Kennett Hall of Fame: Patton, ‘Chain Gang’ join the enshrined

The prestigious Kennett Hall of Fame grew by four new members during a special ceremony at halftime of the Indians game versus Hayti on Friday, Aug. 25.

Current Kennett assistant boys basketball coach John Patton and chain gang crew Mike Rhew, Jim Warrington and the late Robert Pulliam Sr. all were enshrined.

Patton received one plaque, and all three members of the chain gang were pictured on the other.

The Kennett High School Hall of Fame is physically located inside the foyer of the gymnasium — complete with those enshrined in the past.

“It’s a big deal,” said Patton of his induction. “The committee, that I was once on, voted for this.”

Patton and the sport of basketball have been joined at the hip. He was a former forward for Kennett in the mid-1980s, which included playing a district final versus Charleston.

While attending college at Arkansas State University, Patton would routinely play pick-up basketball games against then Indians athletes — including former Philadelphia Eagle Fred Barnett.

After graduating from Arkansas State, Patton returned to Kennett and has been involved with the Indians basketball program since 2006.

Patton noted that first-year head coach Fred Garmon will be the sixth head coach he’s worked under. Both Garmon and assistant Jack Lan Walls played for Kennett while Patton was an assistant.

As volunteer assistant, Patton’s primary function has been serving as a statistician.

“Statistics can tell a lot about what’s happening in a game,” Patton said in a telephone interview with the Delta Dunklin Democrat on Thursday, Aug. 31.

Daughters Sydney and Caroline were former Kennett girls basketball players. Caroline scored more than 1,000 points in her scholastic career.

Patton also organizes a Kennett-based fifth- and sixth-grade travel basketball team, which plays other schools in the area.

These days, Patton is vice president at Kennett Trust Bank, and he also serves as its IT manager.

CHAIN GANG

Both Mike Rhew and Jim Warrington fondly recalled Pulliam Sr., who had the pivotal role of manning the down indicator as part of the chain gang.

“Robert was the heart and soul,” said Rhew, who has been on the chain gang for 31 years. “Even as he was undergoing chemotherapy, he was still out there. I

wish he was here to see this.”

As touchingly stated in his obituary on the Carter Funeral Home (Caruthersville) website: “Robert loved sports, from his high school career, to coaching his children and grandchild from on the field to the sidelines. You would always see Robert on Friday nights holding the chain for the high school football team.”

Rhew had other obligations in high school which prevented him from playing organized school sports.

Joining the chain gang in the 1990s began a connection with Kennett athletics for Rhew, a longtime auto mechanics instructor at the school’s career and technology center.

“This has been a blast,” Rhew said. “I’ve joined the camaraderie, watch the kids, and see the other teams and how they go about it. I’m not going to give it up.”

Rhew had the pleasure of watching his son, Andy, play for Kennett up close.

Running the chain gang is a mechanical endeavor, and it takes plenty of manpower.

Rhew typically holds one end of the chain. Warrington handles the target marker, and other men serve on the crew.

“It’s one of the biggest honors I’ve had,” Warrington said. “This has been a lot of fun, and it’s like being in the game again for me.”

Rhew recruited Warrington, who worked in the telephone industry for more than three decades.

The chain gang was short on crew members one night, and Rhew knew Warrington would be there because his daughters Lindsay and Jaime were cheerleaders.

Football has been a part of the Warrington family legacy. Jim’s father played for the Indians. Jim was a former Kennett wide receiver in the 1970s, back when the position was primarily for blocking and not pass catching.