PEARCY -- The Lake Hamilton High School football team will don new stickers on their helmets to honor their former principal, Kirk Nance, who passed away earlier this month.
Stickers with the initials "KN" have been placed on the players' helmets. Nance, 43, made an impact on Jeremy Reed, head football coach, during the short time they worked together.
"Kirk Nance was a very important part of my decision to move my family 7.5 hours to Pearcy, Arkansas," Reed said. "He left a great impression on me during my visit. He had a great vision for the future of Lake Hamilton High School and the football program. I knew Kirk was someone I could work with, not for."
Nance died Oct. 4 of complications weeks after quadruple bypass surgery at Arkansas Heart Hospital in Little Rock. The surgery was required after an unsuccessful stent procedure two weeks earlier.
"As soon as I learned of his passing, although small, I knew that the football team would pay tribute to Kirk on our helmets," Reed said. "Without speaking to each other, athletic Director John Utley and myself already had stickers on order. Kirk was heavily supportive of my vision for the football program and how it could impact our school and community. It was a short time that I knew Kirk, but it was an honor and pleasure."
The Wolves are currently 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the 6A-West conference. They will finish the regular season with games at Benton (5-3, 3-2) tonight and Greenwood (8-0, 5-0) next week.
"Kirk Nance was a very well respected school administrator in the state and among other public school educators," Lake Hamilton Superintendent Steve Anderson said. "He was a major part of the Lake Hamilton leadership team. However, what was most important to Kirk was that he take good care of representing his faith, his family and the students and staff of Lake Hamilton High School.
"Our students respected Mr. Nance, but they also really liked him as a person. They knew he would always be looking out for what was best for them. The symbolic gesture of placing his initials on their football helmets is a small way to honor a principal that they loved and who dedicated himself to them and their school."
Nance is survived by his wife, Cari, and their three children. The family moved to Lake Hamilton from Fordyce. Nance began at the high school as a vice principal and gifted and talented coordinator for the district before he took over as principal after Vernon Brooks retired.
"The outpouring of love and support after the sudden passing of Kirk has been very heartwarming," Bridges said. "Lake Hamilton is blessed to have such a strong community support system not only for our staff and students, but also for Kirk's wife and family. Kirk has left a lasting legacy at Lake Hamilton.
"It is apparent how much he was respected and loved as a person and principal of Lake Hamilton High School. From his wife, Cari, crowning the homecoming queen in his honor, to the ribbons worn at the Wolf Pride Color Run, the 'KN' decal on the helmets of the football team, and more, it shows how much of a positive influence Kirk played in the lives of so many at Lake Hamilton."
The Lake Hamilton School Board approved Frank Stapleton's reassignment on Oct. 17 from assistant principal at the high school to principal. Stapleton said he and Nance worked well together and became fast friends because they had so many things in common, such as their faith and their love for their families.
"Another shared passion was for football - we both had played on state championship high school teams, and we quickly became devoted Wolves," Stapleton said. "Most of our lunch breaks, along with Mr. Shane Aitken, were spent discussing the upcoming games, both high school and college. Mr. Nance supported Coach Reed and his program, and for that program to honor him means more to us than I can express."
Local on 10/28/2016