When talk of UAFS athletics comes up, certain names are sure to be mentioned in conversation about the program's successful history. Names like Gayle Kaundart, Bill Crowder and Louis Whorton.
As UAFS women's basketball coach, Whorton compiled a 648-277 overall win-loss record at the NJCAA and NCAA Division II levels over a 30-year span with 19 20-win seasons and six 30-win seasons.
He is the winningest all-time coach in Lady Lions basketball history, won a national championship and had only five losing seasons.
Today, Whorton will join Kaundart and Crowder as a member of the UAFS Lions Athletics Hall of Fame. He will be one of four individuals who will be inducted during a ceremony and dinner at 6 p.m. at the Stubblefield Center. Along with Whorton, former volleyball player Heidi Luks-Stojanovic, former men's basketball player Sonny Weems and longtime friend of the program and former university administrator MaryBeth Sudduth.
"When you think about the athletics history of Westark and now UAFS, those coaches are the ones that immediately come to mind. They made such a tremendous impact on the program with their leadership, the success they had and the number of student-athletes they influenced and mentored over the years," saidÂ
Jonathan W. Gipson, former UAFS beat writer for the Times Record and current UAFS Director of Sports Information.
"I've known Coach Whorton since I was student at Westark, which is almost 27 years. He's been a mentor of mine and a colleague of mine, and he's one of the individuals who has greatly impacted my career."
Whorton became just the third head coach in the history of the UAFS women's basketball program in the spring of 1986, succeeding former head coach Jo Bottoms. The Hartford native inherited a junior college program that had compiled a 95-152 win-loss record with only two winning seasons and only one 20-win season over the course of its first 10 seasons.
Whorton, who previously had coached at the high school level at Hector, Hoxie, Blytheville, Subiaco and County Line, didn't waste time in transforming the Lady Lions into a regional and national title contender.
During 23 seasons of competition at the junior college level, he compiled an impressive 538-195 record – an average of 23 wins per season. His junior college teams posted 16 20-win seasons and six 30-win seasons.
In that span, Whorton guided the Lady Lions to one Arkansas JUCO Conference championship, three Arkansas State Tournament championships, seven Bi-State East Conference championships and seven Region II championships. His teams also were Region II runners-up six times.
UAFS women's basketball coachÂ
Tari Cummings played for Whorton for two seasons and has a deep respect for him. She has many fond – and funny – memories of playing for Whorton, who was known for his feisty and animated demeanor on the court.
"I was having a horrible game. I couldn't make any shots, and I was frustrated. It was halftime, and I was mad about it. He comes into the locker room and lays into me and starts going off. He goes, 'Cummings, you couldn't even play for Carl Albert right now.' He turned around, and I charged him," Cummings recalled.
"I was going to whip his tail. Those were fighting words. Coach (Tammie) Nix had to literally get me. He was like, 'Whoa, hold on.' The second half, I went off."
He was NJCAA National Coach of the Year in 1994-95, leading the Lady Lions to a national championship and an undefeated season (35-0). His team placed second in the NJCAA national tournament in 1993-94. In their 1997-98 and 2005-2006 national tournament appearances, the Lady Lions finished seventh. In 2003-04, they finished in fourth, and in 2004-05 and 2007-08, they finished third.
"There have been a lot of great women's basketball teams on the NJCAA level, but that national championship team he had in 1995 is arguably the best women's basketball team ever to play at the NJCAA level," Gipson said. "If you go back and look at what they accomplished and the numbers they put up … it's crazy just how really great that team was."
Whorton's junior college teams produced four WNBA draft picks – Kim Williams, Alisa Burras, Gillian Goring and Tanisha Smith.
Not only was Cummings a part of Whorton's successful coaching career as a player, but she also served as an assistant for Whorton, too.
"Coach said, 'You're gonna swim, or you're gonna sink.' It was a great opportunity because he didn't micromanage me. He let me learn on my own and make mistakes," Cummings said. "He was there to guide me through those mistakes. It gave me a lot of responsibility."
During seven seasons of NCAA Division II competition, Whorton guided the Lady Lions to a 110-82 record and a Heartland Conference championship, a conference tournament championship, a runner-up finish in the conference tournament and a berth in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament.
He was inducted into the NJCAA Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010 and also is a member of the University of the Ozarks Eagles Athletics Hall of Fame.
