Special Thanks to KDQN News for the story below:
In addition to covering the current season through our Leopards Pride Football Program, we at KDQN like to take this opportunity to highlight the history of Leopards football and the many great people behind De Queen’s program – Leopards who stood out on the gridiron, those who give back to their community and those who embody the spirit of Leopard Pride each and every day.
Throughout this series we’ve had the honor to speak with many great Leopards who’ve made a positive mark in our community: Murray Neely, T. Ray Wilson, Jeff Holcombe, Richard Bell, Beau McCastlain, among others.
In this edition, we spotlight another product of De Queen football who embodies the spirit of Leopard Pride as perhaps few others do: De Queen Assistant Superintendent and Athletic Director Lance Pinkerton.
A lifelong Leopard, Pinkerton has just about done it all at De Queen Public Schools: student, high school quarterback, math teacher, assistant principal, principal, and now assistant superintendent and athletic director.
Pinkerton is a third-generation educator and a second-generation Leopard. His father, Dwight, taught math at De Queen for more than three decades (he also coached Lady Leopards basketball for 10 years). His grandfather, too, was a math teacher.
A big part of life in Southwest Arkansas – then and now – revolves around high school football.
Oh, those Friday Night Lights! Obviously, that term, which conjures up all the feels that come with going to a Friday night football game, refers to the giant floodlights high above the field that make the high school football game a bright spot in any rural town as the weekend gets rolling.
Like most young men in De Queen, Pinkerton found those lights irresistible. He joined the team and eventually worked his way to starting quarterback for his senior year in 1991.
“It’s just what you did,” he said. “Everyone played football back then. There’s just so much excitement in a town like ours for football that you had to be a part of it.”
The Leopards were undefeated Pinkerton’s sophomore year. De Queen fell in the first round at state, but it was still a year to be proud of. The next year, the Leopards ended 7-3 and, most importantly, beat Nashville. His senior year, as starting quarterback, Pinkerton helped lead the team to five straight victories in the first half of the season. However, a couple of injuries among the starting squad saw the Leopards end 1991 with a 6-4 record under Head Coach Bill Koen.
Pinkerton looks back fondly on those years – although he is quick to credit any victories on the gridiron to his coaches and fellow athletes.
“I can’t say I had much to do with it because the rest of the guys on the team, and the coaches we had, were so great,” said Pinkerton. “I have a lot of good memories from those years, a lot of good friendships that were made and that I still have.”
Pinkerton’s performance on the field was strong enough, however, to earn him the prestigious Rotary Cup from the De Queen Rotary Club in 1991. (Fun fact: Pinkerton helped lead the team to a 22-0 victory over Stamps that year. De Queen Superintendent Jason Sanders was a sophomore Yellowjacket player at that game. Pinkerton says he tries not to bring up this shutout too often with Sanders during their daily interactions.)
Pinkerton also competed in basketball and baseball – a dedication to the broad range of De Queen sports that would later lend well when he tookover the office of athletic director from Bob Sykes.
It’s hard to reference De Queen Public Schools without mentioning Lance Pinkerton. But if you asked him in his senior year what his future had in store, education would not have been on the list.
“I thought I would try accounting or something else, not necessarily a career in education,” he explained.
Yet, like generations of Pinkertons before him, education proved to be a draw he couldn’t shake. After teaching in Lockesburg and Foreman, Pinkerton returned to De Queen in 2003. This year marks his 20th year with De Queen Public Schools and his 26th year in education in total. Throughout that time he served as a high school math teacher and assistant principal of De Queen Middle School before becoming the campus principal, and now serves as assistant superintendent to Superintendent Jason Sanders.
This year marks his fourth as the Leopards’ athletic director. That position is transitioning this year to Leopards Head Football Coach Richard Bell to allow Pinkerton more time to focus on his districtwide administrative duties. However, Pinkerton has several important thoughts from these last few years as athletic director he is quick to share. For one, Pinkerton said a good athletic director is willing to lead from the front.
“I try to take the approach of leadership with the idea that I’m working for our coaches just like they’re working for me,” said Pinkerton. “I won’t ask them to do anything that I’m not willing to do myself. And I’ve been very lucky because the coaching staff behind our sports programs is absolutely dedicated to the kids who attend De Queen Schools.”
As athletic director, Pinkerton has been well-placed to see the challenges facing De Queen sports programs in recent years, particularly during football season. De Queen Public Schools bumped up to the 5A conference back in 2012 and has had a tough hill to climb ever since. Following years of population growth, De Queen’s school is now perennially pitted against some of the biggest and best teams in the state (enter the Little Rock Parkview Patriots). It’s a pretty big change from the 2A conference foes Pinkerton faced during his years on the team.
“Don’t get me wrong, we faced some serious opponents back in the 2A conference, but these days, we’re in a whole other league,” he explained. “Yes, we’re twice as big of a school as we were back then, but we’re one of the smallest in this conference. People talk about how good De Queen was at football historically, but a lot has changed from our days in 2A. Our coaches and players are still of an excellent quality but they’re up against some of the strongest teams in the state who can draw on a wealth of players.”
Despite the challenges – or rather, because of them – Pinkerton is quick to express his admiration for Leopards football and the commitment demonstrated by everyone involved with the program.
“To train each day and get on the field each Friday night when you know you’re taking on some of the best teams in the entire state, that’s a level of dedication that’s hard to match,” he said. “I have so much respect for our kids and our coaches for committing week in and week out knowing how tough the battle is going to be. The fact they give it everything they got each week, well, that’s something our community can be very proud of.”
Perhaps most importantly, this adversity is building De Queen’s next generation of tough young men.
“The thing is, there’s days in life when you’re going to get knocked down but you got to get right back up,” said Pinkerton. “And you got to get up fighting. Winning is great, but you have to know how to lose. How to come back and try again next time. Great coaches, like the ones we have, stress that every day. Ultimately, our guys are learning lessons about perseverance, about life. Life isn’t always going to be easy. You’re not always going to win. It’s how you deal with defeat that makes you a strong individual. It builds a commitment to give it your all regardless of how tough the competition is. And that’s why I know our guys are going to be good fathers, good leaders of their community because they know that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And our guys are tough.”
In short, Pinkerton is proud of De Queen football – just as he is in regards to soccer, track, and cross country with these programs’ ever-growing collection of trophies.
“One of the things that makes me proudest is going out in the community and seeing so many of the kids I taught, kids who competed in De Queen athletics, and how they’re now business owners and leaders in the community,” said Pinkerton. “Our athletic programs have always succeeded in teaching our young people not just life lessons but also taught them to be proud of being a Leopard. Our programs are still doing that each and every day.”
On the other side of that coin, Pinkerton said De Queen is lucky to have a community so committed to its school district.
“It’s hard to put into words just how much this community is behind our school,” he said.
“From everyone who packs our stands at a football game, to our amazing school board, to Jason Sanders and our entire administrative team, to our coaches, teachers, students, and their families – De Queen is a town that is committed to its school and not every community can say the same. I feel blessed to be part of De Queen Public Schools, to be a part of this community.”
From the gridiron to the admin office, Pinkerton is a true embodiment of Leopard Pride. Together, he and his wife, Shanna, have two sons attending De Queen Public Schools: Max, a senior, and sixth-grader Sam.