Rector boasts 4 in ASU's 100 Voices

Sherland Hamilton

Stories on 1953 RHS grads Bill Carter of Lebanon, Tenn., and Paul Frets of Radford, Va., 1956 RHS grad Sherland Hamilton of Rector and 1980 RHS grad Mike Randleman of Los Angeles are included in the pages of the impressive magazine, which has been widely distributed to alumni and friends of ASU all over the world.

Carter, a Nashville music producer and co-founder of the Rector High School Helping Hands Foundation, said he is honored to have been chosen for inclusion in the magazine but even more thrilled that it brings attention to the Foundation, which offers valuable assistance in many ways to disadvantaged Rector students.

Bill Carter

"And I think it says a lot about Rector that four of the 100 are from our hometown," Carter added.

Frets, Professor Emeritus of art at Radford University, also has been tied to the Foundation through his generous gifts of art which have raised thousands of dollars for the work of the organization, and Hamilton, a Rector businessman, is a founding member of the Foundation board and its first president.

Randleman, a professional actor for over 20 years, also has kept close ties with his hometown and has made visits to RHS to present workshops for students.

Paul Frets

Speaking of the special publication, ASU Chancellor Robert Potts said, "In it you will find 100 people who represent all of those who helped to make our institution what it is today, from its earliest builders to young alumni who have gone into the world and distinguished themselves as well as our university."

ASU's alumni base today has grown to more than 63,000.

These are the profiles of the four taken from the magazine:

Mike Randleman

Bill Carter

In reviews of his book, Get Carter: Backstage in History from JFK's Assassination to The Rolling Stones, most reviewers compared ASU alumnus Bill Carter to Forrest Gump. Actually, the only thing they have in common is that they are both small-town Southern boys who saw history happen wherever they went.

The book's title, Get Carter, is what famous people say when they need something done right and in a hurry. It started in 1962, as Carter entered the Kennedy White House after being recruited as a Secret Service agent. The path also led to JFK's funeral; in photos of Kennedy's body being brought to the Capitol, Bill Carter is seen at the top of the steps as Jacqueline Kennedy and the family entered the Rotunda.

After resigning from Secret Service, he passed the bar and set up a law practice in Little Rock. His path crossed those of the power brokers of the day, including a contact that led to Carter touring the U.S. three times as attorney to legendary rock group, the Rolling Stones.

Carter's path then veered to Nashville, representing musicians such as Tanya Tucker and Reba McEntire. He was instrumental in producing the landmark Elvis Presley TV program, He Touched Me. Carter still produces projects for the legendary gospel group, the Gaithers, and is producing a documentary on the life of Johnny Cash. He is a founding member of the Rector High School Helping Hands Foundation, and as a fundraiser, recently auctioned off a guitar donated by a friend, the Stones' Keith Richards. And he still hears the familiar words, "Get Carter!"

Paul Frets

Dr. Paul Frets, emeritus professor of art at Virginia's Radford University, was born in Rector and became interested in art "probably around age eight or so," he says. "My grandmother gave me my first set of oil paints and that started me on my art career."

He continues, "When I started school at Arkansas State, I had a teacher named Ned Griner in art. I also played college baseball. Ike Tomlinson, the athletic director and baseball coach, was a strong mentor on behavior, teaching us how to get along with people and life lessons. He was a pretty important person to me."

In 1957 Frets signed a minor league baseball contract but was drafted into the Army that same year. After a severe knee injury, Frets was given an honorable discharge and re-entered ASU. After graduation, he earned a Doctor of Arts degree, worked as an assistant to world-renowned artists such as de Kooning, and became a professor of art at Radford University. He also established a popular studio in downtown Radford and has had showings of his art nationwide.

He still returns to northeast Arkansas and has donated artwork for worthy causes such as Rector's Helping Hands Foundation to provide financial assistance for disadvantaged students. A building in Rector was converted into a gallery by ASU's 2006 Distinguished Alumnus Sherland Hamilton '61, president of the Helping Hands board, and a special painting by Frets was auctioned to raise money for the Foundation. Frets was happy to reconnect with former classmates as well as "memories of growing up there, going to school there and playing basketball and baseball there."

Sherland Hamilton

A native of Rector, Sherland Hamilton has continued to serve A-State and northeast Arkansas throughout his life. He has been active in many civic organizations and serves as the first president and a founding member of the Rector High School Helping Hands Foundation, a group of local residents who help disadvantaged young people in Rector schools.

Sherland was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the university in 2006. One of his greatest gifts to the university, the region, and the world of literature came in 1997. Through the leadership of Hamilton and that of his wife Barbara Wilbourn Hamilton '62, the purchase of the property which became ASU's Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center in Piggott became a reality.

They not only contributed the financial support to make the purchase possible but also, through a matching funds challenge, encouraged others to join this historic undertaking. Today, ASU's Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum serves as an official visitor center for the Crowley's Ridge Parkway, a state and national scenic byway. It provides a living laboratory for ASU faculty and students, allowing scholars and visitors from around the world to experience a place where world-renowned author Ernest "Papa" Hemingway wrote portions of his classic works.

Visitors can go back in time to the 1930s when Hemingway visited with his wife Pauline Pfeiffer, whose family lived in Piggott. To give Hemingway privacy for writing, their barn was converted to a studio, where portions of one of his most famous novels, A Farewell to Arms, and several short stories were written. Thanks to Sherland and Barbara Hamilton, Hemingway's world is now open to ours.

Mike Randleman

Ever watch The Tonight Show with Jay Leno? Chances are that you've seen ASU's Mike Randleman. After all, Mike's only been on the show more than 180 times.

Mike has been a professional actor in L.A. since 1986. He's made hundreds of TV and film appearances, including television's E.R., Home Improvement, Arrested Development, Ally McBeal, The Drew Carey Show, and Real Time with Bill Maher. His film credits include the Sundance award-winning Four Sheets to the Wind, A Cinderella Story, and Chaplin with Robert Downey Jr. He also played comedian Chris Farley in a re-enactment on E! True Hollywood Story.

On one memorable Tonight Show outing, Randleman played NFL coach Mike Holmgren opposite real-life Terry Bradshaw, joining the pantheon of other Leno regulars such as Gilbert Gottfried and Howie Mandel.

At ASU, his credits as a student actor include Lennie in Of Mice and Men and Ali Hakim in Oklahoma as well as roles in other productions such as Wonderful Town. Was acting his life's dream? Actually, no.

"After I graduated high school, I was slated to start as a psychology major in the fall at the University of Arkansas and had nothing to do all summer," says Randleman. "At that time, ASU had a summer dinner theatre program and it seemed like the perfect time filler. Well, six weeks, one musical, and many parties later, I was an ASU drama major. I have been one for the next 30 years."

Fellow Rector native Steven Sigsby '72 says, "Mike has built a great career in movies and TV by being kind of an Everyman character. You know, kind of like the rest of us."