By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
EL DORADO - The El Dorado Police Officers Organization All-Stars hosted the Arkansas Razorbacks Alumni in a benefit basketball game Saturday night at Wildcat Arena. The "football" Razorbacks showed why they were college "football" players instead of basketball while competing against a team of law enforcement officers.
The police officers unit did include a few ringers, though, including former El Dorado girls basketball coach Stephen Harshaw and Henderson State Reddie player Jacob Vance.
"We wanted to be competitive. So, we got three or four ... or five that are not police officers," said Captain Charlie Phillips of the El Dorado Police Department. "The rest of them are police officers from the state and the county and the city. But, we wanted to give them a tough game if they wanted it. It looks like our guys are holding up."
The El Dorado Police Department led 46-30 at the half but the more meaningful numbers were in the stands, which saw a nice turnout for the fundraising event. Phillips said he was pleased with the attendance.
"I am," he said. "It's a lot going on in the city. I knew the numbers would be a little bit low. But, we've had a lot of support in the city and in the county. They've helped us raise quite a bit of money. I don't have the final total. But, it's been a good event."
The Razorbacks alumni included Junction City natives Byran Jones and Alan Turner along with Cobi Hamilton, Van Stuman, Brandon Barnett and others.
The first half was highlighted by Hamilton's two-handed breakaway dunk. The former Hog receiver had two more spectacular near-misses, including one where 5-foot-2 El Dorado Police Officer LaTesha "Scooba" Heard tried to chase him down from behind.
On the other end, Harshaw, Vance, Jared Primm and other members of the Men in Blue lit up the skies with long-range shooting against the fatigued footballers.
"It looks like they've been practicing," joked Jones at halftime.
Turner was also surprised at the level of competition he was up against.
"See, I didn't know that was going to be the team," he said with a laugh. "I see a couple guys I used to play with in high school and then the Coach (Harshaw). They put a team against us. They got us against a good team."
In the end, it was all in fun and for a good cause.
"It means a lot to me to give back to the South Arkansas community. It's a great deal coming back down here to play against the police officers with some of my old teammates," said Jones, a defensive lineman at Arkansas, who is still active on the gridiron.
"I'm working out and getting prepared to play football in Australia."
Turner agreed it was nice to be doing something for Union County.
"It's always good to come home and be apart of something that's giving back to the community. Being able to be around kids is always a good thing," said Turner, a defensive back who is also still playing football.
"I just came from Italy, like, four weeks ago. I was playing football over there," he said. When asked if he was going back, Turner answered, "Not Italy but I might go somewhere else, just to travel and stuff."
"I hope everybody enjoyed themselves," said Phillips. "I can't appreciate (enough) the citizens of this city and this county and all the support they give the police department and our organization. It's a good thing to see people come out and support us like this."