Wayne Arnold - Friend of Athletics (1962 - Present)
Wayne Arnold, in reality the Founding Father behind the RLC Sports Hall of Fame which recognizes student-athlete excellence for the past half-century, has been elected to his own Fame-ous niche as a former Coach and friend of the department, Sports Professional.
Arnold, who turns 76 a few weeks before the Ninth Annual Induction Ceremony on the Ina campus, was the second basketball head coach at athletic forerunner Mt. Vernon Community College and started the Warrior baseball program in 1963-64.
He also was responsible for providing the first voice and impetus on behalf of the RLC Aquatics Center, the on-campus Wayne Arnold Aerobics Super-Circuit Fitness Center (named for him in 1995) and the Hall itself. In between, he spent the better part of a lifetime assisting the two previous coaches so honored, Mike McClure and Jim Waugh, and providing volunteer services for 17 years (and counting) beyond his official, so-called “retirement” to a variety of teams and causes.
“I was just doing my job,” a humble Arnold explained at the time the Fitness Center was named in his honor. But many duties the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Instructor and Department Chair performed were not part of any job descriptions during his five years at MVCC, 22 years before retirement from Rend Lake College and the 17 years (plus) since.
Thyroid surgery forced the well-known “Mr. A” out of full-time coaching after just two junior college seasons in both basketball and baseball. However, it did not prevent him from later assisting in both sports, and he served eight years as a Softball Assistant Coach (“glorified scorekeeper and van driver,” he insists) under Waugh and David Ellingsworth (1991-99, including the NJCAA Women’s Fast-Pitch Championship appearance in 1996).
He kept the scorebook or the clock for Men’s Basketball from 1974-87 and for the Lady Warrior cagers since then. The campus fitness guru maintained team and individual records for major sports teams for many years and has volunteered his time and talents to assist the old Southern Illinois College Conference and Region IV (state), junior high state tournaments, Special Olympics, Senior Olympics and the recent NJCAA Cross-Country National Championships hosted on-campus.
Known throughout Southern Illinois by former students and friends, the Bonnie native, Sesser High School graduate, Dahlgren H.S. coach and longtime Mt. Vernon resident received the RLC Foundation “Faculty Excellence Award” for 1988-89 and was Commencement Speaker the following year. He and his wife of 52 years, Ailene, are parents of a son, Gary Arnold, and grandparents of Lydia Elisabeth Arnold.
2009 Induction Ceremonies
February 28, 2009
Rend Lake College Banquet Center
Nominating Process
The Selection Committee has the responsibility of evaluating all nominees to determine those individuals/teams to be inducted annually into the Rend Lake College Sports Hall of Fame.
Nominees may be from several categories – Former Athletes; Former Coaches; Former Teams; Alumni Coaches, and Sports Professionals (officials, writers, photographers and other professionals). Nominations are solicited each year from former players, coaches and students, college personnel and the general public...(more)