Submitted information
For The Arkadelphian

If you have you been in Arkadelphia long enough you know that Mike Volz was a very influential and beloved member of our community because of his position at Parks and Rec.

He passed away a few years ago very suddenly.

He started a softball tournament that has been held in Hot Springs for several years called the Mountain Dew Classic because that was his favorite drink.

It’s now called the Mike Volz Mountain Dew classic memorial tournament

This past weekend a group of college-aged men participated in this tournament. Nearly every one of them had a direct connection with Volz because they played in his youth sports programs. One was even his stepson.

The team won the whole tournament.

The team participated in the lower division and upper division, with multiple members who reside in Arkadelphia and knew Volz very well.

“Mike was a personal friend of mine and we worked together for many years in youth sports as he encouraged and allowed me to coach Peewee football and Little League baseball, which one of the years I coached the All-Star team,” said Mike Meeks, who led the team at the tournament.

“The biggest honor I ever had with Mike is one year his daughter wanted to play Peewee tackle football, and he would only let her play if I coached her. She was way better than most of my boys.”

Meeks added: “At times when people are taken far too early from us we remember them right after they’re passing on, then life happens. From time to time I think we need to be reminded of the hard work that people do and the lives that are affected because of that hard work and those are the things that should not be forgotten.”

“Anytime I would go to coach or even when we played together, he would always tell me the same thing: ‘Hey, don’t suck.’”

So on Saturday those boys didn’t, and they all did it for Mike. And we brought home a can of Mountain Dew just for him.