One of the pioneers of the Hot Springs Baseball Trail, civic leader Mike Dugan, who helped spearhead the successful effort to build the Majestic Park baseball complex, died Thursday morning less than one month after he was diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer.
Friends and colleagues were found to be unanimous when asked about Dugan's life and legacy; all described him as a "dear friend," "kind," "smart" and "devoted" to the many projects, events and civic groups he had his hand in among the Hot Springs community.
Dugan, a Hot Springs native, attended Hot Springs High School and Henderson State University before going on to work at Merritt Wholesale Distributors for over 40 years. He retired in 2019 and devoted a lot of his time over the past year to the Majestic Park baseball complex project.
Sam Stathakis Jr., a lifelong friend of Dugan, attended high school with him and worked with him at Merritt Wholesale.
"We met at Southwest Junior High School in the seventh grade and have been close friends since that time," Stathakis said. "He was a dear friend, a confidant, someone I had the pleasure to work with for 40-plus years and a man that kept me grounded with his great advice and sense of humor."
He said Dugan always worked to make Hot Springs a better place.
"He was past chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, the Hot Springs Boys & Girls Club, the Garland County Historical Society and was the foremost authority of baseball history in Hot Springs and the nation," Stathakis said.
"I think his legacy to Hot Springs would certainly be the baseball complex at Majestic Park and the Baseball Trail. His legacy to those of us that were fortunate to know him would be he was a true friend that you could always count on no matter what," he said.
"I can say so many things about Mike," Stathakis said. "He was a dear friend and a really good man that cared deeply about his family and all of us that were fortunate enough to have known him. May his memory be eternal."
Rex Nelson, a senior editor and columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, first met Dugan when he was a sports information director at Henderson and Nelson was the sports editor of the Daily Siftings Herald at Arkadelphia.
"During the next 40 years, we attended everything from bowl games to PGA tournaments together. Mike was more than just a friend. He was almost like a big brother," Nelson said.
"Mike was not only one of the smartest people I ever knew," he said, "he was one of the kindest. He had a deep love for Hot Springs, for the state of Arkansas, our heritage and our people."
Nelson said Dugan was this state's "foremost sports historian."
"He was a leading force in the development of the baseball trail at Hot Springs and the ongoing development of Majestic Park," he said. "Thousands of young people in the future will benefit from his efforts. Our state is a better place because Mike walked among us."
As a described "foremost sports historian" for Arkansas, Garland County Historical Society Executive Director Liz Robbins worked closely with Dugan, simply stating, "Mike loved history."
"Baseball history was his great love, of course, but he also loved anything to do with Hot Springs and Garland County," Robbins said. "His enthusiasm about and joy in our history made long-ago events and people come to life to anyone he talked to. He was a tremendous ambassador for our heritage. We're very proud that he served on our board of directors, and we're grateful to have had such a caring, committed friend. We'll miss him more than I can say."
Another colleague of Dugan's in relation to baseball history was Mark Blaeuer.
"I mostly knew him in connection with local baseball history, as both of us are members of the Society for American Baseball Research," Blaeuer said. "He and I also served on the research team for the Hot Springs, Arkansas, Historic Baseball Trail, along with Don Duren, Bill Jenkinson, and Tim Reid."
He said he met Dugan in the 1990s, not long after moving to Hot Springs.
"As everyone will note, he was truly a good man, a wonderful friend and, of course, he loved his family," Blauer said. "So many people knew him, especially in Arkansas, and thought the world of him. As a person, he was always kind, always caring, always positive. I'll miss him a lot.
"One of my favorite memories of him is whenever I'd stop in for a visit at Merritt Wholesale. No matter what he was doing, he'd make time, and we'd just sit and talk, especially about sports (mainly baseball, but by no means limited to that). Before we knew it, an hour would have gone by. ... He exemplified what it means to be personable, in the best possible sense of that word."
Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison worked with Dugan on baseball projects like the Historic Baseball Trail, Baseball Weekend and the Majestic Park baseball complex.
"The tragic passing of Mike Dugan is a tremendous loss not only for his multitude of friends and associates, but also for the city of Hot Springs and its citizens," Arrison said. "Mike was a personal friend, but he also was a valuable source of support and inspiration for all of us who love Hot Springs."
He said because Dugan was a nationally recognized expert on baseball history, he was a "guiding light" in the "painstaking and laborious" research that uncovered the history of Hot Springs as the place where Major League Baseball spring training began in the late 1800s.
"Mike worked with our other nationwide array of baseball historians to document the hundreds of major leaguers who played here over many decades," Arrison said. "Then he helped come up with the idea for establishing our Historic Baseball Trail."
But Dugan's vision wasn't merely focused on the past, he said.
"He tirelessly worked to come up with the idea for creating a national-class youth baseball complex at the legendary old Majestic Park, then cheerfully devoted his time and energy to make that dream a reality," Arrison said. "The tragedy is that he didn't get to see that dream completed. He was a leader in creating and then expanding and improving our Hot Springs Baseball Weekend, which attracts nationwide attention to our city and its history and attractions.
"I and Mike's legion of friends will miss him terribly, and Hot Springs will miss this good man's unwavering devotion to his city and its people."
