Henderson inducts nine into Hall of Honor 
Nine former athletes were inducted into Henderson State University Reddie Hall of Honor Oct. 3 during a ceremony in the Garrison Center Grand Ballroom.
Category I (football and basketball) inductees include a former Reddie basketball player and coach Grady Bean, and three-time All-American football player Devon Hughes.
Category II (other men’s sports) inductees include two-time All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference golfer James Barnes and two-time All-American diver Don Mixon.
From Category III (women’s sports) are two-time All-Gulf South Conference and All-American basketball player Saprina Reed-Burnett, and four-time All-Gulf South Conference volleyball player Bethany Wright.
Selected from the Heritage Category is Reddie football player and track and field performer Russell Cerrato.
Also selected to this year’s Hall of Honor class is Paul Dixon, who received the Distinguished Service Award, and Dr. William Durand, who was presented the Willie Tate Meritorious Humanitarian Award.
Grady Bean
Grady Bean played guard for the Reddie basketball team and lettered four years from 1976 to 1980. Henderson compiled an overall record of 97-24 during Bean’s playing career.
The Amity, Ark., native was instrumental in the Reddies’ three Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championships. He also was part of the 1976-77 team that finished third at the NAIA National Tournament. Two years later the Reddies finished as NAIA National Runner-up.
The 1976-77 team was the only team in the history of the AIC and HSU to go undefeated for the entire conference season.
During his career, Bean played 119 games and compiled 288 assists, which ranks seventh in HSU history.
In 1983, Bean was named head coach at Henderson State becoming the youngest coach in the history of college basketball in the state of Arkansas.
Bean held the position until 1990 compiling a record of 101-111 including a 20 win season in 1988-89. The 101 victories ranks third on the all-time list of victories by a head coach at HSU.
Bean coached 11 all conference players and All-Americans Dionne Dale and Andre Ware.
Bean is one of three head coaches in the modern era to have played and coached basketball at HSU, joining Bobby Reese and Sam Weaver.
Devon Hughes
Devon Hughes is one of the most decorated defensive backs in school history earning All-American honors three times.
In 2006 he was a Don Hansen Football Gazette honorable mention pick, followed by garnering second-team Don Hansen All-American honors in 2007 and 2008. Hughes was also a two-time D2Football.com honorable mention pick in 2007 and 2008, as well as a Daktronics Second Team All-American in 2008.
Additionally, Hughes earned first-team All-Southeast Region honors in 2007 and 2008. A three-time All-Gulf South Conference pick, he earned first team league honors twice.
A native of Marlin Texas, Hughes led the nation in passes defended three consecutive years including 27 in 2006, 23 in 2007 and 22 in 2008.
Of his 14 interceptions, he returned one for 42 yards for a touchdown in 2006 in helping lead the Reddies to a 16-13 overtime win against 12th-ranked Delta State snapping a nine-game losing streak against the Statesmen.
In 2007, he picked off a pass against Southern Arkansas and returned it for a 51-yard score in the Reddies’ 58-34 win over the Muleriders.
The following year, Hughes set a record for the longest interception return for a touchdown in HSU history with a 95-yard pick on Sept. 27, 2008 against SAU.
Hughes holds the HSU, GSC and NCAA career recorded for passes defended having a total of 75 with 61 pass breakups along with 194 total tackles.
Hughes is the first player from the Scott Maxfield era to be inducted into the Reddie Hall of Honor.
James Barnes
James Barnes lettered two years as a member of the Henderson State golf team in 1991 and 1992.
Barnes was part of two AIC Championships and earned All-AIC and All-NAIA District 17 honors in 1992.
Both years Barnes finished in the top 10 at the AIC Championships.
Following graduation from Henderson, he helped establish a college textbook company. In 1997, Textbook Brokers was established as the alternative for textbook sales.
Barnes, who has been a major contributor to Henderson State, currently serves as president of BBA Solutions.
Don Mixon
Don Mixon was a diver on the Red Wave swim team from 1981 to 1984.
In 1982, Mixon qualified for NAIA nationals after winning the conference championship in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
The following year, he became HSU’s first individual All-American in both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards at nationals and again was the conference champion on both boards.
He claimed his third conference championship in both diving events and went on to earn honorable mention All-American honors.
Saprina Reed-Burnett
Saprina Reed-Burnett played women’s basketball for two seasons at Henderson State and led the Reddies to their first-ever NCAA Division II Elite 8 appearance in 2004.
The native of England, Ark., Reed earned Kodak/WBCA All-American Honorable Mention honors in 2005 after averaging 14.1 points per game while totaling 69 assists to go along with 133 steals.
A First-Team All-Gulf South Conference pick in 2004 and 2005, Reed helped lead HSU to its first GSC Tournament Championship in 2004 and a GSC West Division Title in 2005.
In 2005 she was selected to the GSC All-Tournament and NCAA All-South Region teams.
During Henderson State’s Elite 8 season in 2003-2004, Reed led the team in scoring averaging 16.3 points per game while having 99 assists and 122 steals.
During her career, Reed averaged 15.2 points per game as well as 3.7 steals per game having a total of 255 steals during her career. She ranks fifth in HSU history in scoring having totaled 1080 points.
Reed was selected to the GSC All-Decade Team in 2010.
Bethany Wright
Bethany Wright was a four-year letterman in volleyball from 2006 to 2009.
Wright was a first-team All-Gulf South Conference selection three times and was a second-team All-GSC selection and the GSC Freshman of the Year in 2006.
In 2006 she was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Freshman of the Year. She earned AVCA All-Region honors twice and was a First-Team Daktronics All-Region pick in 2008 and 2009.
A Daktronics All-American selection in 2008 and 2009, Wright received the GSC Commissioner’s Trophy for the top female student-athlete of the year.
Wright holds the GSC and HSU career record for digs in a career with 2,880 which ranks fifth all-time in NCAA Division II history. Her 6.30 digs per game is third in NCAA D2 history.
The native of Georgetown, Texas also holds the HSU and GSC record for digs in a season with 862 set in 2006.
In 125 total career matches played, Wright had 10 or more digs 122 times, 20 or more digs 77 times, 30 or more digs 20 times, 40 or more digs 8 times, and on three occasions she totaled 50 or more digs including a HSU and GSC single match record of 55 on Oct. 7, 2007 against Harding.
Russell Cerrato
Russell Cerrato lettered four years in football and three years in track from 1958 to 1961.
Cerrato earned first-team All-AIC linebacker in 1958 and was a member of the 1959 AIC Championship Reddie football team.
He graduated from Henderson receiving a B.S.E. and later a M.S.E.
A distinguished ROTC military graduate, Cerrato returned from active duty in the U.S. Army and served as an assistant football and track coach at Caruthersville High School in Missouri.
Cerrato went on to coach football at Bearden and Helena before serving as an assistant football coach at East Texas State and later Wake Forest University.
Cerrato returned to Henderson in 1973 and was the Reddies’ offensive coordinator for three years. During those three seasons, Henderson State won three straight AIC titles, finished as NAIA National Runners-up in 1974, and won the Bicentennial Bowl in 1975.
The Reddies compiled a 32-4 record while losing just one conference game in three years.
Cerrato served as professor of health, physical education and recreation and also worked as the university’s registrar.
After retirement, Cerrato continued to serve the university as a member of the alumni board, chair of the Distinguished Alumni and ‘H’ Award committees.
An avid cyclist, Cerrato began competing on the competitive level at the age of 47. He has won numerous national championships in the Senior Olympics. He became the first masters (30+) cyclist from Arkansas to make the podium in the U.S. Cycling Federation National Championships.
Paul Dixon
Paul Dixon is receiving the Distinguished Service Award for his dedication to Henderson State University.
Dixon was appointed to the Henderson Board of Trustees by Gov. Bill Clinton in 1992, serving for two years as the chairman. Dixon went on to serve on the Board of Trustees for 14 years.
A Reddie football player from 1953 to 1956, Dixon graduated from Henderson State in 1956 with a bachelor of arts degree and a commission as a second lieutenant in the Military Police Corps.
A former prominent Arkansas realtor, Dixon was the recipient of the HSU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005.
A long-time supporter of Henderson State athletics, Dixon is a past president and board member of the Henderson Alumni Association, past potentate of Scimitar Shriners and past president of the Arkansas Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Dr. William Durand
Dr. William Durand is this year’s recipient of the Willie Tate Meritorious Humanitarian Award. The award honors those who truly define the word humanitarian, positively influence the betterment of the community and represent the meaning of the “Reddie Spirit.”
Durand began teaching mathematics at Henderson in 1966 and was called a “teacher’s teacher” by his peers.
Durand has served as the official scorer for Henderson State basketball for over 40 years and has also attended numerous Reddie athletic events. A tremendous supporter of Reddie Athletics, he has assisted with counseling and tutoring of several student-athletes as well as making numerous financial donations.
He received a number of federal grants to develop and offer summer mathematics workshops for elementary, middle school and secondary math teachers.
Durand was also instrumental in organizing the Southwest Arkansas Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
He became chairman of the department of mathematics and computer science in 1997.
In 1999, Durand received the Outstanding Teacher Award presented by the Oklahoma-Arkansas Section of the Mathematical Association of America.
He received the title of Distinguished Professor at Henderson in 2005.