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www.arkansasbaptist.edu A Religious and Educational Journal of Arkansas Baptist College February 2012

The Baptist Vanguard Today is mailed to over 1,700 people, with another 500 or so distributed else-where. Call us at (501) 370-4000 to learn more.

Serving it UpTracye Smith, ABC

Campus Bistro ex-ecutive food service director, keeps students’ stomachs full so their minds can focus. Page 3

Hooping It UpABC’s men’s,

women’s teams both have winning records and are undefeated at home in front of big, loud crowds. Page 5

Naming Opportunities Abound at ABC

AMERICAN HERO. Milton Crenchaw with a display of the men he trained at the Tuske-gee Institute during World War II.

Please see AIRMAN, page 6

ABC supporters can be a part of history through the college’s naming op-portunities campaign.

According to Larry Bone, director of institutional advancement, the college is attempting to raise a total of $50 million for all of the campus’s building needs.

Philanthropists will have ample op-portunities to have their names attached to areas in the Charles Ripley Men’s

Residence Hall and the soon-to-be-built women’s residence hall.

There also will be the opportunity to name rooms, entrances and floors at Old Main and the two General Stud-ies buildings. The skywalk between Old Main and General Studies I also is available.

Naming opportunities also are available for areas in the Community

Union, Campus Bistro and Buffalo Barn student union.

Other opportunities are available for ABC’s network of loyal supporters, in-cluding the opportunity to sponsor seats in the Old Main Auditorium for $500.

Bone said those donations can be spread over three years, with the plaques installed on the seats at the end of that period.

ABC students don’t have to go to the movies to see an American hero. Several times a week, they have one on campus.

Milton Crenchaw, who recently turned 93 years old, is one of the Tuske-gee Airmen, the famed group of African American pilots who served with honor in World War II and broke down barriers in a segregated military.

Crenchaw served as a civilian trainer at the Tuskegee Institute teaching the pilots how to fly, first on Piper Cubs and then on PT-19 biplanes. He eventually became a supervising squadron com-mander.

Flying, he said recently, is, “Just like driving a car, like a 10-year-old riding a tricycle.”

Crenchaw’s story is being told in “Pioneering African-American Avia-tors Featuring the Tuskegee Airmen of Arkansas,” a new book being released in February by Edmond Davis, an ABC history instructor.

Davis worked on the story from 2006 until last year.

“I thought when I got here that this story was already being told, and so I didn’t do it for money or anything like that,” Davis said. “I just met Mr.

Crenchaw and said, ‘Wow, you’re like the real person that I hear these guys talk about in these movies.’ And he downplays it. He’s so humble about it.”

Crenchaw is the grandson of a slave, Milton Crenchaw, and the son of the Rev. Joseph Crenchaw, an ABC gradu-ate who was head of the Little Rock branch of the NAACP during the Cen-tral High integration crisis of 1957.

Crenchaw graduated in 1936 from Dunbar High School and then attended junior college there, where he learned a skill in auto mechanics. In 1939, he

headed to the Tuskegee Institute in Ala-bama to further his education. “I didn’t have a dime enough to buy a nickel Coke when I got to Memphis,” he said.

In Alabama, he learned to fly at what is now Maxwell Air Force Base and then became an instructor. He strapped first lady Eleanor Roosevelt into a Piper Cub during a famous visit she made to the area.

“That’s history that you don’t even realize you’re doing,” he said.

During World War II, he instructed pilots who went on to serve in the Euro-pean Theater as part of the “Red Tails”

Tuskegee Airman Gives Time to ABCCrenchaw broke down walls of segregation during World War II

Black History Spotlight

At ABC, we talk often about giving hope to the hopeless and vision to the visionless.

Now we have our own vision spelled out in a new publication, “Vision 2020,” which details where we’ve come from, where we are and where we’re going.

Currently, we consider ourselves to be on the road from “fair” to “good.” Enrollment has quadrupled from a barely sustainable less than 200 in the fall of 2005 to 1,193 in the fall of 2011. The college has vastly improved fiscally, and the infrastruc-ture continues to be solidified.

But the enemy to “great” is named “good.”

“Good” often becomes being “good enough,” and we don’t want to settle for that. We want to be great.

We will do that not through new construction, though we have big plans, or through the money we raise, which we pray will be a lot. Rather, we will use the formula that has gotten us this far: Trusting in God and investing in human capital.

In the coming years, ABC will offer ever-increasing opportunities for students to become successful, contributing members of society. For example, through The Scott Ford Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development, we’ll teach students not only how to ob-tain jobs but also how to create them for themselves and others.

Meanwhile, because ABC’s future is tied to its community, we will con-tinue to transform the neighborhood around us. By 2020, this part of Little Rock will be safe and prosperous.

Some might call this a dream. We call it a vision. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Where there is, and when that vision match-es God’s plan, the people thrive.

Page 2The Baptist Vanguard TodayFebruary 2012

From the President ...

By Fitz Hill

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Our Vision to be Great

ABC’s Entrepreneurship Club is promoting a deeper understand-ing of small business ventures and enterprises.

The club has two goals: to pro-vide students from all majors with a variety of affordable activities, and to expose and network busi-ness owners with ABC’s different student majors.

Any student, full-time or part-time, in good standing with the college and with a 2.0 grade point average may participate.

The club’s sponsor is Dr. How-ard Gibson, dean of the School of Business.

The club’s president is Charles Benson, a 1995 graduate of Mc-Clellan High School in Little Rock who enrolled at ABC in the spring of 2007 and is scheduled to gradu-ate with a bachelor of arts degree in business administration. After graduation, he plans to attend the University of Arkansas at Little

Rock to complete a master’s of business administration degree.

During the summer of 2010, he was one of two students selected from the School of Business to intern at Westrock Corporation. While there, he learned about the stock market, varieties of coffee, logistics, and the company’s Haz-

ardous Analysis Critical Control Points Program (HACCP).

Charles credits God and his grandfather for his knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit. He is a member of Shiloh Seventh-Day Adventist Church and serves youth in community organizations such as the O.K. (Our Kids) Program.

Club Nurtures ABC Entrepreneurs

An August Economic Develop-ment Symposium hosted by the Department of Business Administra-tion and the Department of Public Administration brought together stu-dents and community leaders under the theme, “Where government and industry make a connection.”

Co-chairs were Caron Lott-Dunn, chair of the Department of Public Administration; and Stephanie Cox, chair of the Department of Business Administration.

The event, held in the ABC Gymnasium, included an apprecia-tion luncheon and an evening panel discussion.

The appreciation luncheon honored William Woods, owner of Uncle T’s; Don Northcross, founder of the O.K. Program; community activist Annie Abrams; Patricia Nunn Brown, Arkansas Economic De-velopment Commission director of small and minority business affairs; and state Sen. Tracy Steele.

Jay Chessir, president and CEO of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of

Economic Growth Focus of Meeting

MAKING A CONNECTION. Participants in the evening session of the Economic Development Symposium included, front, Stephanie Cox, JaTrina Wilson, Letha Bell, Patricia Nunn Brown, Samantha Evans, Odies Wilson, Annie Abrams, and Erica Price, public administration student. Back, Daniel Brown, public admin-istration student; Billy Owens, ABC CFO and executive vice president; French HIll; Caron Lott-Dunn; Dr. Howard Gibson, dean of the School of Business; and Joseph Jenkins, public administration student.

Commerce, spoke about the role of business.

During the evening session, French Hill, president of Delta Trust and Bank, spoke about the impor-tance of giving back to the commu-nity.

Student moderators Letha Bell, a

business administration major, and JaTrina Wilson, a public administra-tion major, led a panel discussion. Panelists were Samantha Evans, assistant director of Main Street Arkansas; Odies Wilson, Little Rock intergovernmental relations manager; Nunn Brown and Abrams.

Charles Benson of Little Rock is president of ABC’s En-trepreneur-ship Club.

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February 2012 The Baptist Vanguard Today Page 3

A Night with Gladys Knight

Grammy Award-winning singer Gladys Knight sings during a “Supper & Soul” ABC fundraising event at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock January 17. Knight entertained a packed house with some of her old favorites, including “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

Smith Keeps ABC Students Fed, Ready to LearnEvery day, Tracye Smith wel-

comes hundreds of students into the ABC Campus Bistro and feeds them a delicious and nutritious meal. If they don’t pay attention to their stud-ies, it’s not because they are hungry.

“Truth being told, it’s hard to learn when you’re hungry, so if I can get you full and please you and make you satisfied with what you’re eating today, then hopefully you’ll go to class and you’ll learn a whole lot,” said Smith.

Smith came to ABC in Janu-ary 2010 as executive food service director back when students were still eating in the old cafeteria. A Searcy native, she graduated from Grambling State University with a food production manager degree and has more than 20 years of experi-ence in the business. Her stops have

included the Dallas Independent School District, Harding University and Grambling State, where she was the food service director in charge of a $6 million account.

She and her staff of 20 take pride not only in serving good food but also in the Bistro’s comfortable, clean environment. She learned there were plans for the facility soon after taking the job and helped in the design. The final product was a 10,352-square-foot facility that seats 320 and includes a presiden-tial dining suite. “The plans looked really nice, and you could tell that it was going to be a nice facility, but I didn’t imagine that it would look quite like this,” she said.

The Bistro serves three meals a day during the week and two on

weekends. Every meal is open to the public.

That means Smith is responsible for 700 meals per day – all of them meant to be healthy and delicious but also cost-effective.

To reduce waste, she and the staff try to cook as much as possible in front of the customer so they can monitor what is being eaten and in what quantities.

“The big challenge of it basically is to try to please everybody, which is almost impossible to do, but if I can get 99 out of 100, I call it a win today,” she said.

ABC Spotlight

SERVING IT ALL UP WITH LOVE. Tra-cye Smith manages ABC’s Campus Bistro.

Come to ABC for Sunday CommUNITY LunchAs of Feb. 12, ABC’s Campus Bistro

is serving a delicious Sunday Comm-UNITY lunch from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

The meal is meant to attract people from throughout the community onto ABC’s campus after church. Meals will

be served throughout ABC’s school year.

According to Smith, the meals will rotate on a four-week cycle and include entrees such as fried chicken and barbecue.

ABC Hosts Black History Month

ABC celebrated Black History Month in Febru-ary with a series of on-campus events meant to educate students on the progress that has been made and the journey that remains on the road to equality.

The month’s events were capped off Feb. 29 with “I Am Black His-tory: Real Stories and Reflections,” where African Ameri-cans shared their experiences.

Students also gathered Friday nights in the third floor of Ripley Hall for “Movies on a Mission, Black Heritage Edition,” where they watched two feature films highlighting African American heritage.

Meanwhile, students viewed the “Up from Slavery” video series each noon Feb. 6-10 in the same location. Those events were followed by a group discussion about what the students had viewed.

Not all Black History Month events at Arkansas Baptist College were so serious. Every Tuesday at 10 a.m., students participated in Black History Trivia, again in the Ripley Dorm. A campuswide Black History Month scavenger hunt was held Feb. 10, while a women’s lock-in and retreat was held Feb. 24.

Black History Spotlight

February 2012 The Baptist Vanguard Today Page 4

Black History Spotlight

Little Rock’s West Ninth Street, now largely vacant, was the heart of the city’s African American com-munity through much of the 20th century.

“West Ninth Street is Little Rock’s Harlem,” is how the Arkansas Writers’ Project described the area in 1941, according to a display at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in Little Rock.

“Negro restaurants, stores, beauty shops, pool and shoeshining parlors, and a motion picture theater give an impression of brisk metropolitan-ism, borne out by customers with brilliantly polished shoes, wide-bottomed, high-waisted trousers, and slicked hair. As darkness falls and neon lights glare above the sidewalk, West Ninth Street becomes filled with laughter, drawling conversation and dance music.”

The area became a magnet for African American residents from across Arkansas after the Union Army occupied the city in Septem-ber 1863 and cleared land for homes near black churches on West 9th and West 10th Streets.

It was mostly residential in the early 1900s but then began to grow. Like the rest of America, it struggled during the Great Depression but then recovered during the World War II years. The number of black-owned businesses on West Ninth Street grew from 55 in 1940 to 102 in 1959, according to the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.

Churches were a cornerstoneA number of thriving churches ex-

isted, including the Mt. Zion Baptist Church at 906 Cross Street, which moved to that location in 1880 and built its current home in the mid-1920s. The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church stood on Broad-way Street from 1909 until 1966, while the First Missionary Baptist Church on West Seventh Street had

first been built in 1867. The Greater Arch Street Baptist Church was built in 1927 and remained there for 60 years. The current facility for the Wesley United Methodist Church was built in 1924.

Other black-owned businesses contributed to African American life during this time. Professionals, in-cluding doctors, lawyers and others, occupied the Century Building at 610 West Ninth Street. Local residents could get their clothes tailored at places such as the Metropolitan Tai-loring Company, which was owned by Samuel Alexander from 1944 to 1966. They could get their hair cut by barber James McCullough from 1922 until 1954.

The United Friends Hospital served members of the United Friends of America fraternal orga-nization from 1922-1965 before moving to the St. Vincent Infirmary on 11th Street. Dr. Frank Coffin, a graduate of Meharry Medical Col-lege, operated the Children’s Drug Store from 1898 until 1951.

If neither the hospital nor Dr. Cof-fin were successful in their efforts, the Dubisson Insurance and Funeral Home was ready to provide services at 905 and 907 Gaines Street.

There were avenues for entertain-ment as well. Residents could watch movies at the Gem Theatre at 712

West Ninth Street, or they could eat at several restaurants, including the Chat & Chew operated by C. Frank-lin Brown and wife Freda. Visitors could lodge at the Honeycutt Hotel or the Tucker Hotel, or they could kill time at Red’s Liquor and Pool Hall.

The area peaked in the 1950s and then began to decline in the 1960s. Some black families moved away from the area to new neighborhoods such as University Heights. Govern-ment urban renewal policies meant to address urban blight separated black-owned businesses from their custom-ers. The end came with the construc-tion of Interstate 630 through the heart of the neighborhood.

But the history of West Ninth Street, and the rest of the African American experience in Arkansas, is preserved at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, a museum oper-ated by the Department of Arkansas Heritage on the corner of Ninth and Broadway.

The museum sits on the same piece of land occupied by the Mosaic Templars of America’s Grand Tem-ple, which was built for that fraternal organization in 1913.

After that organization folded, the facility became a professional office building and auto parts store. It burned during renovations in 2005 but was rebuilt as the museum that stands there today.

Little Rock’s HarlemIn the 20th century, West Ninth Street was a vibrant area

LEARN ABOUT IT HERE. The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center at Ninth and Broad-way in Little Rock tells the story of the African American experience in Arkansas.

Mays Is New Trustee

Richard Mays, Sr., Esq., the senior and founding partner of Mays, Byrd and Associates, P.A., is the newest member of ABC’s Board of Trustees.

Founded in 1977, the practice specializes in corporate law and public finance, personal injury, government affairs and busi-ness law/contracts. His clients have included municipalities and major corporations such as Sears and Johnson & Johnson.

Mays was appointed by then-Gov. Bill Clinton to serve as an Arkansas Supreme Court justice. He also was appointed by Clinton to serve as the first chairman of the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

He was a member of the Clinton-Gore National Finance Committee during the 1992 campaign and was a national co-chairman of the Clinton-Gore Presidential Inauguration Com-mittee in 1992 and 1996.

In 1972 while practicing law, he was one of the first African Americans to be elected to the Arkansas General Assembly in the 20th century.

Other board members are Dorris Gardner, Ph.D., chair; Rev. C. Dennis Edwards, vice chair; Logan Hampton, Ed.D., board secretary; Regina Favors, board treasurer; Ed Choate; Beth Gladden Coulson, J.D.; Drew Harper; Kenneth Harris, Jr., Ed.D.; Rev. James Hart; Richard Mays, P.A.

February 2012 The Baptist Vanguard Today Page 5

Big Wins, Big CrowdsFans give Buffalo ballers advantage as teams enjoy winning seasons

ABC’s men’s and women’s basketball teams are playing well in front of large and enthusi-astic crowds as their seasons approach March madness.

According to Buffaloes Head Coach Charles Ripley and Lady Buffaloes Head Coach Dion Cross, the packed crowds and band have made the ABC Gym a fun place to play.

“It’s the best atmosphere in the state,” Ripley said. “I don’t care what you say about any of them. Our fans are just awesome.”

Cross agreed, joking, “I tell you what, that’s a great home court advantage when you have rude and disrespectful fans. You can’t beat it.”

The men are 17-12 on the season but, at press time, had won 12 of their last 15 com-ing back from Christmas break. That included a 92-82 win on Jan. 30 over Northeast Missis-sippi, ranked 17th in the National Junior College Athletic Association.

They are winning in part because of their ath-leticism. According to Ripley, “We play above the rim.”

The Buffaloes started slowly early in the sea-son, in part because they were waiting for 6-10 center Olumide Solanki from Lagos, Nigeria, to return from injury. Solanki, an athletic and hard-working sophomore, has already signed to play with the University of Detroit next year.

Ripley said the early season challenges tough-ened up the team for the meat of the season. “We went through our struggles first semester, but that’s good,” he said. “That’s good to go through struggles early. It makes you better at the end.”

LaDon Carter, a 6-7 freshman forward from Monroe, La., has been the team’s leading scorer with more than 19 points per game. He also has more than six rebounds and almost 1.7 blocked shots per game. Ripley called him the “best

athlete I’ve ever coached. ... All the things that you think about an athlete, he’s it.”

The women’s team was 20-8 at press time and also was undefeated at home. The team has a balanced attack led on offense by Bianca Brooks, a sophomore forward from West Memphis averaging more than 10 points per game. She also is leading the team with more than 8.6 rebounds per game.

Angi Ramey, a 6-4 sopho-more center from Clarksville, Tenn., is attracting major college attention by averaging more than three blocked shots per game. “She pretty much so-lidifies everything in the paint,

and that’s pretty much why she’s being recruited so heavily right now,” said Head Coach Dion Cross.

Cross said the team has steadily improved through defense and by playing together – con-cepts it had to learn at first.

“It was like pulling teeth at the beginning because they didn’t understand that they weren’t playing for me, they were playing for them-selves,” he said. “So the biggest thing that they bought into now was, hey, this is for us. This is our future. And in order for that to happen, we’ve got to make it happen.”

EXCELLENCE ON THE COURT. Above, sophomore forward Cassie Vaughn shoots a free throw during a home game against Mid-South Community Col-lege Jan. 23. Note the score. Right, Terrell Eskridge, a sophomore guard from Little Rock, pushes the ball up court for the men’s team that night.

Richard Wilson, ABC’s head football coach, was recognized by the law firm of Rainwater, Holt & Sexton as a part of their program, The Ripple Effect, that spotlights individuals who make a positive impact on their community.

Wilson was honored for his 30 years of service as a mentor to young athletes.

An Arkansas native and former Arkansas Razorback defensive back, Wilson has coached at three high schools and eight colleges, includ-ing the University of Arkansas and Oklahoma State University.

He was hired in 2007 to rebuild the Buffalo football program from scratch.

“Thanks to Coach Wilson, I’ve

learned many things about life as well as football,” the firm’s web site quoted sophomore center Gary Artiste from Franklin, La., as saying. “Coach Wilson taught me that char-acter can take you a long way in life and that attitude is everything. He also taught me that, for the big things to come your way in life, you have to start with the small things.”

Law Firm Honors Football Coach

ABC Head Coach Richard Wilson

Page 6

The Baptist Vanguard Today February 2012

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AirmanContinued from page 1

being featured in a current major motion picture. That meant he was sitting in a plane with very inexpe-rienced pilots, but he didn’t let that stop him from performing his duties.

“Everything in life is just taking a chance of how it’s going to work out,” he said. “As far as somebody asking, ‘Were you afraid?’ Well, yeah, you’re afraid of it.’”

Crenchaw said he didn’t think much about whether serving his country would help create a more just society after the war.

“I was first a Sunday school teacher, so I knew enough about God to say, ‘Obey God, and get a good education,’” he said. “If you do that, then that’s God’s job to take care of it from then on, how He’s going to have you turn out. Everything is on faith. That’s all I say. I was living to-tally on faith. I didn’t have any idea what was going to happen when I got back here to Little Rock.”

After the war, Crenchaw returned home to help start an aviation pro-gram at Philander Smith College and then returned to the military as a ci-vilian instructor training white pilots at a time when the military was first becoming integrated.

He was inducted into the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame in 1998 and received the Congressional Gold

Medal in 2007. He speaks often to ABC students.

Davis’ book tells his story along with other African American avia-tors, including those who flew before World War II. The second part of the book focuses on about 15 Tuskegee Airmen, about half of whom served overseas. It also discusses other aviation pioneers, including James Ronald Rodgers, who became the first African American to manage a major commercial airport when he was appointed to that capacity in Little Rock in 1980.

The book took years to write and was interrupted when Davis was in-volved in a motorcycle accident that left him in a coma for about a week. When he awoke, Crenchaw was at his bedside.

The book contains a foreword by Roscoe Draper, an original Tuske-gee Airman. It is available through Aviate Through Knowledge Produc-tions, a publishing house founded by Davis. It can be purchased through the company’s website, www.aviatethroughknowledge.com.

AUTHOR. ABC history instructor Ed-mond Davis has written a book about Crenchaw and other Tuskegee Airmen.