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*CRH388* 04/21/2026 3:58:57 PM CRH388
State of Arkansas 1
95th General Assembly 2
Fiscal Session, 2026 SR 31 3
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By: Senators M. Johnson, F. Love, J. Scott, Caldwell 5
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SENATE RESOLUTION 8
TO RECOGNIZE COACH VAN COMPTON ON HER 9
ACCOMPLISHMENTS, CHAMPIONSHIPS, AND IMPACT THROUGHOUT 10
HER FIFTY-ONE-YEAR COACHING CAREER; TO CONGRATULATE 11
HER ON HER RETIREMENT AFTER THIRTY-EIGHT (38) SEASONS 12
AS THE HEAD COACH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT 13
LITTLE ROCK WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL PROGRAM; AND TO 14
CONGRATULATE HER FOR HER INDUCTION INTO THE ARKANSAS 15
SPORTS HALL OF FAME. 16
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Subtitle 19
TO RECOGNIZE COACH VAN COMPTON ON HER 20
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND IMPACT THROUGHOUT 21
HER FIFTY-ONE-YEAR COACHING CAREER; AND 22
TO CONGRATULATE HER ON HER RETIREMENT 23
AND INDUCTION INTO THE ARKANSAS SPORTS 24
HALL OF FAME. 25
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WHEREAS, Van Compton, nee Gore, was born July 9, 1944, a native of Forrest 27
City, Arkansas, and one (1) of eight (8) siblings; and 28
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WHEREAS, after graduating from Arkansas State University in 1965, she 30
returned to her hometown to work as a physical education teacher at Forrest 31
City High School; and 32
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WHEREAS, in 1974, Coach Compton was hired by Arkansas College, now Lyon 34
College, to help start the women’s sports program there following the 1972 35
passage of Title IX; and 36
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WHEREAS, Coach Compton spent the next eleven (11) years coaching the 2
women’s volleyball and women’s basketball teams at Arkansas College; and 3
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WHEREAS, in 1986, Coach Compton became the women’s basketball coach at the 5
University of Arkansas at Little Rock; and 6
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WHEREAS, when the women’s basketball program was discontinued at the 8
University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1988, Coach Compton was tapped to 9
start the women’s volleyball program and become the women’s athletic 10
coordinator at the school; and 11
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WHEREAS, in Coach Compton's second season as the University of Arkansas at 13
Little Rock Trojans women's volleyball coach, her team finished with a record 14
of 27-11 as a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics program; and 15
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WHEREAS, in 1990, University of Arkansas at Little Rock posted a record of 17
twenty-one wins and three losses (21-3) and placed second at the National 18
Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Tournament; and 19
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WHEREAS, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock transitioned to the 21
NCAA Division I level in 1991, becoming a member of the Sun Belt Conference; 22
and 23
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WHEREAS, in 1993, Coach Compton was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year after 25
posting a 24-12 record and finishing second in the league; and 26
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WHEREAS, in 1996, Coach Compton and the University of Arkansas at Little 28
Rock won its first of three (3) consecutive Sun Belt Conference Tournament 29
Championships, earning three (3) straight appearances in the NCAA Division I 30
Volleyball Tournament; and 31
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WHEREAS, Coach Compton and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock won 33
the 2000 Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament championships, 34
returning to the NCAA Tournament; and 35
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WHEREAS, in 2014, Coach Compton fielded the best University of Arkansas at 1
Little Rock team in program history, finishing the Sun Belt Conference 2
regular season with a perfect record, twenty wins and zero losses (20-0), 3
making it the only Sun Belt team to ever do so; and 4
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WHEREAS, in 2014, Coach Compton's team finished the season with an overall 6
record of thirty wins and five losses (30-5) and cracked the American 7
Volleyball Coaches Association's Top 25 poll for the first time; and 8
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WHEREAS, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock won the Sun Belt 10
Conference Tournament Championship in 2014, earning another trip to the NCAA 11
Tournament and advancing to the NCAA Second Round for the first time in 12
program history; and 13
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WHEREAS, Coach Compton earned her second Sun Belt Conference Coach of the 15
Year honor in 2014, while becoming the winningest coach in Sun Belt 16
Conference history and being named the Southwest Region Coach of the Year by 17
the American Volleyball Coaches Association; and 18
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WHEREAS, Coach Compton retired as Head Volleyball Coach at the University 20
of Arkansas at Little Rock in December 2025; and 21
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WHEREAS, Coach Compton won over six hundred (600) matches at the 23
University of Arkansas at Little Rock, finishing with a record of six hundred 24
three wins and five hundred twenty-seven losses (603-527) and an overall 25
record of six hundred seventy-five wins and six hundred seven losses (675-26
607); and 27
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WHEREAS, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock volleyball program 29
under Coach Compton won four (4) regular-season championships, five (5) 30
conference tournament championships, and made five (5) post-season 31
appearances; and 32
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WHEREAS, Coach Compton expanded her reach to impact young female athletes 34
in Arkansas by founding the Little Rock Juniors Volleyball Club, a youth 35
volleyball club, a nonprofit club that is concluding its twenty-eighth season 36
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of competition, making it one of the oldest volleyball clubs in Arkansas; and 1
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WHEREAS, Coach Compton has seen the evolution of women’s athletics change 3
from the advent of Title IX to today and recognizes that collegiate athletics 4
can change the lives of women in our state, our nation, and the world, which 5
can be specifically seen by her choice to recruit student-athletes from war-6
torn regions like Bosnia in the 1990s to “give those young people a chance to 7
come here and build something different — that's something I’ll always be 8
proud of”; and 9
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WHEREAS, on April 10, 2026, Coach Van Compton was inducted into the 11
Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, 12
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NOW THEREFORE, 14
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE 15
STATE OF ARKANSAS: 16
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THAT the Senate recognize and congratulate Coach Van Compton for her 18
impact on the sport of volleyball in Arkansas; her success in building 19
women’s athletics programs at Lyon College and the University of Arkansas at 20
Little Rock; the championships, postseason appearances, and accolades 21
bestowed upon her by her coaching peers; her impact on female athletes in 22
Arkansas, the United States, and around the world throughout her fifty-one-23
year coaching career; and her 2026 induction into the Arkansas Sports Hall of 24
Fame. 25
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT upon adoption, a copy of this resolution be 27
presented to Coach Van Compton, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock 28
Department of Athletics, and the Little Rock Juniors Volleyball Club by the 29
Secretary of the Senate. 30
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