Sports complex is named in memory of Merrill Reynolds

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

— Reynolds Memorial Complex was dedicated at the high school in ceremonies on Friday afternoon, with the baseball and softball fields named in memory of Merrill Reynolds, who was instrumental in turning the wet prairie into usable ball diamonds for the school’s baseball and softball teams.

An archway with the new name was placed above the entryway to the complex.

Following an invocation by senior student Suzie Sykes, Randy Barrett, superintendent of Gentry Public Schools, spoke of the role Merrill Reynolds played in building the current baseball/softball complex.

“About 12 years ago, what you see behind me would have looked like a cow pasture. The pitcher’s mound on the softball field was a haven for frogs and snakes in a mossy green pond,” Barrett said. “In 1999 we playedall of our home games on the road because our baseball field was too rough to play on.

“About that time, severalcommunity people decided something needed to be done. The man who spearheaded that effort’s last name is on the sign you see above your head - Merrill Reynolds,” Barrett said.

"Merrill was the type man whose walk matched his talk. He worked countless hours to make a cow pasture a playing field that our communityand school could be proud of for the sake of the young men and women who step into the arena of athletic competition. Many a night, if you drove down Pioneer Lane, you would find the lights burning and Merrill working. He was out there in the sunshine, the rain, snow, and in the dark when the lights went out,” Barrett said. “He did not work alone for he was also the type man who enjoyed sharing his dreams with others.”

Barrett quoted from a July 2, 2002, article by sports writer Terry Liddellin the Benton County Daily Record which described the Gentry ball diamonds before the work of Reynolds and other community volunteers as “a pasture without grass.”

Liddell wrote of the completed field, “The Pioneers Field is truly the gem of northwest Arkansas.”

And Reynolds didn’t stop after the complex was complete, Barrett said. “He served many years afterwards as a volunteer coach for the softball program.”

Reynolds died Aug. 3, 2011, whenhe, in an accident, was pinned between his truck’s trailer and another trailer at the Tyson Foods plant in Springdale.

“Our community, our school, and his family lost a good man last August when he was taken from us in a tragic accident,” Barrett said. “We are here today not only to dedicate a sports complex in his name but to also honor both his memory and the things he stood for.”

Barrett said Reynolds was on the Gentry School Board from 2002 to 2007 and served as president ofthe board during his last term. Barrett described Reynolds as “a man with a passion for seeing Gentry students succeed in the sports arena.”

“I have never known anyone who was more willing to back up his dreams with doing the work involved to make the dreams come true,” Barrett said.

“What did Merrill stand for? What were his values? Am I suggesting to you today he was some kind of saint or hero? Of course not. Merrill would have been the first to laugh if I tried to make him into something that he was not. Merrill was just an everyday, salt-of-the-earth man,” Barrett said.

Barrett called Reynolds, “My friend and a Christian brother. I can say, in the period of life that I knew him, that he stood for Jesus, loved his family, deeply cared for his friends, relished seeing young people succeed, worked hard to help others fulfill their own dreams and was willing to bow up and take a stand for what he believed was right.”

School board president Jim Barnes read the school board’s resolution to dedicate the complex to the memory of Reynolds and presented a plaque to Jeannie Reynolds, Merrill’s widow.

Merrill’s children, David and Jamie, and other family members were also present at Friday’s ceremonies.

News, Pages 1 on 03/07/2012