Even earlier than he stepped on the campus at Elkins Excessive College lower than a yr in the past, junior Slade “Dizzy” Dean, already had one of many sport world’s all-time best nicknames.
After all, it was made well-known by his nice, nice uncle, Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean, a member of the Baseball Corridor of Fame, and one of many recreation’s most colourful icons. Jay’s youthful brother, Paul Dee “Daffy” Dean, a long-time big-league pitcher, was Slade’s nice grandfather.
“I just like the identify,” the Elks’ quarterback stated with a smile. “Most everybody that hears my identify for the primary time has to ask me about it. Folks appear to get pleasure from it, and clearly, there’s a whole lot of historical past behind it.”
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Slade “Dizzy” Dean transferred to Elkins final college yr on the Christmas break and has develop into one of many extra prolific passers in Class 4A.
Historical past can be what the youthful Dean helps create at Elkins this season, alongside fellow junior backfield mate, Da’Shawn Chairs. The 2 have been a dynamic one-two punch and propelled the Elks to a 10-1 report this season, going through a house showdown with Nashville Friday evening within the Class 4A state quarterfinals.
Dean is the state’s third main passer in 4A, with 2,446 yards and 32 touchdowns by the air. Chairs is the state’s second-leading rusher with 1,748 yards and 29 TDs on the bottom.
“Dizzy has had an unbelievable yr and Da’Shawn is simply phenomenal – he’s a particular participant,” stated second-year Elkins coach Zach Watson, who then grinned and added, “They usually’re juniors, man, which makes you are feeling good realizing that you should have them each right here once more subsequent yr.”
Dean and his twin brother, Stone, an H-back and linebacker for Elks, moved with their household to Northwest Arkansas from Greenwood through the Christmas break final yr. Greenwood’s storied program was loaded with gifted quarterbacks and the Deans had been already trying to transfer nearer to prolonged household. Joe Trusty left to develop into the beginning quarterback at Alma and the Deans transferred to Elkins.
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The household was additionally accustomed to Watson, who was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Greenwood earlier than taking up the Elks’ program.
“Greenwood had an excellent quarterback room with a whole lot of actually good quarterbacks, so we knew Coach Watson from his time there and simply thought this is able to be an excellent spot to return in and play,” Dizzy Dean stated. “I knew he ran the type of offense that I favored to run — that open-style that throws it round. We knew he was an excellent coach and would get issues circled right here. And we simply wished to be part of that.”
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Dean started to get accustomed to his new offense throughout spring and summer season, which eased the transition into this season. That additionally included balancing it with baseball, the household custom he and his brother are persevering with at Elkins.
“It’s been a whole lot of enjoyable with this soccer group,” he stated. “We’ve been capable of rating a whole lot of factors this yr and different groups have actually struggled with us with the ability to throw it and run the ball in addition to we now have. Early within the yr, the defenses had been actually keying on the run, due to how nicely Da’Shawn did final yr. So, the passing recreation has actually opened stuff up for him.”
Chairs hit the scene with a bang final season as a speedy 150-pound sophomore, who rapidly grew to become some of the elusive runners in Northwest Arkansas. He racked up 1,502 yards on 203 carries with 29 touchdowns a yr in the past and put opponents on discover heading into this season.
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“It was a bit of laborious at first, as a result of being a sophomore, nobody actually expects to have that large of a job,” stated the life-long Elkins child. “However I needed to are available in and be a pacesetter and earn that respect by grinding on daily basis. But it surely additionally helps me that our blocking down area is superb, and when these guys pull, they pull with objective each single time. I simply hit the holes with pace, and now I’m beginning to learn them so much higher.”
Da’Shawn Chairs burst on the scene as a sophomore final season however is much more highly effective this season with 30 kilos of added muscle.
The 5-foot-8, 175-pound Chairs, who gained the indoor state championship within the 60-meter sprint final spring with a time of seven.1 seconds, has now added almost 30 kilos of muscle to his physique within the offseason and has confirmed to be much more elusive.
“Now he’s working by these arm-tackles that had been getting him final yr,” Watson added.
In final Friday’s 63-27 victory over Ashdown within the second spherical of the playoffs, Chairs broke unfastened for 329 yards on 17 carries – 19.3 yards a contact. He additionally caught 5 passes for 71 yards and returned a kickoff 51 yards, for a complete of 451 yards of complete offense.
“And that was in opposition to a very good soccer group within the playoffs,” Watson stated. ”Da’Shawn simply has unbelievable imaginative and prescient after which his top-end pace. However I can let you know, he’s even a greater child than he’s a soccer participant. So, I’m proud to see the yr that he’s having.
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“And we now have so many weapons round them, as nicely, with our vast receivers and our offensive line, which has continued to enhance since day one. It has been particular to see how the offense has developed and matured.”
Dean and Chairs have created a proverbial thunder and lightning assault for the Elks, which makes them troublesome to defend. Watson and Dean typically are available in on Sundays to interrupt down movie collectively in preparation for his or her upcoming opponents.
“First, we search for matchups that can give us a bonus – any means we are able to get numbers or leverage on the protection,” Dean stated. “Then, we determine what gamers we need to assault on the protection and take a look at the opposite group’s weaknesses and attempt to expose them. We talk about what we each like and begin arising with a recreation plan.”
Da’Shwan Chairs and Slide “Dizzy” Dean have labored collectively to make Elkins a menace to go deep within the Class 4A playoffs with a quarterfinal house recreation with Nashville arising Friday evening.
Watson knew instantly that the Dean brothers would match proper in with the hard-working type of your entire Elkins neighborhood, simply by the work ethic they displayed as soon as they arrived.
“Stone and Dizzy are each staff, man,” he stated. “And that is what this whole neighborhood is about. So, when everybody else began seeing how laborious these guys labored, they had been accepted by our guys straight away.”
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Dizzy is normally the primary one to reach for each day exercises, typically arriving by 6 a.m. It’s that sort of management that has endeared him to his teammates and has carried over to the Elks’ success on the sector.
“He has so many bodily traits which can be nice for a quarterback,” Watson stated. “A robust arm and good pace, however the factor that separates him is his relentless work ethic. He’s a coach on the sector, particularly with the movie research that he places in each week. He is aware of what the protection goes to do earlier than they even do it.”
Elkins can be anticipated to be even higher subsequent season, with Dean and Chairs again for his or her senior seasons. However that thought has been placed on the again burner proper now, as your entire focus is on Nashville and the rest of those playoffs. With three extra victories, Elkins might make historical past by successful its first state championship.
“Will probably be thrilling to have a bunch of fellows again subsequent yr, and I believe we might be simply nearly as good, or higher, subsequent yr,” Dean stated. “However we’ve simply acquired to maintain working tougher and keep wholesome till we end this season.”
Dean Household Historical past: The unique Dizzy Dean was born in Lucas, Ark., in 1910. He made his Main League debut with the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 28, 1930, earlier than being named Nationwide League MVP and main the group to a World Sequence title in 1934. He was the ace of the famed “Gashouse Gang” and in addition frolicked with the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Browns earlier than retiring in 1947. The four-time All-Star was inducted to the Corridor of Fame in 1953 and handed away in 1974.
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Daffy Dean was additionally born in Lucas in 1912 and performed within the Majors from 1934-43. He, too, was a member of that 1934 World Champion group along with his brother and threw his solely no-hitter as a 22-year-old rookie that season. He performed for the Cardinals, the New York Giants and the Browns, and was dwelling in Springdale when he handed away in 1981.
The Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield building in Little Rock (Michael Pirnique)
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Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield sent layoff notices to 2% of its workforce — about 75 employees — on Thursday after reporting a loss of more than $100 million in the first three quarters of 2024, the state’s dominant health insurance carrier confirmed.
The Little Rock nonprofit had 3,375 employees as of April 2024, and its $3.14 billion in 2023 revenue put it at the top of Arkansas Business‘ most recent list of the state’s largest private companies.
But revenue in the first three quarters of 2024 was down by almost 7%, and the company (officially USAble Mutual) reported to the Arkansas Insurance Department a net loss of $100.5 million for those nine months. That compares with net income of $94.7 million for the same period in 2023, although the year finished with net income of just $13.2 million.
“The reduction in workforce was due to changing conditions in the market and increasing financial pressures primarily due to health care costs jumping to the highest levels in more than a decade,” Max Greenwood, an ABCBS spokeswoman, said in response to email questions Thursday afternoon.
ABCBS also has seen “large increases” in the use of all medical services, especially prescription drugs.
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“These situations have caused necessary shifts in business strategy across the health care and health care insurance industries,” she said.
In addition, the insurance company lost tens of thousands of members as result of the state’s disenrollment of tens people on Medicaid in 2023.
As part of the Obama-era Medicaid expansion, the state pays private insurers to provide health insurance policies to qualifying Arkansans under the Arkansas Health & Opportunity for Me program, or ARHOME. This program had been known as the “private option” and Arkansas Works.
In January 2023, ABCBS had about 207,000 ARHome members. By December 2024, it was down to 108,729, Greenwood said.
“We’ve also seen a drastic increase in the claims amounts among our ARHome population,” she said. “Remember, since we were the first company who offered ARHome policies statewide when the program began, our block of members in that program is older and most likely unhealthier than what other carriers may be experiencing.”
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ABCBS’ premium revenue fell during the first three quarters of 2024. It reported $2.2 billion premiums collected net of reinsurance through Sept. 30, a 4.8% drop from the same period in 2023.
The insurance company’s total members also fell from 630,444 on Dec. 31, 2023, to 598,492 on Sept. 30. The biggest drop came from its comprehensive individual plan. In that group, the total members fell nearly 17% to 132,596 members.
ABCBS also laid off 85 employees in January 2024. Those positions have not been refilled, Greenwood said.
She said it was too early to tell what the financial numbers will look like for the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31. No additional layoffs are planned at this time.
“Every executive vice president was asked to make reductions in their areas,” she said.
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Greenwood said the insurance company has made several other budget-tightening moves for 2025. “We’ve reduced our budget by more than 7% including cuts to consulting and outside vendor costs, contract labor, software and equipment and facility costs,” she said. “We’ve also had to implement substantial premium increases on our small and large groups.”
Greenwood said the company has a strong balance sheet and has no concerns about its liquidity.
Founded in 1948, Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield offers health and dental insurance policies for individuals and families.
Topping out ceremony for new $33.9 million Arkansas Tech University Ferguson Student Union set for Tuesday in Russellville | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech University and Kinco Constructors will host a topping out ceremony for the $33.9 million Ferguson Student Union at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Attendance will be open to the public. Those in attendance will have an opportunity to sign the final steel beam before it is put in place atop the facility. Refreshments will be served in Chambers Cafeteria West Dining Room following the ceremony.
Construction on Ferguson Student Union on its Russellville campus began last year after the ATU Board of Trustees accepted the guaranteed maximum price for building the facility during its meeting on June 20.
Kinco Constructors submitted a final price of $33,946,865 for the project. That figure includes the cost of demolishing the Administration Building and Tomlinson Hall, constructing Ferguson Student Union and parking lot development on the south side of the new building
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Parking for the event will be in the lot between Rothwell Hall and Doc Bryan Student Services Center with overflow in the Tucker Coliseum parking lot. Golf cart shuttles to and from the ceremony site will be available.
Those unable to attend the ceremony who wish to sign the steel beam may do so from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday and beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday through the ceremony at 2 p.m. that afternoon. The beam will be located on the east side of the construction site near Rothwell Hall and Dr. Robert Charles Brown and Jill Lestage Brown Hall.
Construction of Ferguson Student Union began in July 2024 and is scheduled to be complete in early 2026.
Located on the parcel of land between Chambers Cafeteria and the Hull Physical Education Building, Ferguson Student Union is named for ATU benefactors Cindi and Jimmy Ferguson.
Ferguson Student Union will provide student meeting spaces, lounge spaces for students to enjoy during their free time, fast casual dining, an e-sports gaming lab, basketball courts, a location to check out outdoor recreation gear and workout areas for cardiovascular and strength fitness training.
Arkansas offensive line signee Bubba Craig is expected to report Fayetteville this weekend for the spring semester.
Craig, 6-6 and 315 pounds, of Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College picked the Hogs over Temple, Liberty, Texas -San Antonio and others.
On3.com industry ranking list him the No. 1 interior offensive lineman and No. 23 overall junior college prospect.
Nickname: Bubba
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Favorite thing about playing on the O-line: Moving people
Football has taught me: Patience
My parents stay on me to: Be great at whatever I do
My favorite childhood memory: Building a fort in my yard. It fell over because I was like 10 years old and my siblings and I didn’t know we were doing but ut was still cool.
