Another great celebrity passes away into history as the funeral procession stretches far down the tree lined lane. George Kell, Detroit Tiger's third baseman, is taken to his final resting-place.
Although I'm not a great sports fan, being more into soccer than baseball, this particular player holds a special place in my heart. George was not only a celebrity, but he was also my neighbor. I grew up just down the street from the Kell home in Swifton, Arkansas.
And although my parents have both died many years ago, my niece bought our family home and still lives there today with her husband and two daughters. My parents remember George as a little boy making his home runs, along with all the other kids in the neighborhood, by hitting hard clods of dirt with a stick.
Swifton is a small one-horse town as the old saying goes-Main Street is interstate highway 67, a blacktop going North to South through the middle of town. George Kell put Swifton, Arkansas on the map many years before a young unknown Bill Clinton put Hope, Arkansas there.
For many years Arkansas was known as a backward state, uneducated, poor, and far behind in the technological race of progress. Arkansas even changed its logo from ‘Land of Opportunity' to the ‘Natural State'. Times have changed drastically since the late forties and fifties. Arkansas has become probably one of the most completely self-sufficient States in the Union. Rice, cotton, and even diamonds have made Arkansas a State to be reckoned with, not to mention all the great names that have come out of this great State.
Just to name a few:
In politics------Dale Bumpers (1925- ) Former governor and Senato
William Jefferson Clinton (1946- ) Former President
In sports--------Hubert Eugene "Geese" Ausbie (1938- ) Harlem Globe Trotters
Lou Brock (1939- ) Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985
Paul "Bear" Bryant (1913-1983) Head coach of University of Alabama's
Crimson Tide from 1958-1983.
Jerry Jones (1942- ) Millionaire owner of Dallas Cowboys Football team.
George Kell (1922-2009) Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.
Mark Martin (1959- ) NASCAR race car driver.
Reese "Goose" Tatum (1921-1967) Harlem Globe Trotter's first "funny man".
Jermain "Bad Intentions" Taylor (1978- ) Undisputed Middleweight Champion of the World in 2005.
Hazel Walker (1914-1990) Considered one of the greatest women's
basketball players to ever play the game.
Authors & Journalists----John Grisham (1955- ) Lawyer and best-selling author and member
of Arkansas' Intertainer Hall of Fame.
Kenny Johnson (1942- ) Science fiction icon.
Charles Portis (1933- ) Wrote the famous novel "True Grit"
which sold to Paramount and won John Wayne an Oscar for
his performance in the role of Rooster Cogburn.
Actors and Actresses and singer/song writers------Joey Lauren Adams
Julie Adams
Catherine Tharp Altvater
Lisa Blount
Frank Bonner
James Bridges
Jim Ed Brown
Ed Bruce
Sonny Burgess
Glen Campbell
Johnny Cash
Floyd Cramer
Jerry Van Dyke
Lefty Frizzell
George Hamilton
Alan Ladd
Tracy Lawrence
K.T. Oslin
Dick Powell
Charlie Rich
Mary Steenburgen
Billy Bob Thornton
Conway Twitty
And these are just a few of the long list of well-known individuals born in or made their homes in Arkansas. I'm sure we all tend to feel a certain personal injury when a great talent from our own hometown passes away. And so, I will miss the late great George Kell of my old neighborhood of Swifton, Arkansas, as I am sure will the whole town, if not the entire State.
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