Sync

Razorback Joe Adams is really good, but is the Little Rock native the best receiver ever from central Arkansas? It’s a question the Sports Seer lobbed at local experts and Sync readers last week. This week, he takes a deeper look at some of the top contenders for this title.

Keith Jackson + Enlarge

Keith Jackson

(6-foot-2, 250 pounds)

Talk to those who saw Keith Jackson play at Parkview High and it doesn’t take long. Honorifics — “monster,” “unbelievable,” “force of nature” — start flowing nearly as fast as the man himself on the gridiron. Or the court, for that matter. Football and basketball star Jackson, after all, was the Bill Brasky of Arkansas’ early 1980s prep sports.

“Keith was a freak to be that big and that fast,” said Wally Hall, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s sports editor. “Joe’s not even close to Keith Jackson.”

It surprised many when Jackson, along with the likes of Rickey Williams and James Rouse, failed to complete a perfect season in 1983, losing to Fort Smith Southside 9-6 in the Class AAAA state championship game. But the Parade All-American later made up for that loss in college. He helped Oklahoma win the 1985 NCAA championship, then straight Bill Brasky-ized the entire nation. In consecutive consensus All-America seasons, he averaged nearly 29 and 28 yards per catch, and for good measure finished as a celebrity slam dunk contest runner up to a world champion triple jumper.

Jackson made the NFL’s Pro Bowl six times.

Emmanuel Tolbert + Enlarge

Emanuel Tolbert

Along with Houston Nutt and Robert Farrell, Tolbert headlined the undefeated 1975 Central Tigers, one of most potent offenses the state has seen. Often playing the slot or as a fullback, the ultra-athletic Tolbert proved a deadly decoy for Farrell, who caught the majority of Nutt’s passes. “He would be what’s called an H-back now,” his coach, Bernie Cox, said.

Robert Yates, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette prep football editor: “At this stage, I couldn’t put [Adams] ahead of, among others, Keith Jackson or Emanuel Tolbert. They are just more accomplished.”

Wally Hall: “He had everything you wanted in a wide receiver. The only thing he didn’t have was height.”

Tolbert starred at SMU, where he was an All-American in 1978. As of 2000, he still held school marks for most touchdown catches in a game (four), in a season (11) and in a career (25). He then played 11 seasons in the Canadian Football League.

INTO THE MISTS

In the first decades of the 20th century, football was much more ground-oriented. The wideout position didn’t exist. Instead, a typical formation featured two tight ends and three running backs. Still, some “ends” from this era separated themselves from the pack. They caught enough passes to build legacies which must be considered.

Don Hutson + Enlarge

Don Hutson

(6-foot-1, 185 pounds)

It’s debatable whether Pine Bluff High School’s in central Arkansas. Still, there’s no question this alumnus is one of football’s greatest receivers. Growing up, Hutson played with snakes, developing a slipperiness that served him well at Pine Bluff High in 1929 and 1930 and later at Alabama, where he was All-America.

It was as a Green Bay Packer, though, that Hutson practically patented the modern wide receiver position. In 11 seasons, he led the NFL in touchdowns eight times. In 1942, he had 74 receptions. His nearest rival caught 27 passes. In 1945, he caught four touchdown passes and kicked five extra points to score 29 points — in one quarter.

Hutson “had a wonderful change of pace,” hall of famer Jim Benton told the Democrat-Gazette’s Jim Bailey in 1997. “He’d lull guys and then turn it on. [The Packers] were the first club to use timing passes, which are common now.”

Yates: “Don Hutson, obviously, stands above them all.”

Ken Kavanaugh + Enlarge

Ken Kavanaugh

(6-foot-3, 207 pounds)

A few years after Hutson made his splash in Green Bay, the Midwest welcomed another record-setting Arkie. In 1940, Chicago drafted Kavanaugh, who had starred at what is now Little Rock Central High before an LSU career culminating in 1939 SEC MVP honors. 

The man with an uncanny resemblance to Marlon Brando quickly took center stage for the Bears. He played eight seasons in Chicago, and in 2007 still held these records: most career touchdowns (50), most single-season touchdown receptions (13) and highest yards per reception average in a career (22.4).

Bernie Cox, longtime Little Rock Central High football head coach: If Hutson and Kavanaugh “had played in the 1970s through 2000s, they would have been as good as anybody I ever coached. It was a different era, but they would have done well.”

WRAP-UP

Cox touches on a central question in this debate. How much of a receiver’s “greatness” is a result of the system he plays in? In the last decade, plenty of Arkansas high school receivers have racked up vastly superior stats to all players mentioned in this debate. But pass-happy offenses give those players more opportunities for impressive numbers.

“Choosing a best is difficult because the offenses now, and consequently the receiving opportunities, have changed so much — from the receiver being an emergency afterthought to a primary weapon,” wrote David McCollum, sports editor of Conway’s Log Cabin Democrat, in an email.

Still, my expert panel agreed that Keith Jackson deserves mention at the top.

If only wide receivers are considered, most experts have Russell or Tolbert ahead of Adams. A big senior season, though, and this debate calls for revisiting.

If you think this debate isn't over, visit thesportsseer.com to vote in the poll or leave comments.