Rinke Memorial Scholarship established

story by Aric Mitchell
[email protected]

Plans for the Steve Rinke Memorial Scholarship are moving closer to fruition, according to organizer Bill Coffelt of Hanna Oil and Gas.

Rinke, who most knew as “The Voice of the Southside Rebels,” died of a heart attack while working at the KOOL 104.7 station on Feb. 23, 2011.

Coffelt said formal announcement may happen in the next 2-3 weeks with the actual $1,000 scholarship going into effect “in 1-2 years.”

Coffelt said the selection committee would be Southside faculty, while the Arkansas Community Foundation (ACF) would handle administration of the endowment. To meet the requirements of an ongoing endowed scholarship, the Steve Rinke Memorial will have to raise $20,000. Coffelt noted fundraising efforts are currently underway.

The annual scholarship would pay out to students, who plan to attend a four-year school and major in broadcast, journalism, and media. Minimum eligibility requirements would include either a 2.75 grade-point average or a 21 on the ACT. Criteria will primarily be judged on the basis of financial need, community service, and school participation.

Coffelt describes himself as a fan of Rinke, who “had the privilege of meeting him” through Rinke’s friend, Fox 24 Station Manager Marty Houston.

“I moved to the area about 15 years ago, so it was only natural to follow the local teams, especially when Graham (Coffelt’s son) got in to Ramsey, and later became a Southside Rebel,” Coffelt said. “I got really used to hearing Steve’s voice on the Southside broadcast. He’d always tell these dippy, corny jokes, and get so excited.”

Coffelt noted that Southside’s upset of Rogers in the 2006 state football championship game was probably what excited Rinke most. Coffelt met Rinke two years after he started listening and remembers a man, who was passionate about what he did, rabid about local sports in general, and always accessible to listeners, coaches, and players.

Fort Smith Radio Group President and CEO Bill Pharis added, “He certainly was a good friend and employee. He was also a very good sports broadcaster and did a very good morning show. Naturally, we phased him into different things, because he could do it all. He made a real impact with listeners, coaches, and news sources. Ray Baker (former Mayor of Fort Smith) said, ‘Don’t lose this guy.’ Steve just put people at ease.”

Concerning that “corny” sense of humor that Coffelt mentioned, Pharis said, “Steve would point out that he was corny. In fact, sometimes he’d say it right after he cracked one of his jokes: ‘That’s the corniest joke I’ve ever told.’ He always poked fun at himself, and had such a self deprecating humor. Whenever someone was talking about being short, he’d always brag that he was the shortest guy in the room. He made friends very quickly, and he kept them.”

Pharis continued: “There are two kinds of people on the radio: those, who are very good when the doors are closed, but when they get outside the building, they don’t want to talk and they shy away from everyone; then there are the other kinds, who can do a great show, and they love to be around people. That was Steve.”

Houston, a fellow graduate with Rinke and Chuck Barrett from the Clarksville Class of 1979, told The Varsity Wire about the last time he saw his friend.

“I don’t remember specific conversations, but I do remember you could always get him to do his Rodney Dangerfield impersonation, and he was doing it that day. He was always one with the corny jokes and punchlines. I finished my radio shift. Dennis Snow was working that day, and he was telling a story about an Oklahoma man, who tried to stick a chainsaw in his pants and walk out of the store with it. Steve loved that. I had to go to Fayetteville later in the day, but until I left, I could hear Steve outside my door making chainsaw noises. When I came back, another guy was working and told me he’d collapsed, that it didn’t look good, and that he felt like Steve had probably passed.”

For Pharis, the last day he worked with Rinke is “a tough one to look back on.” Pharis found Rinke after he collapsed.

“It was a day like any other. He did his morning show, went home for a nap as he sometimes did, and then came back. One of the sales people asked him about a commercial. He went into the production room. I had just walked past him. When I came back through, it couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes later, he had collapsed. The emergency personnel and doctors did everything they could to revive him, but I’ve heard someone make the comparison, and this is exactly right., that it was like a shoelace. It does its job every day. It’s dependable, always there, and holds things together. Then one day, it just breaks and there’s nothing you can do to fix it. Nothing you can do to stop it,” Pharis said.

Houston said about a week later Rinke’s son Conner turned 13.

“Steve didn’t have a big social life outside of his son and his work. He was very doting on his son. It was such a tough time in Conner’s life to lose his dad and have to experience that without him,” Houston said.

Coffelt admits he didn’t know Rinke as well as some, but the man’s work left an indelible impression on himself and son Graham, a senior Rebel with an interest in sports journalism.

"Bill’s (Coffelt) work on the scholarship is a testament to the kind of man and the kind of professional that Steve was," Houston said. "Here’s a man that knew him pretty much through his work, and was moved to set this up in Steve’s honor.”

Donations can be made online at the Arkansas Community Foundation website, or by check to:
Arkansas Community Foundation
C / O Steve Rinke Memorial Scholarship
Union Station
1400 West Markham, Suite 206
Little Rock, AR  72201