4 chosen for UAM sports hall – Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Baseball record-setter Corey Wood, football greats Jerry Bingham and Art Kaufman and softball standout Julie Bowen will be inducted into the University of Arkansas at Monticello Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 14.
The hall class of 2021 will be presented along with the class of 2020, whose ceremony was not held due to covid-19 regulations. The 2020 honorees are football greats Kevin Craft and John Tatum, the 2010 softball team that reached the NCAA Division II South Regional final and 1985-86 men’s basketball team that played in the NAIA championship game.
Wood played for the Boll Weevils from 2014-16 and held the program record for career home runs with 35 at the time of his graduation. He still holds single-season records for home runs (26), runs scored (65) and runs batted in (90) and ranks among the top five in single-season hits (79) and doubles (19). He won the Josh Willingham Award, presented to the Division II Most Valuable Player, and was named Male Athlete of the Year at UAM.
Bingham starred as a running back from 1976-80 and still holds a tie for the longest run play in team history, a 98-yard touchdown run against Southern Arkansas University in 1978. His 261 yards that game still ranks as the second-best rushing performance in program history.
Bingham took on a more prominent role with 1,019 rushing yards in 1979, leading the Boll Weevils to the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championship. He turned in eight 100-yard rushing games.
Kaufman was a linebacker at UAM from 1976 and finished his career as a four-year starter. He ranks second at the school in career tackles with 543 (321 solo) and was named to two All-America teams, first-team All-NAIA District 17 and first-team All-AIC. He went on to a 35-year college coaching career, including stops at Ole Miss, the University of North Carolina and Texas Tech University.
Bowen, a softball standout from 1999-2002, is the Cotton Blossoms’ all-time leader in RBIs (205) and career at-bats (749). Her 71 RBIs during the 2000 season is tied for the school’s single-season record.
Bowen ranks among the top 10 in the UAM career charts in nine categories, including 283 hits, 30 home runs and 224 games played.
Tim and Roxanne Smith are UAM Spirit Award winners for 2021 and will be honored during the ceremony. The Smiths both graduated with accounting degrees in 1991.
“The Smiths have a passion for getting to know the UAM players, coaches and staff,” according to a news release. “They love to support the Weevils and Blossoms on and off the field in any way they can, including feeding all of the separate teams any time they get the chance. Tim said it best when it comes to building relationships with the student-athletes: ‘The way to an athlete’s heart is food.'”
UAM supporters Gay and Grant Pace won the Spirit Award in 2020 and will be honored as well.