A new Legend will be inducted with 20 other athletes, four coaches and others into the Jefferson County Sports Hall of Fame on April 25.
The second class was officially announced Thursday at the hall’s location on the first floor of the Main Library in downtown Pine Bluff. The first class, inducted last year, was highlighted by six All-Time Greats – Torii Hunter, Don Hutson, Rickey Henderson, Monte Coleman, Willie Roaf and Basil Shabazz – and a group of 15 athletes known as the Legends, including Dante Wesley, Ben Pearson, Juliet Jackson, Freddie Scott, Andrew Lang and Jackie Harris.
Bruce Maxwell is now the 16th Legend.
Maxwell, who was born in Crossett and graduated from Pine Bluff High School, was a fullback at the University of Arkansas from 1966-69, garnering 1,260 rushing yards, 298 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. He was later named to the UA’s All-Decade Team.
Maxwell played in the 1969 “Game of the Century,” the game in Fayetteville pitting No. 1 University of Texas against No. 2 Arkansas in which President Richard Nixon attended. Arkansas lost 15-14 and accepted a bid to play Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl in January 1970. Maxwell totaled 245 all-purpose yards in a 27-22 Ole Miss victory.
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The Detroit Lions selected Maxwell in the 10th round of the 1970 draft. He played only one season.
Maxwell was inducted into the UA Sports Hall of Honor along with basketball great Lang in 2012.
ATHLETES
The 20 other athletes to be honored include:
Terri Banks, a 1986 Dollarway High graduate who was part of a state runner-up track team and went on to a strong career at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Banks was part of a track team that finished second in the 1989 NAIA championships and ran the second leg on a 4×100-meter relay team that posted a school-record 46.78 seconds. Banks also finished second place in the 100-meter hurdles at the NAIA championships in back-to-back years and is a three-time All-American.
Robert Birden, a basketball standout at Pine Bluff High in the early 1970s who started his college career at Indian River Junior College in Florida and transferred to Arkansas for his last three seasons (1973-76). As a junior, he averaged 10.7 points, shot 91.5% in free throws and 53.2% from the field.
Randy Coleman, a national high school track and field All-American at Pine Bluff in the 1980s. He was a part of 4×200-meter relay and 4×400-meter relay teams that set overall state and Meet of Champions records, and became a three-time national champion at Arkansas, where he set records in the 200 meters (21.3) and 400 meters (46.9) in the early 1990s.
Jimmy Culp, a well-decorated athlete at White Hall High who played baseball and football and ran track at Southern Arkansas University. He ranks seventh overall in Muleriders basketball history with 1,481 points (18.5 per game), and earned an 83-12 coaching record in basketball at North Little Rock High.
Randy Curtis, a Pine Bluff graduate who was drafted in the fourth round of the 1976 MLB draft, eight picks after Henderson. Curtis, who died in 2023, was an all-state quarterback and shortstop at Pine Bluff and played one season with the Phillies’ Class A team.
Tyree Davis, a 1988 Altheimer High graduate who was a four-year wide receiver at the University of Central Arkansas. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted him in the seventh round in 1993, and Davis also played in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks and Cincinnati Bengals. Davis and his brother Willie are the only brother combination from Jefferson County to play pro football at the same time.
Choo Freeman, a former first-round draft pick by the Colorado Rockies in 1998 who was an outstanding three-sport athlete at Dallas Christian High School. A cousin of Hunter, Freeman was born in Pine Bluff.
Tracy Jones, a 1984 Pine Bluff graduate who set a state record in the 300-meter hurdles and earned a track scholarship to Arkansas State University.
Lisa Mays, a Pine Bluff High alumna who was a member of three of the Fillies’ four state track and field championships in the 1980s. In 1984, she teamed with Jackson, Gaye Bearden and Inetta Lee to set a state record in the 4×100-meter relay (47.0 seconds hand-timed, 47.24 seconds fully-automated).
Sedgwick McCollum, the first Black baseball player selected in an all-white youth baseball league in Pine Bluff when he was selected by the Jaycees in the National Little League. McCollum was a baseball, football and track standout at Pine Bluff High before graduating in 1985 and went on to lead the University of Southern Mississippi in home runs.
Bob McKenzie, a basketball standout at White Hall High School who averaged 14.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game with the Bulldogs. At Arkansas (1967-70), McKenzie scored 1,008 points and totaled 438 rebounds, averaging 15 points per game as a sophomore.
Frank Okam, a Pine Bluff-born, fifth-round draft pick by the Houston Texans in the 2008 NFL Draft who was an All-American defensive tackle at Texas. He played four NFL seasons with the Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks and is now assistant defensive line coach for the Texans, who are in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
Buddy Owen, a baseball/football all-state standout at Pine Bluff High who won back-to-back state baseball championships in 1984 and 1985 and led Northeast Louisiana University (now the University of Louisiana Monroe) to the 1987 NCAA Division I-AA championship along with Harris. Division I-AA is now the Football Championship Subdivision.
Ray Pascale, who led Pine Bluff to team state tennis championships in 1971 and 1972 and was the overall state champion in 1973. Pascale played collegiately at Southern Methodist University before transferring to Northeast Louisiana and reached the 200s of ATP rankings. He still plays in national senior events.
Tommy Stobaugh, who moved to Pine Bluff after graduating from the University of Arkansas. He is a former Arkansas State Golf Association Match Play champion who won 40 golf tournaments in Arkansas before being inducted into the Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.
Don Thomas, a multisport athlete at Dollarway High who played baseball at Arkansas and has scouted professional baseball for more than 20 years with the Atlanta Braves.
Jeff Webster, a Pine Bluff-born basketball player who scored 2,258 points at the University of Oklahoma and was first-team All-Big Eight in 1994. The high school All-American was drafted by the Miami Heat in 1994.
Reggie Wilkes, a Pine Bluff native who was a linebacker at Georgia Tech in the 1970s and spent 10 NFL seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons before retiring in 1987. He was a starter on the 1980 Eagles team that played in Super Bowl XV.
J. Mayo “Ink” Williams, who was born in Pine Bluff in 1894 and was a football and track athlete at Brown University. One of the earliest Black football players in the NFL and a 1923 All-Pro selection, Williams fought in World War I and became a music executive. Williams died in 1980.
Lawrence Willis IV, who moved to Pine Bluff after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and graduated from Watson Chapel High in 2007. Willis has bowled 12 sanctioned 300 games and bowled eight 800 three-game series with a high of 835.
Disclaimer: I.C. Murrell is a member of the Jefferson County Sports Hall of Fame committee. Details on each inductee were contributed by members of the committee.