Clarksville and North Little Rock will never fall into the same classification in high school athletics. There is a slim chance the Panthers and Charging Wildcats would ever cross paths in a non-conference event.

But that didn’t stop Clarksville from answering the call when North Little Rock needed a hand.

A bus carrying the North Little Rock cheerleaders to Northwest Arkansas for a football game on a Friday afternoon suffered a blown tire just outside Clarksville on Interstate 40. Thanks to connections made through the Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators Association (AHSAAA), North Little Rock athletic Director Wes Bilon knew who to call.

“I called Michael Banning and said ‘I’ve got an issue. Can you help get our kids off the interstate?’”, Bilon said. “Within five minutes, he had called back and said that he’d have a bus to us as soon as they get off a route. Within an hour, they had gotten our girls one of their buses, and got them on their way to the game, and they made it in time for kickoff.”

Banning said that he reminds fellow athletic directors that if they run into any issues, to give him a call because of his school’s proximity to the interstate.

“It is just one of those things that connections we’ve made through the AD association, it paid off,” Banning said. “Wes called me around 3:30 and said any chance you can help out. I called (transportation director) Jason Teague and he worked as fast as he could. By the time we got a bus back from their route, Jason had already made arrangements for someone from our staff to drive the bus to Springdale if they needed it.”

Clarksville’s willingness to help out did not stop at loaning a bus for a few hours. The Panthers’ transportation department had the North Little Rock bus towed back to the school’s show, replaced the tire, and had the bus ready to be picked up as the cheer team was driving home after the game.

“We brought the bus in, fixed the tire, and had it ready for them when they were driving back that night,” Banning said. “It really says something about our transportation department. The people who have the boots on the ground. It was 3:30 on a Friday, and those guys were probably ready to be home. But Cheyne Dougan, Allen Puckett, and Allen McCartney took care of it on their time when they could be going home and didn’t complain one bit. They were ready and willing to help however they could.”

Heber Springs had a similar issue the following day, as their cross-country team bus ran into problems heading home from a meet. But, once again, Clarksville was there to help. This time, Clarksville loaned a bus to Heber Springs to complete the trip home and towed the Heber Springs bus in for repairs.