All ~tars Shine in All Sports At the August 10. 1984. commencement exercises of Harding University, Marci Williams Crump made history by being the recipient of the first Downing-SwiftWallace Scholar-Athlete Award presented by the Arkansas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Women's intercollegiate athletics were sponsored for the first time in the fall of 1984. This award paralleled the Cliff Shaw Scholar-Athlete Award that has been presented since 1957 by the AIC to the male athlete graduating from an AIC school with the highest cumulative GPA having earned at least two letters in intercollegiate athletics. The diminutive Crump had lettered three years in cross country and graduated with a 3.73 GPA on 139 hours with a major in Physical Education. She was a member of the Chorale and Chamber Singers. sang with the Belles and Beaux her sophomore and juniors years, was the 1983 AIC cross country champion. was chosen NAIA Academic All-America. served as vice president of Regina and participated in the 1982 International Campaigns for Christ in England. She married her high school sweetheart. Richard Crump , during the summer preceding her senior year and worked several hours each week as a waitress at Tom's Place. She had been a member of the first women 's cross country team at Harding; the team won the NAIA District-17 championship. A teammate of Crump . Tiny Fraley, also made history. Fraley has the unique distinction of being a member of the first women's team in three different sports. In the spring of 1981 when Dr . Ted M. Altman. Vice President for Academic Affairs and former assistant football coach volunteered to coach softball so that women could have opportunity for intercollegiate participation, Fraley was a member of that first team. which incidentally. had a 13-3 season. In the fall of 1981. Fraley was a member of the first cross country team. In the fall of 1983. she was a member of the first women's basketball team. The team records were not as good as those achieved by the first softball and volleyball teams, since these were sports in which athletic scholarships were given by other schools and Harding gave no financial assistance during that first 132 All Stars year. Fraley competed well in three sports, basketball , cross country and softball. Can it be that the women will repeat the history of the men? Intercollegiate athletics for men was resumed in the fall of 1957 after being discontinued in the fall of 1939 so that the limited resources for athletics could be devoted to developing a strong intramural program that would benefit a large number of students . both women and men. Harding was admitted to the AIC in December. 1958, since the College had committed itself to fielding a football team in the fall of 1959. Joe Hightower . a brilliant chemistry and mathematics double major, was a mainstay pitcher on the first baseball team in the new era. Cliff Shaw. a Little Rock businessman who served voluntarily as AIC Commissioner during the reorganization of the AIC in 1956-57 and for several years thereafter and for whom the Scholar-Athlete Award was named after his retirement as Com* missioner . ruled that Hightower met the two-year letter requirement and Hightower was named the 1959 AIC Scholar Athlete. with a 3.83 GPA. He was the first of 17 Harding men who have , to date, received the award, thus giving Harding the honor in 17 of the 26 years. These 17 men have achieved significant goals academically and professionally. Three are members of the Harding faculty - Dr. Dennis M. Organ (1966), Dr. Michael V. Plummer (1967) and David T. Elliott (1969). Contemporary with Hightower (now Dr. Joe Walter Hightower, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Rice University Mark Adkison Football AII ·AIC AII ·NAIA DIstrict 17 Amy Clayton Women's Cross Country AII·AIC Ted Altman Sojtb(lll C"", h of the Year AIC Kenny Collins B(I$ketoo/1 CoStOA Academic AII ·Americ.,n AII ·AIC AII ·NAtA District 17 and a recent recipient of the prestigious Petroleum Chemistry Award of the American Chemical Society) were two very versatile athletes. like Fraley in the beginning of intercollegiate athletics for women. Steve Smith (now Dr. Stephen W. Smith. Professor of Mathematics and Assistant Chairman of the Department at Harding) earned 12 intercollegiate letters in four sports (football. basketball. baseball and bowling) while earning a double major in chemistry and mathematics in eight semesters. Jim Citty (now Dr. Jim C. Citty . Adjunct Professor of Nursing at Harding and a prominent Searcy physician) earned 11 intercollegiate letters in three sports (football. basketball and track) while earning a major in biology. , Crump and Fraley have set the standard for women just as Hightower . Smith and Citty set the standard for men 26 years ago . The academic and spiritual quality of the women participating in intercollegiate athletics at Harding equals , if not exceeds, that of the men. Getting a program going on a "shoe string" required dedication , patience and perseverance on the part of men athletes. coaches and fans in the late fifties. The same dedication , patience and perseverance was required of women athletes . coaches and fans today in the mid and late eighties. But these were qualities of character in which the women may ex· cel the men . Time will tell. It will be interesting in the year 2010 to look back and see if history has repeated itself. This was a great challenge for the women, but this writer believed the women at Harding were equal to the challenge. ~ AI Billes e ro," Country AIl ·AIC AlI·NAIA Districi 17 Marc! Crump Women's Cross Country AIC Downlng·Swih· Wa llate Scholar Athlele Award Harding's WOr.l .,n Alhiete of the Year Gano BUlther Swimming NAIA Academic Ail-Arr.erbn Atlah Frimpong T~k AII·AIC
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