Harry Addison Hardage, 1912-1935

Harry Hardage of Arkadelphia has the dubious distinction of being the first Red Shirt to die. Hardage, a charter member, was killed in an auto accident on May 12, 1935, only a couple of months after Rho Sigma received its charter. Harry Addison Hardage was born July 16, 1912 in Arkadelphia, the son of Josiah Hardage, a Clark County judge and one-time speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives, and Blanche Williamson Hardage. He was a popular student and athlete at Arkadelphia High School. After graduation from AHS, he enrolled at Ouachita College. While a student at Ouachita, Hardage worked for the Southern Ice Company (home of the infamous ice blocks later used in Rho Sigma informal initiations). In fact, he worked for Southern Ice for seven years. At the time of his death, Hardage was a senior at Ouachita with just over two weeks left until graduation. He was said to have been one of the most popular students at Ouachita, defeated by only 40 votes for Most Handsome in the January 1935 campus Whos Who sponsored by The Signal and Ouachitonian. Hardage, 23, and two other Ouachita Baptist College students had borrowed a car belonging to OBC football coach Bill Walton (head football coach from 1934-35 to 1942-43) for a jaunt to Hot Springs on Saturday, May 11, 1935. According to a story in the May 13, 1935 "Arkansas Gazette", the three students were in Hot Springs to attend the state high school band concert. They were returning to Arkadelphia at 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning on Central Avenue near Oaklawn Park. Just as their car went over a slight grade, the trio were confronted by one or two cars with headlamps on bright. Driver Tommy Leslie, 20, swerved to miss the oncoming car or cars. Suddenly, Leslie saw, parked by a barbecue stand, a truck. The steel frame of the truck projected out into the middle or left side of the road. The car collided with the truck, with the cars fender lower than the fram. The right side of the car was raked back by contact with the frame. After ramming into the trucks steel body and frame, the car rolled in the middle of the street. The three students in the car were pinned beneath it. Motorists and others nearby rushed to the aid of the victims and pulled them out of the wrecked vehicle. Hardage, in the front passenger seat, was killed instantly, probably by a blow to the face or the crushing of the front structure of his neck. His spine was not broken. It is believed he was struck in the face, neck and shoulder by the metal and wood of the wreckage. Leslie and the other student, Clifford Mackey, 23, escaped with cuts and bruises about the face and body. Coach Waltons automobile was a total wreck. Both Leslie and Mackey were taken to the hospital. Leslie was dismissed after receiving treatment for head injuries, while Mackey left a Hot Springs hospital the afternoon of Sunday, May 12. Murrys Mortuary brought the body of Hardage back to Arkadelphia and was in charge of the funeral and burial. J.R. Duke of Waldo, the driver of the truck, was eating in the barbecue stand when the accident occured. He was arrested by Hot Springs police officers May 12 and charged with having insufficient lights on his vehicle. The truck, which belonged to another Waldo man, had no lights, according to Leslie and Mackay. Drake was released on $500 bond. A hearing was set for Tuesday, May 14. Funeral services were at Arkadelphias First Baptist Church at 10 a.m. May. Eulogies were delivered by Ouachita president Dr. J.R. Grant and First Baptist pastor Dr. H.L. Winburn, father of future Red Shirt Sinclair (Dolly) Winburn. Three Red Shirts were among the pall bearers: John Floyd, Zebe Perry and William Shuffield. Hardage was buried in Arkadelphias Rose Hill Cemetary in the Hardage family plot. His grave was completely covered by a large mound of beautiful flowers. The Hardages are an old Clark County family. Josiah (Joe) Hardage, one of the founders of the Hermesian Literary Society, was a Clark County judge and later speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives. Harry Hardage was survived by his mother, Mrs. Blanche Hardage; a sister, Sarah; and two brothers, Dr. Paul Hardage of Arkadelphia and Albert Hardage of Malvern. At his funeral, it was announced that Hardage had been secretly married to Edythe Carter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Carter of Little Rock, April 28, 1934. Edythe Carter Hardage, a 1934 graduate of Ouachita, was a member of the Little Rock public schools faculty. Only the couples mothers had known of the secret marriage. The announcement of the secret marriage was to have been made at Hardages graduation, which was to have been May 27.

HARRY ADDISON HARDAGE