Sports

UAPB DEDICATES FACILITY NAMED IN MAY’S HONOR

By Troy Schulte/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 11:34 PM CDT

Not even a decade ago the Arkansas-Pine Bluff football team competed and practiced inside the worst facilities in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. When the Golden Lions open the Monte Coleman-era at 6 p.m. on Saturday against Arkansas-Monticello, they will be doing it inside one of the best.

Golden Lion Stadium opened before the 2000 season began, giving UAPB one of the premier game-day facilities in the SWAC. Last night, a new home for UAPB athletics was complete with the dedication of the J. Thomas May Fieldhouse. The facility sits just beyond the east endzone at Golden Lion Stadium and houses the football coaches offices, as well as the office of athletic director Skip Perkins. It also has a large team meeting room, which can be split into two for the offense and defense and used by other sports.

A new locker room has enough room for 100 players, and there is a separate visitors locker room.

“Me and Coach (Coleman) talked about having a visiting locker room that represented class,” Perkins said. “Obviously, we want to beat the crap out of everybody who comes in here. But we don’t want the excuse of a locker room to hold them back.”

Perkins’ comment drew laughs from about 200 people who attended the ceremony. Among them was May, the chairman and chief executive of Simmons First National Bank and for whom the facility was named.

“The biggest and best part about this is the name on it,” Perkins said. “It would not have been done without Mr. May. Not a chance in the world.”

May, a resident of Pine Bluff for more than 20 years, said he was approached about the project to construct the football stadium by George Walker and Lee Hardman. Walker, a former executive vice president of the bank, got involved when Hardman, who stepped down as coach after the 2003 season, approached him.

May said he listened to Hardman, and UAPB Chancellor Lawrence A. Davis Jr., discuss their vision for the future of the school’s athletic program. He thought they had good ideas, they just needed some help.

“A good athletic program will complement a good academic program,” May said. “You can’t have a real good athletic program if you have a stadium that was among the worst in the state of Arkansas. I’m talking about not just colleges, but high school also.”

Coleman has already seen the contributions the facility can make on his program, one he has been involved with since he was hired as linebackers coach in 2003. Last night he told a story of when recruits would visit campus last winter, he instructed his assistanst to show them the not-yet-completed Fieldhouse.

“I told the coaches ‘If you take any of the recruits to the old place, you’re fired,’” Coleman said. “I told them, ‘I want you to plant a seed. Invision this shell being a fieldhouse.’”

Despite a disappointing 4-7 season that led to the dismissal of former Coach Mo Forte, Coleman feels good about his first season. And the improvement of facilities is one of the reasons why. As he approached the microphone to speak yesterday, a supporter in the back of the room yelled, “10-1 coach. That’s what we’re looking for.”

Coleman laughed and took it in stride.

“There’s no pressure, but I concur,” he said. “We are going to do 10-1. We will win the SWAC this year.”

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