By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Paul Eells’ penchant for being early was one-upped by a young man who happens to be the recipient of one of four scholarships handed out in Eells’ memory.
With Eells, if golf was at 1 p.m., he was ready to tee it up at 12:30, just in case.
Aaron Reddick, a senior next fall at Arkansas State University, was told last week to be at Greystone Golf Course in Cabot on Friday so that he could be on live television at five.
Reddick, his mom, and his girlfriend drove to Cabot on Thursday, spent the night in a motel, and took turns getting ready, starting at 3 a.m.
He was dressed for his close-up and in place before 4:30, but there were no cameras. In fact, the only beings around were hustling carts and preparing the clubhouse for the golf tournament to benefit the Eells Foundation.
Sunrise was still more than an hour away.
Reddick’s go-with-the-flow reaction to being 12 hours early was pure Eells. So, too, his conscientiousness about his job.
Reddick contacted Kelly Lasseigne of the Eells Foundation and she rushed to the scene, hair still kinda wet. She apologized over and over, Reddick said.
“Things like this happen,” he said in an interview. “You’ve just got to take it in stride.”
Reddick and his entourage returned to the motel and napped for a bit before Reddick called Paragould radio station KDRS to check with one of his bosses, Brian Osborne.
Reddick — D.J. Aaron Redd from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. — was supposed to be at the station until about 8 p.m. that night, helping with a feed from Rodeo on the Ridge. Reddick has worked at the station since graduating from Marmaduke High School three years ago.
Coincidentally, the station recently switched to a country music format. Eells would have appreciated that. He was so well liked in Nashville when he was doing Vanderbilt games that he could return 15 years later and be recognized and welcomed backstage at the Grand Ole Opry.
Stay in Little Rock, Osborne told Reddick, we’ve got you covered.
They made the obligatory visit to McCain Mall, ate and were shopping when Lasseigne called. The live feed from the golf course had been canceled and Reddick was to contact Steve Sullivan at KATV.
Eventually, they hooked up at the station in downtown Little Rock and Sullivan did the interview.
Unaware of a radio station survey Reddick filled out just for fun, Sullivan did not ask the 21-year-old if he had any special talents or about the free plane ticket to anywhere.
“I make a mean grilled cheese … if that’s special,” Reddick said on the survey.
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was Reddick’s destination of choice for the sun and sand. Eells would have gone for the golf.
More than 400 players showed up Friday for the Eells tournament, played during a one-day window of dry weather. Each received an appropriately lettered leather travel bag that included a DVD of some classic Eells’ calls and other Eells material. Sullivan put it together to honor the beloved Voice of the Razorbacks who was killed in a car crash on July 31, 2006.
Reddick will receive a $4,000 scholarship. So will John Gossett, a senior at Arkansas who has a summer internship with ESPN in Bristol, Conn., University of Central Arkansas senior Ashley Aldrich and Arkansas-Little Rock senior Raelee Toye.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
