January 25, 2000

Dale Alford died; he is buried in Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock (Pulaski County). Alford was a prominent Arkansas ophthalmologist, Episcopalian, radio announcer, civic leader, and politician remembered largely as a leader of opposition to federally mandated desegregation during the crisis at Central High School in Little Rock. Alford’s role as a leading segregationist came first through his seat on the Little Rock School Board and then as the “Segregation Sticker Candidate” who upset incumbent Democratic U.S. representative Brooks Hays in the 1958 election for the Fifth Congressional District. The legendary Arkansas financier Witt Stephens summed up Alford’s impact on state politics with the quip that Alford was like a wasp: “When he is first born, he is bigger than he will ever be again.”