PURCHASE HALL OF HONOR BANQUET TICKETS ONLINE
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — For the 27th time in school history, Henderson State will bestow the highest athletic honor the university has to offer on nine Reddie legends this fall when they are added to the Hall of Honor as a part of the 2024 class.
The ceremony, which will take place on Friday, Oct. 4 in the Garrison Center Grand Ballroom, will kick off with a social hour at 6 p.m., followed by the induction of the 27th Hall of Honor class at 7 p.m. The Reddie Bookstore, located inside the Garrison Center, is the presenting sponsor of the banquet ceremony. Tickets to the event cost $25 and can be purchased online or through Angie Bradshaw by calling 870-230-5161.
The 2024 class features three football players — All-American center Kelton Hays, all-time leading rusher Bernard Palmer, and All-AIC legend Nathan Gills — as well as star softball pitcher Michelle Sorensen, volleyball standout Courtney Bolf, baseball icon Hunter Mayall, and track and field record-holder Wade Menzies.
Receiving special recognition as a part of this year's Hall of Honor class are Lenette Jones, Henderson State's longtime Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator, who is the recipient of the Willie Tate Meritorious Humanitarian Award, and former Reddie Football coach Scott Maxfield, the winningest coach in school history, who is receiving the Distinguished Service Award.
SCOTT MAXFIELD (Distinguished Service Award)
Scott Maxfield, who came to Arkadelphia from Blinn College in 2005, spent 18 seasons at the helm of Reddie Football and built what was then a cellar-dweller on the gridiron into a regional power. In his 19 years at Henderson State, Maxfield became the winningest coach in school history, amassing 134 victories, four conference championships, and four NCAA Division II Playoff appearances. He coached 171 All-Conference honorees, 71 All-Region selections, 30 All-Americans, and two Harlon Hill Trophy finalists during his time with the Reddies. A three-time Gulf South Conference and Great American Conference Coach of the Year, Maxfield closed his career with a head coaching record of 163-77 — which included a mark of 134-65 (.673) at Henderson State. He has the fourth-most wins of any college football coach in the history of the state of Arkansas at any level of competition. During Maxfield's time in Arkadelphia, the Reddies won eight or more games in 10 different seasons, including three seasons with double digit victories in 2012, 2013, and 2015. Henderson State was particularly dominant in the Great American Conference and did not lose a road game in the league from 2011 until 2017. Additionally, Maxfield captured eight victories over arch-rival Ouachita Baptist during his career, tied with the legendary Sporty Carpenter for the most all-time.
LENETTE JONES (Willie Tate Meritorious Humanitarian Award)
A lifelong Reddie, Lenette Jones serves as Henderson State's Associate Athletic Director for Internal Affairs and its Senior Woman Administrator — a role she has held for the last 11 years. Jones has been a member of the athletic department since 2005 and oversees the Reddies' compliance with the NCAA, Great American Conference rules and regulations, as well as institutional policies. She serves as a resource to Henderson's coaches, student-athletes, and boosters in relation to NCAA compliance rules, education, and the transfer portal. A native of Curtis, Arkansas and a 1995 graduate of Arkadelphia High School, Jones earned a bachelor's degree in Recreation from Henderson in 2000 and a master's degree in Sports Administration from HSU in 2002. During her nearly 20 years of service to Reddie Athletics, Jones has positively impacted the lives of thousands of student-athletes, as well as countless coaches and fellow staff members, with her uplifting spirit and selfless dedication to others.
KELTON HAYS (Category I: Football and Men's Basketball)
Kelton Hays was a second team All-American Offensive lineman in 2012 and 2013. He was named to the Capital One Academic All-America NCAA Division II Football Team. Hays was ranked as one of the Top-10 centers in the country by D2football.com his senior year, anchoring an offensive unit that led the nation in scoring (53.3 points per game), total offense (576.4 yards per game) and passing offense (428.4 yards per game). Hays was part of an offensive line that was named Beyond College Sports Network National Offensive Line of the Week after the Reddies totaled 855 yards vs. Southern Nazarene. Henderson also recorded 734 yards against Southern Arkansas and 675 yards versus McKendree. During his four-year career, Henderson State won three conference championships and compiled a 34-10 record. In those 44 games, the Henderson State offense averaged 41.9 points and 469.9 yards of total offense per game.
BERNARD PALMER (Category I: Football and Men's Basketball)
Bernard Palmer was a four-year starter at running back for the Reddies from 2005-08. Palmer is the program's all-time leader in rushing yards (3408) and carries (747). A two-time All-Gulf South Conference selection in 2006 and 2007, Palmer scored 35 rushing touchdowns in his career at HSU which ranks third-most in program history. He is one of just three players in school history with 3000-plus rushing yards and 30-plus rushing touchdowns. In Palmer's sophomore and junior seasons in 2006 and 2007, the Reddies compiled 8-3 and 7-3 records — the first back-to-back winning seasons for the program since 1990 and 1991. He ran for a career-high 191 yards on 31 carries as a freshman in a 35-13 win over West Alabama and for over 100 yards in both the 2006 and 2007 Battle of the Ravine victories over Ouachita Baptist.
HUNTER MAYALL (Category II: Other Men's Sports)
Hunter Mayall was a two-time All-GAC selection for the Reddies from 2012-16. A career .314 hitter with a .426 on-base percentage, Mayall played in 164 games and started 160 of them for Henderson during his career. He held the program record for longest on-base streak with 37-straight games reached and the second-longest hitting streak in school history at 20 games in 2015. Mayall was the 2015 NCAA Central Regional Most Outstanding Player after going 12-for-17 (.705) in the NCAA Tournament to help the No. 6 seed Reddies pull off a stunning upset and advance to the College World Series, where they finished as national semifinalists. Mayall is sixth all-time at HSU in hits (176) and eighth in runs scored (118). He is one of just three players in program history to have drawn 100 or more walks in a career (100).
WADE MENZIES (Category II: Other Men's Sports)
Among the top sprinters in Henderson State history, Wade Menzies was an All-AIC and All-American in track and field for Henderson State in 1988, when he helped the Reddies finish a program-best 11th nationally at the NAIA Championships. Menzies, alongside his brother Ward, ran a leg of Henderson's 4x100-meter relay team which won the AIC title and finished as the national runners-up in a time of 40.97 seconds. Menzies also ran the anchor leg on the Reddies' 4x400-meter relay team which took fourth-place nationally in a time of 3:11.77. He still holds the school record in the 400-meter dash (46.69) and was an Academic All-American while at HSU.
COURTNEY BOLF (Category III: Women's Sports)
One of the best all-around players in the history of the Reddie Volleyball program, Courtney Bolf ranks third all-time at Henderson State with 1491 kills and sixth all-time with 1652 digs. She is the one of just two Reddie players ever to record 1400 kills and 1600 digs. Bolf was a two-time First Team All-GAC selection in 2018 and 2019 and was an unanimous selection in 2018 when she led the Reddies to 28 wins and the program's first ever appearance in the GAC Tournament Championship game. Henderson State won 76 matches during her four-year career in Arkadelphia, including 49 in her junior and senior seasons, after having won just 23 total matches in the five years prior to her arrival.
MICHELLE SORENSEN (Category III: Women's Sports)
The top pitcher in Reddie Softball history and one of the greatest in the history of the GAC, Michelle Sorensen was a five-year star for Henderson State in the circle. She is Henderson State's all-time leader in wins (75), strikeouts (762), appearances (162), starts (118), and innings pitched (842.2), and led the Great American Conference in each of those statistical categories at the end of her career in 2019. She was a four-time All-GAC selection, a seven-time GAC Pitcher of the Week, a three-time All-Region selection, and was the first player in school history to be named NFCA National Player of the Week in 2017. Sorensen pitched five no-hitters in her career at Henderson State and once threw every pitch in a 19-inning 3-2 win for the Reddies in 2017 against Arkansas Tech, which remains the longest game in conference history. The Sherwood, Arkansas native was inducted into the Arkansas FastPitch Softball Hall of Fame upon her graduation in 2019.
NATHAN GILLS (Category IV: Heritage Era)
Nathan Gills was a four-year letterman and two-time First Team All-AIC selection at offensive tackle for the Reddies in football in 1975 and 1976. Gills was named an All-NAIA District 17 honoree and Honorable Mention NAIA All-American for Henderson State's 1975 AIC title team and was also a starter on the Reddies' 1974 NAIA National Runner-Up squad. After leaving Henderson State, Gills spent 16 years as an assistant track and field and football coach in Springhill, Louisiana, where he won a football state title in 1985 and coached 11 individual state champions in track and field. He later went on to work as a school administrator, and served on the Board of Directors for the Louisiana High School Athletic Association and the Arkansas Activities Association.
