Former Bison, former Jackrabbit coach gives unique perspective on rivalry

Former Lonoke Jackrabbits assistant football coach Danny Hazelwood during the 1986 season. Hazelwood is a 1969 graduate of Carlisle High School. (Courtesy of Danny Hazelwood)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

LONOKE — With the impending game between the Lonoke Jackrabbits and the Carlisle Bison next week in Lonoke, there are all kinds of associations between the two schools that exist. 

They include:

• New Bison coach Mark Uhiren coached at Lonoke for five years, including four years as head coach. He had an undefeated regular season in 2000. 

• Former Bison coach Jack Keith is now an assistant at Lonoke. 

• Junior Jackrabbits assistant Chris Bailey played on two state finalist teams at Carlisle in 89 and 91. 

• Lonoke superintendent Suzanne Bailey was Carlisle Elementary principal. 

• Carlisle assistant coach Mike King is the husband of new LHS principal Sandi King. 

• Lonoke assistant coach Taggart Moore was a junior high assistant under Uhiren at Marion. 

• Lonoke head coach Doug Bost was a junior high assistant under Uhiren at Lonoke. 

• Lonoke High School assistant principal David Landers played for the Bison in the early part of the 21st century. 

• This is the first matchup between the two teams since 1990 — a 16-6 win by the Bison.

However, one former Bison player and Jackrabbits assistant coach has a unique perspective on the rivalry.

Danny Hazelwood, a 1969 graduate of Carlisle High School, played against the Jackrabbits during his high school years. He was an assistant coach at Lonoke for 16 years during two stints in the 1970s and 1980s after a stellar playing career in both football and track at the University of Central Arkansas. 

During Hazelwood’s senior year at Carlisle — the 1968 season — the Bison tied the Jackrabbits 10-10. Lonoke had an outstanding athletic year as the Jackrabbits won state titles in both baseball and basketball.

“We tied 10-10 that year,” Hazelwood said. “Tom Ed Gooden was an 11th grader that year. I was a senior. We had a good team.” Gooden is one of three former Bison players to have their jersey numbers retired at the school. 

Hazelwood said when he was in high school, it was a different situation than it is now with the size of surrounding schools. 

“Lonoke, Carlisle, Cabot, Hazen, Des Arc and Clarendon were all about the same size schools,” he said. “We were all pretty competitive against each other. Brinkley was in our conference at that time. They had a good team. Lonoke had a good team. Hazen had played some good ball. 

“When you’re playing someone nine miles down the road, it was easy to get fired up for because you saw those people all the time. You competed against them in every sport, whether it be football, basketball or track. Everybody competed and everybody played. Everybody wanted the bragging rights.”

Hazelwood said when he became a coach at Lonoke, he was loyal to the Jackrabbits. 

“You’re loyal to the people who pay you, obviously,” he said with a laugh. “But it was always a tough challenge for me when we played Carlisle. I knew a lot of the people. I knew a lot of their sons that played. I wanted to win, obviously. But I liked to see Carlisle be successful too when I coached here.”

During his coaching tenure at Lonoke, Hazelwood worked for head coaches Bob Mathis and Ronnie Carter. His last year to coach before entering administration was the 1989-90 season. The Jackrabbits beat the Bison at James B. Abraham Stadium. 

As stated earlier, this year’s matchup between the Bison and the Jackrabbits is 26 years in the making. The series was stopped after the 1990 season. A year ago, the seeds were planted for a revival of sorts when Carlisle participated in a benefit scrimmage with Lonoke and Maumelle at James B. Abraham Stadium. 

Hazelwood said he thinks the atmosphere will be great next week. 

“It will be exciting for both communities,” he said. “When a 4A school plays a 2A school, it really shouldn’t be a battle or be close. But because it’s two close communities and the challenge to be successful against a bigger school, Carlisle will play its very best. And Lonoke can’t make mistakes because it will lose if they do.”

Kickoff at James B. Abraham Stadium is set for 7 p.m. The Lonoke Scholarship Foundation is hosting a King Kat fish fry from 5-7 p.m. at the LHS cafeteria, located adjacent to the Gina Cox Center. Tickets are $10 for kids ages 6-11 and $15 for adults. For more information or to purchase tickets, call Alps Laminating at (501) 676-0130. 

Danny Hazelwood as a junior football player at UCA in 1972 (Courtesy of Danny Hazelwood)

Bison getting ready for upcoming season under new coach, alumnus of CHS

Bison senior running back Devon Kendrick carries the ball during a drill Wednesday. (Photos by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

CARLISLE — The Carlisle Bison have been working hard during the first week and a half of football practice, according to first-year coach Mark Uhiren. 

Uhiren, a 1977 graduate of Carlisle High School, comes to Carlisle after a long stint as head coach at Marion. He got out of coaching for a few years and was a Dean of Students in Marion. 

“Right now, we’re trying to be like everybody else … we’re just trying to make sure they survive the heat,” Uhiren said. “We’re trying to do it the best way we can but still get work out of them. It’s hard. Nobody has shut it down yet.”

The Bison currently has 22 players on their roster.

Uhiren previously coached as an assistant under Don Campbell at Wynne. He was head coach at Hoxie and Lonoke, where he was promoted from assistant under Billy Dawson to head coach. 

Uhiren said coming to Carlisle was something “you always dream about in the back of your mind.”

“It was just something you liked when you were here, and boy, it was something I definitely liked when I was here,” he said. “It was important to me. It was something that directed me in my life’s ambition. I was wanting to be a coach. I was a coach for a lot of reasons. A lot of them started here at Carlisle. A lot of them started out there on that football field [Fred C. Hardke Field] with my coaches and believing in what they did and seeing how they handled things. I think that got me spurred in the right direction.”

Uhiren played for former CHS coach and teacher Joe Gasaway in the 11th and 12th grades.  Uhiren was a junior on the Bison’s playoff team in 1976, the last time they played in the playoffs before James Clayton became head coach in 1989.

After getting out of coaching and going into administration at Marion, Uhiren said the allure of the Bison head job got him back into coaching.

“I told my wife [Cindy] that I wasn’t going to be back into it unless it was the right spot,” he said. “She told me I should have stayed in it. 

“Everything works out for the best anyway. I think it gave me some time to back up and look at it a little bit. As you get older, you see things differently.”

Uhiren said he almost didn’t apply for the Carlisle job this time.

“If my health stays good, I’m looking at six or seven more years of teaching,” said Uhiren, who is starting his 35th year of teaching. “Ideally, I’d like to coach as long as I can like Coach Campbell. 

“Realistically, I know it’s a different game these days. The demands are extreme. And coming home, it’s a different set of demands. You acquire the junior high and the senior high and upkeep of the fields and teach class too.”

The Bison open the 2016 season against the Lonoke Jackrabbits on Sept. 2 at James B. Abraham Stadium in Lonoke. The two teams have not played in 26 years. The last time they met, the Bison beat the Jackrabbits 16-6 in 1990.

Carlisle will scrimmage the Bald Knob Bulldogs on Aug. 22 at Bald Knob.

Uhiren will be assisted this year by Lonnie Roberson, Mike King, Phillip Bernhardt and Logan Prince. King is the husband of new Lonoke High School principal Sandi King. 

New Bison coach Mark Uhiren talks to his offensive linemen. 

Jackrabbits finish first week of football practice

The 2016 Lonoke Jackrabbits football team (Photo by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

LONOKE — The Lonoke Jackrabbits football team completed its first week of practice Friday.

“I thought it went real good,” said eighth-year Doug Bost. “We went from 7:30 to 10:30 this week. That is three hours in which we got a lot of teaching in. 

“We started off back at the basics, going over everything and we gotten a lot of good drill work and technique in this week.”

Bost said he is expecting around 35 players for this year’s squad. 

“We’ve had some gone to church camp, which we knew about,” he said. “We’ve got a couple banged up right now that had not been practicing.

“We’ve usually been around 40.”

The Jackrabbits will adjust their practice times next week with the start of teacher inservice in the district. 

“We’re going to go from 3-6 p.m.; the kids are going to have to get adjusted to that,” Bost said. “When school starts, that’s about the time we’re out there. Going at 7:30, it’s been a little bit cooler, which is good. At the same time, we do have to go in the afternoons. We expect it to be hot at 3 o’clock Monday. But we’ll get through it.”

The Jackrabbits, which finished 5-6 a year ago, qualified for the playoffs with a late-season run. During Bost’s tenure, Lonoke has made the playoffs six of seven seasons. 

Bost’s assistants this year are Taggart Moore, Tyler Tarrant and Jack Keith. The junior high coaches will also be helping again this year. They include head coach Nick Smith, Tyler Shaw, Chris Foor and Chris Bailey. 

The Jackrabbits will play Maumelle in benefit scrimmage game Aug. 22 at Maumelle. They will host the Carlisle Bison in the regular-season opener Sept. 2 at James B. Abraham Stadium. This will mark the first time the two teams have met on the gridiron since 1990 — a 16-6 win by the Bison at Fred C. Hardke Field.