Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

A dozen high school programs and seven junior high and youth teams will compete in the first Garrett Uekman Memorial 7-on-7 Tournament Friday and Saturday at War Memorial Stadium. The younger teams (grades 5-8)) will have the field to themselves Friday and decide their champions in the mid-afternoon break during the all-day high school competition Saturday.

Admission each day is $5, with all proceeds benefiting the Garrett Uekman Foundation. Play starts both days at 8 a.m. and should wrap up at 5 p.m. Fans on Friday should enter gate 7, while Saturday's entrance will be the stadium's main gate on the east side.

High School teams competing are Little Rock Catholic varsity and junior varsity, Little Rock Central junior varsity, CAC, Little Rock Parkview, Carlisle, Malvern, Vilonia, Sheridan, Dumas, Clinton and Fountain Lake. The teams will be divided into two, six-team pools.

Little Rock Holy Souls, North Little Rock Immaculate Conception and Lake Hamilton have entered the junior high division, with the Little Rock Bears, Pulaski Academy, Immaculate Conception and Maumelle Wildcats competing for the youth championship.

Uekman, a former Little Rock Catholic star and tight end for the Arkansas Razorbacks in 2010-11, died last November of an enlarged heart. Former teammates at Catholic High created the Garrett Uekman Foundation to raise money to support heart disease research and education as well as to provide scholarships to student athletes in Uekman's memory. The foundation's website can be found here.

MORE 7-ON-7: The summer 7-on-7 season is winding down with this weekend's Uekman event as well as the Southwest Elite 7-on-7 at Shiloh Christian in Springdale on Friday and Saturday.

Shiloh head coach Josh Floyd started the event in 2009, and last year it was highlighted by the nation's top prep receiver, Springfield, Mo., product Dorial Green-Beckham, the USA Today Player of the Year in 2011. Shiloh's Keihl Frazier, now at Auburn, was the 2010 USA Today Player of the Year. In three years the event has grown from 12 teams to this year's 32. The event is also a regional qualifier for the National 7-on-7 Championship at Hoover, Ala., later this month.

Little Rock Central will be splitting squads this weekend, sending a junior varsity team to the Uekman event and its rising seniors (including receiver A.J. Tucker, who has been getting a lot of summer notice) to Shiloh.

Other teams competing with Shiloh and Central are Arkansas Baptist; Aurora, Neb.; Aurora (Ill.) Christian; Bastrop, La.; Oklahoma City Bishop McGuinness; Bolivar, Mo.; Brighton, Tenn.; Broken Arrow, Okla.; Charleston; Conway Christian; El Dorado; Fayetteville; Greene County Tech; Giltner, Neb.; Springdale Har-Ber; Harrison; Oklahoma City Heritage Hall; Hot Springs Lakeside; Jonesboro; Mayflower; Mena; McAlester, Okla.; Mountain Home; Nashville; Rogers Heritage; Sherman, Texas; Springdale; Stillwater, Okla.; and Tulsa Victory Christian.

NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, the former San Francisco 49ers safety, will be the speaker at Thursday night's welcoming dinner for coaches and sponsors at the Embassy Suites in Springdale. All the players are being treated to a barbecue dinner as well. Former Razorback great and current Oakland Raider Darren McFadden will join Lott for an EA Sports NCAA College Football 2013 32-team tournament Thursday night at the Embassy Suites as well.

Pool play begins at 9 a.m. Friday at both Shiloh and Southwest Junior High campuses. Tournament play starts at 9 a.m. Saturday. The championship game is expected to start at 5 p.m. Saturday at Shiloh's Champions Stadium.

FORMER RED WOLVES STAR BRINGS CAMP TO RISON: Former Arkansas State All-America safety Tyrell Johnson, now with the NFL's Miami Dolphins, will hold a free football camp for ages 12-18 (incoming 7th- through 12th-graders) in his hometown of Rison on Friday, July 20. Johnson has called upon about a dozen of his buddies from college and pro football to help instruct at the camp at Rison High School.