Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Duke Wells III Returns To Henderson State

The grandson of a Henderson State University legend is returning to the HSU football team. John Duke Wells III, whose grandfather Duke Wells was athletic director and coach at Henderson from 1941-79, has been hired by head football Coach Patrick Nix to serve as the Reddies' linebackers coach.

Duke Wells played his high school football at Gurdon.

Wells replaces Karr Shannon, who left HSU last month to take a job on the staff at Tulane University.

Wells is a 1990 graduate of Mountain Home High School and a 1994 graduate of Henderson. He played football for the Reddies for four season, starting at fullback under then-coach and athletic director Ken Turner.

Wells earned a bachelor of science degree while majoring in biology in 1994, then he returned to serve as a graduate assistant under Ronnie Kerr with the Reddies for two years while earning a bachelor of science in education degree in 1998. He also played baseball at HSU and earned All-Academic honors as well as the Entergy Winning for Life' Scholar-Athlete Award.

Wells did his student teaching in the spring of 1998 at Lakeside High School and Lakeside Junior High. From there he returned to Mountain Home, where he taught science and was the defensive coordinator at MHHS.

In 1995 Wells served in the scouting department for the Buffalo Bills. He assisted in the evaluation of prospective National Football League players, helped with the scouting of Bills' opponents, and processed scouting reports for the 1996 college draft.

On game days Wells organized and distributed pictures of formations, fronts and coverages for coaches. He also assisted with the organization of Buffalo's training camp operations.

"We are excited to have John joining our staff," said Nix, who is entering his second year at Henderson. "We had the opportunity to hire a young, energetic and good football coach; plus, we got someone who bleed Henderson red. He is a great addition to the staff."

Wells' father, Buddy, is also a Henderson graduate and spent 33 years as a high school coach. John and his wife, LeeAnne, have been married for three years.