Ball fields to be named after Merrill Reynolds

— School board members on Monday voted to proceed with plans to name the baseball/softball complex at Gentry High School after former school board member and coach Merrill Reynolds.

Reynolds was instrumental in building the two ball diamonds and spent countless hours preparing them for games, said softball coach Marian Killgore. He also helped coach softball and baseball at the high school.

This will be the first time a facility at the Gentry Schools will be named after anyone as a memorial, Gentry superintendent Randy Barrett said at the meeting Monday nightbut said the board may wish to do so in this case because of Reynolds’ devotion to the school’s softball and baseball programs.

Killgore said she thought no one was more worthy of the honor.

Killgore will bring back to the board some proposals for renaming the high school's complex. She mentioned the possibility of signs or an archway. A final decision will be made by the school board in time for the fields to be named prior to the first baseball and softball games. A special ceremony may be held at that time.

Reynolds, 50, was killed Aug. 3 when he was accidentally pinned between two trucks at a Tyson plant in Springdale.

Sports, Pages 9 on 11/23/2011