Harry Albright “Hank” French Jr., 65, of Prairie Grove will be put to rest this afternoon. For some who listened the last 20 years to either Chuck Barrett or Bo Mattingly, that’s Hammering Hank. I loved his calls. He entertained me and many others. I am going to try to get to the service at 4:30 p.m. today at First Methodist Prairie Grove. I met him a couple of times on the Fayetteville square. Neat guy. He loved sports talk radio and when he called, he generally had three items that he wanted discussed. Bo has mentioned him a couple of times after his passing last week.
I am just back from Hank’s memorial service. He was a special person and was cared for in a special way by the town of Prairie Grove. There were probably 350 at the service. His niece asked how many had given Hank a ride as he hitch hiked along the highway. Almost every hand went up. Hank would stand in the middle of the road and someone would quickly pick him up and take him where he wanted to go. He would find his way home. He knew every stat of every Razorback (or Prairie Grove Tiger). He could answer every question on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. I will write a column in the morning. I’m still doing interviews. I want to do it justice.
RIP Hank!
I’ve gotten more emails and comments about this story than about anything I’ve written. I guess Hank was a star in Prairie Grove. I was on the river this weekend for my last hurrah – and helping Becca and Kristopher with their new home near the Norfork catch and release. Several people who know me had seen the story through some links on Facebook. That’s interesting how that works. I guess I should post links on my Facebook account more often.
That only works if you have lots of friends on Facebook. 
But if you post it there, then a bunch of us will share.