The R Club announced Friday names of three men who have been selected to comprise the Russellville Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame.
Coaching legend Clarence ‘Stumpy’ Baker, current football head coach and star athlete Mikie Benton, and football and track speedster Dustin Sydnor will be inducted into the group of elite Panthers on Jan. 6 between district games against visiting Logan County.
Baker tragically died of a heart attack at age 58 three decades ago. Benton is very visible around campus and town. Sydnor is well known around the area and is very close to his friend and former classmate/teammate, Benton.
Stumpy Baker, who played football for Western Kentucky University following military service, came to Russellville in the fall of 1960 as an assistant coach to new Panther football coach Waymond ‘Bogey’ Morris, a former standout player at the University of Kentucky. Together, they built Panther football into a state powerhouse while the new playoff and classification system was being implemented.
Their fifth team reached the state finals in 1964, the first of seven appearances in the championship game so far. Morris left to go home after that as coach of the team from his home county, Daviess County. Morris has played for Owensboro Senior High School and later became mayor of Owensboro. He took one of his top assistant coaches, Howard Wren, with him. Wren had been the passing back for Russellville’s great undefeated 1950 team. The ’64 team was the most successful Panther squad since 1950.
Baker was chosen to succeed Morris and two years into the role his 1966 squad duplicated the ’64 team’s achievement of being state runner-up. He was named state Class A Coach of the Year. He stayed on as the RHS head coach three more seasons. His last team made state history by ‘losing’ a scoreless game. That came at Tompkinsville in the regional championship game. It was the only year the Kentucky High School Athletic Association used statistics to determine the outcome of an overtime playoff game.
Baker also coached track and was an assistant basketball coach under Howard Owens, the father of R Club founder and historian Greg Owens.
After leaving Russellville, Baker coached at WKU and Morehead State University. His last job was as the second head coach at Logan County High School. His team had won two straight district championships at LCHS at the time of his death.
It was Baker who agreed to play Russellville for the first time in football, joining Coach Ken Barrett in creating the gridiron Clash of the Cats.
Baker’s head coaching record at RHS was 32-19-2 over a five-year span. His teams won the district twice, the SKY League twice, the WKC once, and a state semifinal.
Stumpy Baker coached arguably the two most famous losses in Panther football history. The first was to Dayton in the 1966 state finals by a 6-2 score. Both teams had a punt blocked. Dayton’s punt was blocked by star lineman Henry Noe for a safety. On the opposite side, Dayton came through holes where two players injured in the game, guard Chris Watson and fullback Ricky Stack, would have been blocking for punter Alan Neal. That block resulted in the winning touchdown. Hall of Famer Garry Todd was stopped just short of the goal line late in the game. Now 46 year later, Stumpy, Chris, Ricky, Henry, Alan and Garry are no longer living.
The other famous loss was in that scoreless tie against T’ville in 1969, basically decided by a Monroe County do strolling on the field during a Panther kickoff.
Stumpy was married to RHS graduate Freida Burchett, who closed out her career as an educator as principal of Russellville Middle School. She also passed away as a relatively young woman. One of their sons, Chris Baker, has known much success as a head coach in Florida. Son James has been successful in business. Frieda’s sister Connie is married to Russellville Mayor Mark Stratton. Their son Landon was a member of a national finalist Georgia team.
Dustin Sydnor
One of the quickest players in Russellville High School history, Dustin Sydnor exceled in both track and football. He was a four-year starter at Rhea Stadium for Coach John Myers and has been named one of the 50 Greatest Players in RHS Football History.
Owens has ruled that Sydnor is the leading Panther rusher ever with 3,633 yards. He was Honorable Mention All-State in 2007.
In track, he won the state championship in the 200-meter dash. He holds the school record in that event and also in the 100. His 100-meter record is 10.6 and his record time in the 200 is 21.6.
Together with Benton, he is part of the school records in both the 4x100 and 4x200 relay events.
Dustin comes from a great RHS sports lineage. His dad, Dennis Sydnor, was a key member of Coach Floyd Burnsed’s 1975 state championship track team. Dennis spent many years as Russellville boys track coach and is one of the newer members of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
His mother, Rochelle Sydnor, is part of the Jackson family, which has played roles in Russellville sports for decades. She is also a civic leader and is a key member of those who plan and lead the annual Eighth of August Emancipation Celebration.
Dustin is married to the former Ann Linton Smith. Her dad, the late Mike Smith, was quarterback of the first Panther team to win a district football championship in nine years in 1979. Mike is part of the Smith family which has played big roles in RHS football history, including Ann Linton’s granddad, Ken Smith, uncles Randy, Al and Jon Ray Smith, and cousin Andy Woodall.
Ann Linton’s grandfather was the legendary player and coach Buddy Linton. Her mother Samra’s cousin, Tim Williams, was a standout player on the first RHS state championship team in 1980.
Mikie Benton
Mikie Benton has demonstrated great skills as a high school athlete, as a starter in SEC football, and as a coach.
The Bentons and their descendants have been part of Russellville sports for what seems like ages. Mikie’s dad, Michael Benton, was one of a three-man rushing attack for the 1964 state finalists, joining Garry Todd and Mike Murphy. Another Benton quarterback and multi-sport standout, Virgil Benton, is a member of the Hall of Fame.
A graduate in the Class of 2008 like Sydnor who was as good or better at track than at football, Mikie joins Sydnor on those two record-setting relay teams and on the 50 Greatest Panthers honor roll.
As a Panther gridder, Benton rushed for 700 yards and passed for another 700 as a senior. He had nine career interceptions on defense, which helped pave the way for his starting in the University of Kentucky secondary his final two seasons at UK.
In track, he was state champion in the 110-meter hurdles twice after finishing as state runner-up as a sophomore. He set three school records, joining Sydnor on those two relay teams and breaking the triple jump record set by Hall of Famer Forrest Killebrew three decades earlier with an eye-popping 47 feet, 1 inch.
He also started in basketball for Coach Dennis Pardue.
Mikie Benton is the current head football coach for his alma mater, and was named state Coach of the Year while guiding the Panthers to the state finals for the first time in 31 years.
The ceremony in honoring these three men will be held between games against Logan County—known as the Clash of the Cats for 35 years but officially named the Mullen-Meguiar Cat Classic.