The Little Rock School District Athletic Foundation was created in 2017 to support strategic initiatives of the LRSD for the purposes of engaging and attracting students through extracurricular activities to ultimately compete through interscholastic competition. Students engaged in activities outside the classroom often have better rates of attendance, retention, and academic achievement.
Dr. Fitzgerald Hill was selected as 13th President of Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock, AR on February 1, 2006. After 10 years of leading the Historical Black College, Dr. Hill stepped down to assume leadership roles as Executive Director of the Arkansas Baptist College Foundation and The Scott Ford Center for Entreprenuership and Community Development.
In July of 2016, Governor Asa Hutchinson appointed the outgoing college president to a seven year term on the State Board of Education. Since 2011, Hill has served as a Board of Director for Bear State Bank. During the fall of 2016, Hill accepted a sport and recruting analyst position with the tag name “The Doctor of Football” on the popular Drive Time Radio Show, KABZ 103.7 The Buzz. In the spring of 2017, the Education Evangelist teamed up with New Life Church to assist in launching a downtown campus in Little Rock. In the Fall of 2017, Hill was the cataylst for the creation of the Little Rock School District Athletic Foundation where he also serves as the President and CEO.
A 1980 Hall High graduate and State Championship Quarterback, Jay has been a product of and a part of the Little Rock School District his entire life. He has served on the Central High Tiger Foundation Board, supported VIPS (Volunteers in Public Schools), and all 3 of his daughters attended LRSD.
Before forming Gadberry Financial Group in 2010, Jay was with Morgan Stanley for 9 years and Morgan Keegan for 14 years. He began his career as a CPA with Ernst and Whinney after graduation from the University of Arkansas.
An avid golfer and deer and duck hunter, Jay is also a member of the Little Rock Downtown Rotary, on the Foundation Board of Centers for Youth & Families, on the Board of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, and serves on the Arkansas Regional Committee for Campaign ARKANSAS for the U of A. He and his wife Pam are active members of St. James United Methodist Church where he serves on the Endowment Fund and Hospitality Committees.
Jay previously sat on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Foundation Board, was founding Chairman of the UAMS Consortium, and a founding member of the UAMS Bioventure Advisory Board and Arkansas Children’s Hospital Committee for the Future.
Mike Poore was appointed Superintendent of the Little Rock School District in June 2016. A veteran educator with more than 33 years of experience as a teacher, coach, athletic director, assistant principal, principal, and executive director, Poore has dedicated his life's work to students. He has served in top administrative roles including as deputy superintendent in Colorado Springs, Colorado and as superintendent of Sheridan School District in Denver, Colorado. Poore moved to Arkansas in June 2011 to become superintendent of the Bentonville Public Schools. While at the helm in Little Rock, Don Roberts Elementary earned a National Blue Ribbon distinction, and Parkview Magnet and Central high schools were named 3rd and 6th best Arkansas high schools, respectively, by US News and World Report. During his tenure in Bentonville, that district was honored for excellence in education. Niche.com ranked Bentonville as the top school district in the state.
Poore has been recognized as a leader in creating a pipeline to connect high school students to local careers and postsecondary education opportunities. As a result of his advocacy for literacy, LRSD’s 2017 district-wide reading initiative now serves as a national model. He serves on the board of directors of Economics Arkansas, and was the board president in 2014-15. Along with his service on the Arkansas Professional State License Standards board, Poore is an active member of Rotary Club where he is also a distinguished Paul Harris Fellow. A native of Kansas, he and his wife, Marianne, have a blended family of five children.
Marcus Elliott is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas and a product of the Little Rock School District as a 1981 graduate of Historic Central High School. Elliott excelled academically as an honor roll student and athletically as a three year started on two #1 ranked State Championship Tiger football teams. Led by Head Coach Bernie Coach, Elliott's Tiger football teams loss only one game in three years. Coached by track coaching legend Clyde Horton, Elliott set state records in the Shot Put and Discus events while helping the Tiger track team win a state title. Elliott was named to the prestigious Parade high school All American football team.
Elliott attended the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville on a football scholarship. He started 3 years for the Razorbacks and was named All Conference in his junior and senior seasons. He was voted team captain of the 1984 team.
In December of 1985 Elliott graduated from the U of A in 4 years with a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration degree.Elliott began a business career that included leadership positions with several prominent Fortune 500 companies including Navistar International, Alltel Communications, Lilly Pharmaceuticals, Medtronic Inc. He currently serves as Director of Employer Relations with Conway Regional Health Systems. He is also a licensed ordained minister for over 10 years. For more than 20 years Elliott is known throughout the State for his regular role on the popular Radio sports program "Drive Time Sportstalk." In the Early to mid '90s Elliott used the radio program as a platform for change in the community He worked with other former LRSD athlete and business leaders to initiate the original "Letterjacket for Athletes" fundraising effort to encourage more participation by kids in Athletics in the LRSD. The program raised money that purchased letter jackets free of charge for kids earning letters. This program continues today and has received support from notable LRSD alumni such as the NBA's Joe Johnson who sponsored the LRSD "Jammin for Jackets" basketball tournament for many years.
Elliott most recently worked with LRSD Athletic foundation's 6th and Goal program and is excited to serve a a member of the Foundations board led by President Fitz Hill.
John Daniels is a teaching and coaching veteran of the Arkansas Public School System as well a seasoned athletic administrator that brings an abundance of experience to the athletic department of the Little Rock School District. The Dumas High School graduate has been leading the LRSD Athletic Department since 2015. Coach Daniels received a BS in Education from the University of Arkansas Monticello and a M.Ed in Educational Leadership from the University of Central Arkansas. After accepting the leadership role in athletics, his focus has been improving the district’s facilities as well as ensuring all coaches have the best resources to serve LRSD student athletes.
Bill Ingram is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas where he graduated from Parkview Magnet High School. Realizing the importance of an education, Bill enrolled at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Coupled with pursuing a quality education, Bill was an athlete at the University. He completed his Bachelors of Science Degree in Sociology and upon graduating, Bill transitioned back to Little Rock and begin a long career with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
After Bill’s personal athletic career, he turned his focus to the athletic careers of others by establishing the Joe Johnson Arkansas Hard At Work Kid (H.A.W.K.S.) Boys Basketball Organization. Bill has served as coach of countless Arkansas Hawks teams, and currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. His passion and compassion for kids and their success is unmatched.
Bill saw the need of having a major basketball tournament in Arkansas, and with that vision, he founded the Real Deal in the Rock Basketball Tournament. For the past 15 years, Real Deal in the Rock is the number one (1) rated spring basketball tournament as proclaimed by several media outlets. Because of Bill’s life-long affiliation and success with sports, he is a member of the Board of Directors for the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame since 2017 and is a regular on various television and radio talk shows pertaining to sports.
He is the father of two daughters Briana Ingram and Brittney Wilson and is currently employed as a Project Manager with VCC Construction Inc.
