Former Weevil Great to Head Campaign for Athletics

---

Courtesy of Media Services

In the lead - Chancellor Jack Lassiter, Hugh Heflin and Athletics Director Alvy Early stand in front of the home stands at Willis "Convoy" Leslie Cotton Boll Stadium, which was completed in 1935.

   The University of Arkansas at Monticello is calling on one of its greatest football players to lead an ambitious fund-raising effort for the school’s program in intercollegiate athletics.

   Hugh Heflin, a retired businessman who starred for the Boll Weevil football team from 1949 to 1952, will direct “The Campaign for Athletics,” a drive to raise private funds to finance improvements to Convoy Leslie-Cotton Boll Stadium and to construct a multi-purpose indoor practice facility at the north end of the stadium.

   The $3.4 million project will be financed with private funds and revenue from bonds issued in 2005. The project calls for the renovation and expansion of the stadium press box and the addition of permanent chair-back seating in the west grandstands as well as construction of a facility that will include an artificial turf practice field, offices, dressing rooms and meeting rooms. The indoor-turf-room will be used by the football, baseball and softball teams as well as the marching band. Naming opportunities will be available for both the press box and practice facility.

   Heflin is a member of the UAM Sports Hall of Fame and a two-time All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference end who set Boll Weevil records for pass receiving that stood for more than 50 years. Following graduation from what was then Arkansas A&M, Heflin forged a highly successful career in business before retiring to Monticello.

  “We are pleased that Hugh has agreed to take a leadership role in this campaign,” UAM Chancellor Jack Lassiter said. “The traits that made Hugh so successful in business are the traits we were looking for in someone to direct this project. The Boll Weevils and Cotton Blossoms have a proud legacy in intercollegiate athletics, but times are changing and we need these improvements to our athletic facilities to give our athletes and coaches the opportunity to continue that legacy.”

Courtesy of Media Services

Home - Architects’ rendering of proposed changes to the press box at Convoy Leslie-Cotton Boll Stadium.

   Lassiter said he is asking Heflin to form a fund-raising committee, comprised in part by former athletes and coaches, and put in place a fund-raising structure for future projects.

   “This is not just a short-term initiative,” Lassiter said. “We want to develop a strong, permanent fund-raising apparatus to meet future needs.”

   “The Campaign for Athletics” is one part of a master plan unveiled last year to upgrade university facilities and the campus as a whole. UAM is nearing completion of a renovation of Weevil Pond and is considering architects’ recommendations for the renovation of Wells Hall and Sorrells Hall.

   “The majority of the funds we spend on this master plan will be for renovating academic facilities,” Lassiter said , “but that doesn’t mean we’re going to overlook our auxiliary facilities, including athletics.”

   For information about “The Campaign for Athletics,” contact the UAM Office of Advancement at (870) 460-1028.

Courtesy of Media Services

Complex - Architects’ rendering of a new athletic facility at the north end of the stadium.

Have a comment? Please e-mail us.