LITTLE ROCK
As Danny Davis’ high school football days drew to a close,
he was eyeing a Division I career but a low test score put that dream on hold.
In the past, Davis’
options would have been limited. Junior college football in Arkansas
was nonexistent, and there were few places for people like him to turn.
Then Charles Ripley and Arkansas Baptist decided to change
that.
“We’re filling a void. Serving the underserved is our
motto,” Ripley said Friday. “Our foundation is taking care of our
own. We don’t need other states taking care of our kids.”
Practice is under way for Arkansas Baptist’s new football
team, the state’s lone junior college program in that sport. The Little
Rock school revamped its athletic department under
Ripley, its athletic director, and Fitz Hill, the school’s president. Ripley, a
former Little Rock Parkview basketball coach, has worked for years to create
this type of opportunity for young athletes who might otherwise slip through
the cracks of the educational system.
Coach Richard Wilson’s Buffaloes open their football season
Sept. 1 in Athens, Texas,
against Trinity Valley
Community College. Davis
is one of dozens of players who turned out this week for practice. Davis,
of Blytheville, says schools like Arkansas,
Arkansas State and Texas A&M were
looking at him.
