From the late 19th century through the early to mid-20th century, travelling circuses were a major form of spectator entertainment. These awe-inspiring spectacles attracted a huge amount of attention whenever they showed up in a town. Children and adults alike would drop everything and run when the circus came to town so that they could see the clowns, exotic animals, and amazing feats performed by extremely talented people. Throughout the years, society has shifted their attention and passion towards sports. On January 11th, the Mansfield Athletic program announced that the modern-day circus would be coming to town. Spectators would come together to witness Tigers, Warriors, Bears, Eagles, Panthers, Dragons, Serpents, and other exceptional sights from across the state of Arkansas in one central spot. This spectacular event is known as the Arkansas State Basketball Tournament and the small town of Mansfield was selected to host the event under their own big top tent.
How big was the news that Mansfield would be hosting the 2A State Tournament? Well, look at it from the prospective of someone that doesn’t live in Mansfield. When asked where you live, most of the time people from Mansfield’s answer is followed by “where is that”? That inquiry doesn’t just come from folks out of state, no, some people in Fort Smith don’t even know where Mansfield is. Now take 25 schools from every corner of the state of Arkansas and tell them they’re going to travel to Mansfield, Arkansas to compete in a massive basketball tournament. Coming into the tournament there were likely some questions about the capability of Mansfield hosting such an event. The district and members of the community were well aware of those preconceived perceptions and stepped-up big time to make sure players, coaches, and fans would forever remember their time in Mansfield, Arkansas.
Mansfield teachers, coaches, students, and volunteers all pitched in to prepare for the biggest thing to hit Mansfield basketball in decades. The Tigers FFA built a new announce table that could compete with the NBA’s with its construction and eye-appeal. The lumber for the build was generously donated by Mansfield’s sawmill, West Fraser. The new announce table allowed Mansfield to refurbish their old table and put it on the other side of the court for media outlets to use. Televisions displaying updated brackets, stats, and other tournament information for the fans were placed strategically to keep everyone up to date. Boys’ basketball Coach, Joshua Brown, put up the 2A State Tournament Brackets in the locker room hallways for the teams, allowing them to move their own marker forward on the bracket after each victory. The Mansfield staff also put of a “Team Map” that represented where each school was geographically in the State of Arkansas. Coach Brown and girls Head Coach, Ethan Bowman, kept social media buzzing with score updates, photos, and additional tournament extras. These weren’t just a single social media posts that encompassed a whole day, no, each and every game got its own spotlight. Then there was the concession. There was of course the normal stuff like nachos, drinks, and candy, but there was also Trent Hayslip’s famed pulled pork nachos and BIG slices of pizza on the menu. The school put up extra lighting for the parking lot and turned on the football stadium lights so that fans had ample lighting for their nighttime trip to and from their vehicles.
Although the tournament atmosphere was prepped by Mansfield, it was the games themselves and fans that made the most noise. There were upsets, blowouts, edge of the seat thrillers, overtimes, last second shots, and state records broken. The Izard County Lady Panthers upset the #3 overall girls program by coming back from behind to Acorn in overtime. Mansfield’s Harlie Fuller set a new state record for three-point shots made in a tournament game by draining nine three-point shots in the Lady Tigers quarterfinal win over the Marshall Lady Bobcats. The 3Seeded Marshall Bobcats men’s team edged out higher ranked Riverside by two points in their first-round game and then upset the 1Seeded Lavaca Golden Arrows with a convincing 84-55 victory. The fans, boy howdy the fans, came from everywhere and packed out the Mansfield gymnasium day after day. The decibels aren’t exact, but the passionate fans from each school represented at the tournament, definitely pegged out the decibel meters in Scott County.
It is safe to say that when the 2A State Basketball Tournament came to town, Mansfield was prepared. Just as with the traveling circus form the good ol’ days, everyone from all over flooded into town to see the show and a show is exactly what they got. By pulling together as a school and community, Mansfield was able to leave an impressive mark on the minds of many who attended the tournament. Sure, the gym wasn’t a multimillion-dollar facility with neon lights and massaging recliner like seats, but it was set up to be a welcoming environment from the time fans walked through the front door. The word “welcome” says all that needs to be said about Mansfield. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girl, children of all ages, welcome to the greatest show in sports. There is so much more that went into putting on the 2A State Tournament than can be mentioned in one story so stay tuned…..
