UAM basketball can thank much of its success in the 1950s and ‘60s to the Mobley family of White Hall. Harold Mobley starred for the Boll Weevils from 1956 to 1960 and was inducted into the UAM Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. The youngest Mobley, Ricky, was a sharp-shooting guard for the Weevils from 1967-71. Middle brother Solon, was the most prolific scorer of the three.
A hot-shooting guard, Solon Mobley lettered four years and started three for the Weevils and is still, after 56 years, the ninth leading scorer in school history with 1,515 points. Mobley averaged 15.5, 18.7 and 21.1 points his sophomore, junior and senior seasons and at the completion of his playing career in 1964, was UAM’s all-time scoring leader.
“I was small, I wasn’t fast, and I couldn’t jump,” remembers Mobley, laughing, “but I could shoot. My dad told me early on that if I wanted to play basketball, I’d better learn to shoot because I wasn’t big enough for much else.”
Solon earned first team All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference honors in 1962 and ’63. He eclipsed 30 points in a game four times, topped by a 36-point performance against Millsaps College in 1962. He still ranks among UAM’s statistical leaders in career field goals made (566), career free throws made (383), single season free throws made (149), career assists (383), career free throw percentage (.786) and still holds the school record for free throws made in a game with 18 vs. Northeast Louisiana (now Louisiana-Monroe) in 1962.
Following graduation in 1964, Mobley spent two years as head basketball coach at Redfield Junior High before inheriting the defending state championship team at White Hall High School where he coached his little brother Ricky for one season. Mobley spent the next 17 years as head basketball coach at White Hall before moving to the administration. He retired as associate superintendent in 1999.
