Stepping inside Caddo Hills' basketball arena Friday night, I instinctively looked to see if my mother was sitting in the usual place.
She was not, of course, leaving this earth in 2002. But I can envision her at age 100, a milestone she reached in February, reading this newspaper, invariably starting in the sports section.
Even into her 70s, she attended Caddo Hills home games regularly, driving eight miles north from Glenwood to what was then the basketball nerve center of the Caddo River Valley. Known to many simply as "Bob's mother," she cheered on the school's three state-championship teams of the 1990s, seldom following the teams out of town but dutifully attending one home ceremony in which championship rings were presented.
She came partly out of tribute to her alma mater, Caddo Gap High, which merged with Norman High in the early 1970s to form Caddo Hills. So remote is the Montgomery County school that a football team from northeast Arkansas one night either arrived late for a kickoff or with only minutes to spare. After two failed tries at the sport, Caddo Hills has converted the football stadium into softball fields -- a prudent use of space, if you ask me.
The Indians won few football games in either era, although one night defeating the more established Glenwood program by the unlikely score of 11-9. The game ball and a few other artifacts from that game were displayed prominently in the school gymnasium, although sadly, I could not locate them on the most recent visit.
I made some good friends, including coaches Jimmy Shipp and Ben Williamson, during the Caddo Hills football experience. It was after the 11-9 game with Glenwood, I think, that I detected possible friction between a CH coach and his players. Outside a country store in Caddo Gap, a portable sign read, "Win one for the griper."
Caddo Hills football is also responsible for a quote that to this day brings tears upon recollection. It came from my mom, bless her soul, courtesy of a Hopper woman at least in her 80s, perhaps older, whose grandson was the football team's starting center.
"I don't know exactly what he does but it must be important," Grandma said, "because they give him the ball."
Though the school won some state titles in other sports, basketball made Caddo Hills a scourge for opponents its size over two decades. Boys teams coached by Lakeside product Jerry Bridges were responsible for packing Indian Fieldhouse, and boosting the crowds at other area venues, for three varsity seasons. The 1989-90 Indians won the state championship, taking a 37-0 record into the then-overall state final before tiring late in a close loss to a Pine Bluff squad that sent Ken Biley (Arkansas) and other players to NCAA Division I schools.
Bridges later won state championships at Morrilton and Cabot, the latter defeating a Bentonville squad led by future Kentucky and current NBA player Malik Monk in the Class 7A state final before an overflow crowd at what is now Bank OZK Arena. Son of the late coach Jack Bridges, whose stops included Lakeside and Pine Bluff, Jerry called it a career last season, still with a place in his heart for Caddo Hills.
Once he learned to control his temper, Cutter Morning Star product Mickey Shaffer, son of the late coach Don Shaffer, turned out two state-championship girls teams at Caddo Hills. His 42-1 squad in the 1996-97 season rivals the great Jessieville teams from 1987-90 coached by Garry Crowder as the best small-school girls squads from this area in my lifetime. I left Indian Fieldhouse after one late-season practice in 1997 fighting back tears, knowing that I may never see anything better.
Championship banners still hang high in the Caddo Hills gymnasium -- long may they wave. I watched three Caddo Hills teams beat Mountain Pine the other night, games that my mom would have enjoyed for the sheer joy of competition. She was there in spirit, God bless her, and I knew where to look.
Sports on 12/17/2018