Mr. Mike Dugan

Mike Dugan, 66, of Hot Springs died on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 4, following a short battle with brain cancer. Mike leaves behind a wife, a daughter and literally hundreds of friends across the state and region.

Mike was one the state's foremost sports historians and a leader in efforts to establish the Historic Baseball Trail in Hot Springs, which now draws visitors from across the country. His knowledge of the Spa City's rich baseball history as the original home of spring training was unmatched. Mike was also instrumental in efforts to transform the former site of the Hot Springs Boys and Girls Club into Majestic Park. The five-field baseball complex is expected to open in 2022. The Detroit Tigers first used the site for spring training in 1908, and Babe Ruth attended his first training camp on the site in 1914.

Mike was born July 17, 1954, into a proud Irish family with deep roots in Hot Springs. He grew up in an era when Hot Springs was among the country's top tourist attractions and had dozens of stories about the city and the colorful characters who inhabited it when he was a boy. His father managed the city's airport, allowing Mike to meet many of the celebrities who were flying in and out of Hot Springs.

Mike graduated from Hot Springs High School and headed to Russellville to attend Arkansas Tech University and later to Arkadelphia for Henderson State University. His love of sports led him to return to Hot Springs to coach tennis at Garland County Community College (now National Park College). In addition to coaching the Lakers, he gave tennis lessons to area residents who considered him not only an instructor in the sport but also in leadership and life.

Mike later served as the sports information director at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, quickly establishing a reputation as one of the country's top SIDs. He became friends with those in the profession across the country. In addition to his duties as SID, Mike broadcast Reddie football, basketball and baseball games on the radio, resulting in countless late-night drives home to Hot Springs from locations across Arkansas and surrounding states. Often, Mike would arrive back in Arkadelphia as the sun was rising and go directly to work.

He never lost his love of sports but left the SID profession to become an assistant to legendary Arkansas businessman and philanthropist Don Munro in Hot Springs. Mike accompanied Munro on visits to company shoe plants across the state and organized events for employees. His work for Munro further broadened his knowledge of Arkansas business and the value of philanthropy.

Recent decades were spent helping his childhood friend Sam Stathakis operate Merritt Wholesale Distributors of Hot Springs. Mike still found time to indulge his passion for sports, serving as the emcee of the annual Reddie Hall of Honor ceremony at Henderson, researching Hot Springs baseball history, collecting sports memorabilia and attending events ranging from Reddie football games to Arkansas Travelers baseball games to the annual PGA Tour stop at Memphis. Mike was also a regular at Oaklawn Park and seemed to be on a first-name basis with everyone at the track. He was active in the state's chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research.

The thing Mike loved even more than Hot Springs and sports was his family. Mike is survived by his wife Susan of Hot Springs and their daughter Mary Kate and her husband Colton of Bryant. He is also survived by Susan’s parents Joyce and Van Bell, sister-and-brother-in-law Mary and Tom Hill, Jimmy and Vicki Young, Jorja Young, Elizabeth Echols, Dinah Marrell, DiAnn Jones and Stuart Jones Jr. all of Hot Springs, and Melissa and Bill Knocke of Blacksburg, Virginia. He was preceded in death by his parents James Patrick and Nora Jenny Dugan.

A private family service will be held next week, with an Irish wake to follow in the future.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Majestic Park Scholarship Fund, 102 Alcorn Street, Hot Springs, Arkansas, 71901.