East Carter grad makes strides to get to next level

Editor’s Note: This is the first story in a series about 2023 East Carter graduate Robert Henning and his journey to play football at Arkansas Baptist College.

People come into our lives for a reason.

We may not know the why or even the how someone elses path intersects with our own.

For Jordan Penn, he believes there is a plan and while that plan didn’t fit what he saw for his life at the time, Penn wouldn’t have it any other way.

Penn now works at Poplar Bluff High School but previously, he was the athletic director at East Carter. Enter Robert Henning.

Penn first met Henning when the now college freshman was in junior high. Henning played basketball for Penn and at the time that was about it. He knew Henning was in the foster care system and was with a local family.

“He tried out for basketball and was a big kid then so I decided to keep him and help him stay out of trouble,” Penn said.

Henning then played baseball in the spring where Penn was an assistant coach for the Redbirds.

“I kind of had some connection to him through that year,” he said.

Henning agreed.

He said he had a bond with the man who to this day, Henning still calls Coach.

“We had that coach-player friendship,” he said.

During Henning’s freshman year at East Carter, a few things occurred leading to him wanting a different place to stay.

Penn, who was single at the time and living with his brother, was asked if Henning could stay the weekend.

Penn admitted he didn’t think he could handle a teenager given his situation at the time. Henning then moved to Poplar Bluff after Penn suggested he give football a go.

Fast forward to March of his freshman year and Henning moved back to Elsinore.

In October of his sophmore year, Henning needed help and he turned to Penn.

“I was coaching basketball one night and somebody reached out to me,” he said. “Robert ran away from home. Can you try to get in touch with him?”

After the game, Penn picked Henning up and took him to his house.

“We had a sit down, heart-to-heart conversation with him and my wife in our living room,” Penn said. “He said he was tired of taking care of himself and needed somebody to take care of him. He wanted to live with us. We talked about it, he went to sleep in our guest room and we decided that’s what we were going to do.”

Penn had just gotten married a couple of months prior so Henning wasn’t only becoming a fixture in his life but in his wife’s as well.

He said he knew it was a big decision and it took some time to determine if it was the correct one.

Robert Henning (center) stands with Jordan and Kristen Penn after the Redbirds� Yellow Sucker Championship Award from a few years ago.Photo provided

“We prayed about it,” he said. “Is this what you think is best for us? We both kind of felt like it was and we jumped right in. There really wasn’t a whole lot of conversation about it, to be honest. It was hey, this kids needs, wants to be here. We feel we can provide a good influce for him. Let’s do it and see what happens.

“Little did we know that time when we said yes, it turned into four or five years later down the road and he’s still living with us. It was just something we felt led to do.”

Penn, a Portageville native, said he’s seen people struggle at times and he’s always wanted to be a helpful hand to those in need.

“I got to see his progress out of basketball and in the classrom, at home, through church and things like that,” Penn said of Henning. “That was probably the best part of it.”

Penn got to see Henning grow as a person — emotionally and physically, — which led to an idea for Penn.

Somewthing that Henning could do after he graduated from East Carter.

“I had some background coaching football,” he said. “I knew the type of kid that was he with his speed, his athleticism and his strength. He really wasn’t a baseball player, that takes a lot of skill. He wasn’t going anywehre to play basketball.

“Football was an opportunity that he could maybe make something of himself. He wasn’t sure if college was an option. He didn’t even always want to go to college. But I said if you got an opportunity to play football, you need to try it and see what happens.”

*Find the continuation of Henning’s story in Friday’s Daily American Republic.