Jimmy Culp attributes his wealth of successes to poverty.
“I know that sounds odd, but it’s the truth,” said the 1952 White Hall High School graduate. “I came from a poor but proud family. I had challenges ranging from health issues to a house fire, and along the way I became determined to always strive to do more and rise to the next level.
“I still wish I might have done better, but I’m also content that I’ve done pretty well.”
Perhaps the best athlete ever produced here, Culp was a standout at Southern Arkansas University (then Southern State College) in Magnolia. He is the only person to have earned all-league honors in football, basketball and baseball the same year in the old Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference, leading SAU’s football team in receiving and its basketball squad in scoring.
He would be a high school coach only seven years before joining the business world, but he shined on the sidelines as brightly as he had on the field, court and diamond.
Already a member of the SAU and WHHS Athletic Halls of Fame, Culp will be enshrined into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on Friday, Feb. 19, during a banquet at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
Obviously blessed with superb athletic ability and savvy, Culp admits that his greatest obstacle as a player was himself. “I was a free spirit,” said the 76-year-old Culp, now retired and living in Springdale. “Looking back, I don’t know why or how my coaches put up with me
“I could have done a lot more if I had had more self-discipline.”
Nevertheless, he was – at the least – remarkable.
He played at the old Redfield High School for a year prior to its merger with WHHS, and also for a year at England High School in neighboring Lonoke County before returning to White Hall to wrap up his schoolboy career.
He was recruited to England by late coach Willie Hagerman, who promised Culp’s parents that if they would allow their son to live with Hagerman and play football and basketball under him, the boy would receive an athletic scholarship or Hagerman would personally finance Culp’s college education.
“That was too good an offer to pass up,” said Culp. “I made up my mind to go before my parents said it was okay.”
Hagerman began his pursuit of Culp after seeing Culp and his Redfield basketball teammates in action against England. Culp had developed a statewide reputation after scoring 40 of Redfield’s 45 points in another contest.
Although Culp remains appreciative of the late Hagerman’s kindness, Culp decided to return to White Hall because of his admiration for late coach Julius Brown, who eventually became superintendent here.
“Coach Brown was my biggest influence,” said Culp. “I thought I was the smartest kid around and I didn’t play as hard as I could, but he still loved me and I loved him.
“I think he understood me. I wish he could be there for my induction into the state hall of fame.”
Culp next wound up at SAU, where he took the state by storm in helping to lead the Muleriders to AIC titles in several sports. He also participated in AAU baseball and basketball.
His coaching career began in 1958 at Bald Knob High School, where he assumed command of a basketball program that had had only one win in the previous two years. The Bulldogs were a combined 44-11in two seasons with Culp at the helm.
Culp then took over as football and basketball coach at Searcy High School for a couple of years. One of his football squads there had a 9-1 record and a No. 1 ranking in its classification.
In 1962, Culp landed one of the state’s most prestigious high school coaching posts at the time when he was hired at North Little Rock High School. In his three seasons there, the Wildcats won two league titles outright, shared another and claimed one state crown. Culp’s record there was 83-12.
“He was a fierce competitor,” Bobby Vint, one of Culp’s best players at North Little Rock, said of his mentor. “He was a winner with high expectations.
“He brought out the best in all of his players.”
Vint would later star in basketball at the University of Arkansas, and coach at the high school and college levels for a combined 23 years.
But teacher salaries in the 1960s lagged even worse than today’s. Culp and his wife, the former Mary Ellen Griffin, had a child, and with rising living expenses, Culp left coaching and entered the insurance business, nearly doubling his salary.
Later, he would own a gym and become a bodybuilder. He was runner-up in the over-40 division of the 1989 Mr. America competition.
“I wish now that I had stayed in coaching,” Culp laments. “I think if I might have eventually made good money in it.
“But I can’t change the past. Getting out of coaching and not having the self-discipline I wish I had had as a player are my only regrets. I still feel like a million dollars every time one of the guys I coached does well or credits me for helping in their successes.”
What advice would Culp – who figures he may have been a little too rough as a coach because he wanted his players to avoid the same mistakes he had made as a player – have for today’s young athletes and coaches?
“I would tell them what I have learned,” he replied. “I would tell them that everyone wants to win just as much as you do, but most of the time the eventual winner will be the one who pays the price for winning.
“It’s not so much about wanting to succeed as it is the willingness to get the job done.”
Jimmy Culp attributes his wealth of successes to poverty.
“I know that sounds odd, but it’s the truth,” said the 1952 White Hall High School graduate. “I came from a poor but proud family. I had challenges ranging from health issues to a house fire, and along the way I became determined to always strive to do more and rise to the next level.
“I still wish I might have done better, but I’m also content that I’ve done pretty well.”
Perhaps the best athlete ever produced here, Culp was a standout at Southern Arkansas University (then Southern State College) in Magnolia. He is the only person to have earned all-league honors in football, basketball and baseball the same year in the old Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference, leading SAU’s football team in receiving and its basketball squad in scoring.
He would be a high school coach only seven years before joining the business world, but he shined on the sidelines as brightly as he had on the field, court and diamond.
Already a member of the SAU and WHHS Athletic Halls of Fame, Culp will be enshrined into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on Friday, Feb. 19, during a banquet at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
Obviously blessed with superb athletic ability and savvy, Culp admits that his greatest obstacle as a player was himself. “I was a free spirit,” said the 76-year-old Culp, now retired and living in Springdale. “Looking back, I don’t know why or how my coaches put up with me
“I could have done a lot more if I had had more self-discipline.”
Nevertheless, he was – at the least – remarkable.
He played at the old Redfield High School for a year prior to its merger with WHHS, and also for a year at England High School in neighboring Lonoke County before returning to White Hall to wrap up his schoolboy career.
He was recruited to England by late coach Willie Hagerman, who promised Culp’s parents that if they would allow their son to live with Hagerman and play football and basketball under him, the boy would receive an athletic scholarship or Hagerman would personally finance Culp’s college education.
“That was too good an offer to pass up,” said Culp. “I made up my mind to go before my parents said it was okay.”
Hagerman began his pursuit of Culp after seeing Culp and his Redfield basketball teammates in action against England. Culp had developed a statewide reputation after scoring 40 of Redfield’s 45 points in another contest.
Although Culp remains appreciative of the late Hagerman’s kindness, Culp decided to return to White Hall because of his admiration for late coach Julius Brown, who eventually became superintendent here.
“Coach Brown was my biggest influence,” said Culp. “I thought I was the smartest kid around and I didn’t play as hard as I could, but he still loved me and I loved him.
“I think he understood me. I wish he could be there for my induction into the state hall of fame.”
Culp next wound up at SAU, where he took the state by storm in helping to lead the Muleriders to AIC titles in several sports. He also participated in AAU baseball and basketball.
His coaching career began in 1958 at Bald Knob High School, where he assumed command of a basketball program that had had only one win in the previous two years. The Bulldogs were a combined 44-11in two seasons with Culp at the helm.
Culp then took over as football and basketball coach at Searcy High School for a couple of years. One of his football squads there had a 9-1 record and a No. 1 ranking in its classification.
In 1962, Culp landed one of the state’s most prestigious high school coaching posts at the time when he was hired at North Little Rock High School. In his three seasons there, the Wildcats won two league titles outright, shared another and claimed one state crown. Culp’s record there was 83-12.
“He was a fierce competitor,” Bobby Vint, one of Culp’s best players at North Little Rock, said of his mentor. “He was a winner with high expectations.
“He brought out the best in all of his players.”
Vint would later star in basketball at the University of Arkansas, and coach at the high school and college levels for a combined 23 years.
But teacher salaries in the 1960s lagged even worse than today’s. Culp and his wife, the former Mary Ellen Griffin, had a child, and with rising living expenses, Culp left coaching and entered the insurance business, nearly doubling his salary.
Later, he would own a gym and become a bodybuilder. He was runner-up in the over-40 division of the 1989 Mr. America competition.
“I wish now that I had stayed in coaching,” Culp laments. “I think if I might have eventually made good money in it.
“But I can’t change the past. Getting out of coaching and not having the self-discipline I wish I had had as a player are my only regrets. I still feel like a million dollars every time one of the guys I coached does well or credits me for helping in their successes.”
What advice would Culp – who figures he may have been a little too rough as a coach because he wanted his players to avoid the same mistakes he had made as a player – have for today’s young athletes and coaches?
“I would tell them what I have learned,” he replied. “I would tell them that everyone wants to win just as much as you do, but most of the time the eventual winner will be the one who pays the price for winning.
“It’s not so much about wanting to succeed as it is the willingness to get the job done.”
