Two of Hot Springs' "supermen" were inducted into the Arkansas Walk of Fame on Saturday.
Art "Superman" Pennington, who enjoyed a successful career playing baseball in the Negro Leagues and abroad, and Adam Brown, a U.S. Navy SEAL chief petty officer who died in combat overseas, were inducted into the walk at noon Saturday. The installation of their plaques on the walk, located in the sidewalk on the west side of Hill Wheatley Plaza along Central Avenue, was preceded by a ceremony honoring the two noteworthy residents in the Five Star Dinner Theatre.
Pennington, who died in January, grew to love baseball while living in Hot Springs. Billy Valencia, Pennington's agent, said that he grew up playing on a team with his father and uncles, who were all Hot Springs residents. Pennington's team played against all-star teams that would pass through the area.
"He was like 15 years old and playing on this team, and they asked him if he could play," Valencia said of the all-star teams.
Pennington began his professional baseball career with the Chicago American Giants in the Negro Leagues at age 16 and primarily played the sport in the 1940s and 1950s. He would spend the next 24 years competing year-round in the United States and Latin American countries like Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.
"When you think about all of the baseball players in the major leagues who are from the Dominican Republic and other smaller Latin American countries, Art and the young men that went down there spread this brand of baseball all over the world," he said.
While competing in Mexico one year, Pennington met his wife, Anita, who was Spanish. Due to their interracial marriage, which was illegal in the 1940s, Valencia considered Pennington a civil rights leader.
"Art knew that there was nothing wrong with that," he said.
Pennington would later cite this marriage as the reason he would not be given an opportunity to compete in Major League Baseball. However, he notched a lifetime batting average of .336 in the Negro Leagues and earned the batting title in another American professional baseball league by maintaining a .349 average that year.
Between his stats, upbringing and activism, Dinner Theatre owner Tom Wilkins called Pennington's induction "a no-brainer."
Brown, who was born and raised in Hot Springs, served overseas with the Navy SEALs and died in 2010 when he diverted enemy fire away from his comrades. He enlisted in the SEALs as a way to combat a drug addiction.
His dedication to military service eventually landed him a position on SEAL Team 6, where he led troops on night raids against a terrorist network. His raids saved thousands of lives, and eventually earned him the Bronze Star.
Adam Brown's death occurred on one of these missions. His induction into the Walk of Fame is the latest in a list of memorials that includes a statue, an underwater marker and a post office name that have been erected in Hot Springs in his honor.
All of the speakers who commemorated Adam Brown Saturday described him as courageous.
"People come to Hot Springs looking for a piece of Adam, where he was and where he grew up," said Chris Dunkel, Stubby's BBQ owner and childhood friend of Adam Brown. "That's what's so nice, that people are engaging and letting people in and want to share their experiences with Adam on just a personal level."
Brown's father, Larry, said that prior to his death Adam Brown was an "ambassador for Arkansas." After spending his teenage years playing football at Lake Hamilton and working at Stubby's, Adam Brown moved away from the state, but talked about Arkansas "everywhere he went."
"Arkansas was just a very dear place for him," Larry Brown said.
Larry Brown said he was proud of his son's induction, especially alongside Pennington.
"I can't think of anyone else that Adam would rather share a day with than another 'Superman,'" he said. "I thank you for that honor."
Local on 10/15/2017