 Don Hansen’s Football Gazette Pre-Season All-America Team. The team is comprised of 155 players representing all four geographic regions of NCAA Division II.
McDonald was an honorable mention All-America and First Team All-Southeast Region selection on last year’s post-season Football Gazette teams. The 5-8, 223-pound senior out of Magnolia is one of seven fullbacks on this year’s pre-season team. McDonald led the Muleriders in rushing last fall picking up 543 yards, scoring two touchdowns, and averaging 4.6 yards per carry. He finished with five receptions for 54 yards en route to being named a Second Team All-Gulf South Conference pick.
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