Eldridge to serve as Arkadelphia Rotary guest speaker, Sept. 5

The Arkadelphia Rotary Club will meet Friday, September 5, 2014, at Western Sizzlin, 106 WP Malone Drive, for its weekly meeting. Mr. J.R. Eldridge, head football coach at Arkadelphia High School, has been invited to serve as guest speaker. Rotarians and guests are invited to attend. For more information on the guest speaker, please read his brief biography below. 

Eldridge Family

J.R. ELDRIDGE is in his 4th year as head football coach at Arkadelphia High School. Coach Eldridge has led the Badgers to back to back 4A-7 Conference Championships and was named the 4A-7 Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2013.

In 2013, the Badgers finished 12-1 and reached the quarterfinals of the 4A State playoffs. The Badgers have made the state playoffs each of his three seasons as the AHS head coach. Coach Eldridge is 26-10 as the Badger head football coach, including a 42-13 season opening win this past Monday night over Stuttgart. The Badgers will play their first game on the new turf of AllCare Field at Badger Stadium on September 12, at 7 p.m. against Sheridan.

Before coming to AHS, Eldridge was on staff at Ouachita Baptist University for 10 years, where he served a stint as the Defensive Coordinator under head coach Todd Knight.
Eldridge graduated from OBU in 2000 where he was an Academic All-GSC linebacker for the Tigers. Coach Eldridge transferred to OBU after beginning his collegiate playing career at Henderson State. Eldridge holds a master's degree in English, a master's in strength training and conditioning, and a master of arts in teaching.

Eldridge, a graduate of Fayetteville High School, is married to Audrey Dingler Eldridge of Donaldson, with whom he has three children: Jack, a 2nd grader at Central; Max, a Kindergartener at Perritt; and their newest addition, Tripp, who was born in April 2014.