2026 ATFHF Induction Banquet

ARKANSAS TRACK & FIELD HALL OF FAME
PLANS 31ST INDUCTION BANQUET FOR MAY 30
                                                                                                
The Arkansas Track & Field Hall of Fame will induct its 31st class during a 6:30 p.m. banquet May 30 in the Silver City Ballroom of the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel in North Little Rock.

“With the biggest class in years, we have nine outstanding inductees for the Class of 2026,” said John Steward, president of the ATFHF. “We have current college and high school coaches. We have NCAA and Arkansas officials. We have high school state and collegiate champions. We have Junior Olympic and Olympic champions.

“Every facet of track and field is represented in this class. These inductees represent a time frame from the 1960s to the present day. That is seven decades of track and field. I am very impressed and in awe of this class.”

The class includes Jeff Henderson, an Olympic gold medalist in the long jump in 2016; Antwan Hicks, an Olympian and NCAA champion; Jada Baylark, Caleb Cross and Payton Stumbaugh Chadwick, All-Americans at the University of Arkansas; Tom McMurray, a high school coach and meet official; Rick Baker, who led boys teams to 15 state championships; Robert Palmer, the first African American from Little Rock Central to be awarded a full athletic scholarship at the UofA, the first African American track letterman and the first to graduate; and Earl Goldman, a three-time All-American at what is now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

Henderson, a Sylvan Hills graduate, won the Olympic gold medal in the long jump in Rio de Janiero in 2016 and a bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships. He has a personal best of 27 feet, 11.25 inches. At Sylvan Hills, he was a state champion in the long jump and won Meet of Champs titles in the long jump and triple jump. He was a junior college national champion at Hinds (Miss.) Community College in the long jump, 100 meters and 4x100 and an NCAA Division II national champion in the long jump and 100 at Stillman College in 2013.

Hicks was a 10-time state individual champion in the hurdles and jumps and won multiple Meet of Champs titles for Hot Springs. He set the indoor state record in the 55-meter hurdles. He also won two AAU Junior Olympic gold medals in the high jump and a bronze in the 80-meter hurdles. He took silver in the 110 hurdles at the USATF Junior Olympics. At Ole Miss, he was a two-time NCAA champion in the 60-meter hurdles and won a Southeastern Conference title in the same event. He was an Olympian, the Nigeria national record-holder and the Nigerian national champion.

At Little Rock Parkview, Baylark won 11 state championships in four different events and seven Meet of Champs titles in five different events. She was the 2016 Arkansas Gatorade Track & Field Athlete of the Year. She ranks first in the triple jump (40-7.5) and 60-meter hurdles (8.60) on the Arkansas Girls all-time best performance list. At the University of Arkansas, she was an NCAA All-American outdoors and indoors and finished second in the 2021 Southeastern Conference indoor 60-meter dash. She was also on the bronze-medal 4x100 relay team at the SEC outdoor meet in 2018 and ‘21.

Cross was the first Newport High School student to receive a Division I scholarship in track and field. He set the state record in the 300 hurdles three times in two years (36.99) and was the Arkansas Gatorade Track & Field Athlete of the Year in 2009. At Arkansas, he won the 2012 Commissioner’s Trophy as the high-point scorer (18.5) at the SEC Championships. He won the 400 hurdles twice in the SEC Outdoor Championships and was on the winning 4x100 relay team in 2012. He earned 10 All-America honors in indoor and outdoor track as a hurdler and relay team member and was part of three SEC Outdoor championships and three NCAA Outdoor national championships (2011, ‘12 and ‘13).

Chadwick won 12 state championships in six events at Springdale Har-Ber, was a six-time Meet of Champs winner in five events and a two-time Arkansas Heptathlon winner. She was the 2012 Arkansas Gatorade Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. As a senior, she set a state record in the 100 dash and a state and overall record in the 100 hurdles. She went on to Arkansas, where she was an All-American in seven events indoors and outdoors. She finished second in the 60 hurdles in the 2020 USA Indoor Championships. She was seventh in the 100 in the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials.

McMurray coached at Greenland and Alma, leading teams to three boys state championships (2004, ‘05 and ‘09) and two runner-up finishes, one girls state runner-up  and nine conference titles. He produced 64 all-state athletes, 246 all-conference athletes, 48 Meet of Champs participants, four individual Meet of Champs winners, one Meet of Champs relay champion, 25 individual state champions and three relay state champions. As a certified track official, he has worked 14 NCAA Indoor Division I Championships, three NCAA Indoor Division II Championships, one NCAA Outdoor Division I Championship, five Division I regional meets, 15 SEC Indoor Championships, two SEC Outdoor Championships and two USATF state meets.

Baker, boys track and field coach at Stamps (16 years) and Nashville (24), won 18 district championships, seven outdoor state championships, and eight indoor state titles. His teams finished state runner-up seven times outdoors and six times indoors. He was named district Coach of the Year 18 times and hosted the 3A/4A state championships nine times. He served from 2001-2006 on the Arkansas Track and Field Advisory Rules Committee and was the 2007 Arkansas Track and Field Outstanding Coach of the Year and the 2023 Arkansas Track and Field Official of the Year.

Palmer was on the Little Rock Central mile relay team that set the 1967 state record. In ‘68, he set Arkansas’s best performance in the 100- and 220-yard dashes and was on the team with the state’s best time in the 440, 880 and mile relays. In ‘69, he set a meet record of 6.3 seconds in the Oklahoma City Indoor Invitational 60-yard dash. His winning mile relay team recorded the fastest time in the nation. He went on to Arkansas from 1969-73.

Competing for Arkansas AM&N (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff), Goldman won the 1968 NAIA national championship at 800 meters (1:48.1) while earning All-America honors. His personal best was 1:47.9. He also ran the anchor leg on the winning NAIA mile relay in ‘68, ‘69 and ‘70 and was All-American each of those years. He became a professional golfer in 1975 and won more than 20 tournaments. He is a member of the Arkansas AM&N/UAPB Hall of Fame, the Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame and the Jefferson County Sports Hall of Fame. 

Tickets for the banquet are $50 per person ($52 if purchased by credit card) or $400 for a table of eight. Tickets may be purchased at www.atfhof.org or by mail to Leon White, 34 Margeaux Dr., Little Rock, 72223, and must be received by May 26 to be guaranteed. Checks should be made payable to ATFHF. For ticket questions, email [email protected]. Tickets may be picked up at the ATFHF registration desk after 5 p.m. May 30. 

For more information about the banquet, contact Steward at (501) 351-4114.​