19479 Bauxite Miner Track Team
The Bauxite Miner Track Team won six consecutive District Titles from 1974 to 1979. The last of those six teams, the 1979 team has been referred to as one of the best all-around track teams in school history.
READ MORE BELOW
Under the guidance of head coach Les Davis from 1977 through 1979 the senior members of this team were three-time district champions. In the district meet that year they outscored Mountain Pine 171- 146 to secure a 25-point margin of victory. Many of the members of the team had their best performance of the season that night.
A fond memory of this team for coach Davis is that because they had built an unsurmountable lead going into the final event, the mile relay, the seniors voted to have the field men run the final race. This went as you would expect, with the shot putters finishing in last place and an announcement being made to remind the crowd to stay off the track as there were still runners that had yet to finish the race. When asked about the team, coach Davis was quoted in an April 27th, 1979, Benton Courier interview saying “The difference between winning and coming in second in this meet is that we started in February on 16 events with 25 kids with the district championship as our goal. These kids are serious about their track. They don’t just show up and enter. They work on it. They work out three times a day, some of them.”
It was clearly this type of work ethic and determination that made this team so successful. There is no doubt that this is also the reason that 12 members of this team went on to qualify to compete in the state track meet that year. The state meet was held in Hot Springs, and the Miners had 5 competitors place in the top six in their events. Tubby Bono’s vault of 12’-2 ¼” earned him a second-place finish in the pole vault. Denny Johnson finished sixth in the 880 run with a time of 2:05.5. Carroll Bono threw the discus 135’-9” to earn a second-place finish. Ken Burton took third place in the shotput with a distance of 47’-10”, and teammate Robert Green finished in sixth place in the same event with a throw of 45’-11”.
The members of the 1979 Bauxite Miner District Championship track team are: Thomas Cushing, Robert Green, Clayton Edmonson, Gary Bolt, Brian Myers, Alex Robinson, Danny Henry, Keith Brown, Tim Paulette, Ricky Hines, Danny Tarver, Dewayne Blaylock, Todd Lewis, Terry Gentry, Tim Hall, Ken Burton, Greg Grant, Carroll Bono, Kyle Kidd, Tubby Bono, Denny Johnson, and Head Coach Les Davis.
Return to 2025 Bauxite Hall of Fame Main Page:
https://www.mysaline.com/bauxite-hof-2025/