For many years, Bob Wheeler was known as Mr. Hot Springs. Wheeler, who died in April 2009 following a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease, served as a city director and was instrumental in the passage of bond issues that renovated and expanded the old Hot Springs Convention Auditorium into the Hot Springs Convention Center. He envisioned what's now Bank OZK Arena and saw it through to completion.

Hot Springs was the home of the Miss Arkansas Pageant for decades because of Wheeler. He was the pageant's executive director for more than four decades. In 1997, the Miss America organization honored him with its Academy of Honor Award. It was just the second time the award had been given.

At the time of Wheeler's death, then-U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln said: "No individual has done more for Hot Springs than Bob Wheeler. From his years as executive director of the Miss Arkansas Pageant to his long service with the chamber to the numerous projects he spearheaded, Bob was an important part of Arkansas history. While we're saddened by the loss of such a valuable community leader, we have the opportunity to reflect on the great legacy he has left for all of us."

Wheeler was a city director from 1986-2004. He also served on the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission for 15 years.

Jay Chesshir, who now heads the Little Rock Regional Chamber, once led the chamber in Hot Springs. Chesshir says of Wheeler: "The growth Hot Springs continues to see today is a direct reflection of what he put into place in the 1980s."

"Bob realized back then that we needed more than just summer tourists and the racing season," says Steve Arrison, the longtime head of Visit Hot Springs. "We needed a meeting component. After he got the convention center started and everybody working together, he said we needed to take the next step."

That next step was the arena.

Following Wheeler's death, I informally bestowed the title of Mr. Hot Springs on Eric Jackson.

Jackson, a Hot Springs native and........

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