You walk into the caf after a long week of classes, intramurals, projects, papers and meetings. After fumbling with your ID, dropping it on the floor, picking it up and finally composing yourself enough to put one foot in front of the other, you make your way to the register, praying the poor key to your Ouachita existence doesn’t choose today to be difficult.
But as you reach up to swipe your card and begin your quest for nourishment, a kind voice bursts through your Friday funk, greeting you with a genuine smile and eyes beaming with laughter. Suddenly, you notice the upbeat music playing and almost instantly realize that despite what you were feeling moments earlier, everything’s gonna be all right.
Ricky Bernard Clinton, known simply as Mr. Ricky, has been the face of dinner at Ouachita for only three years. In those three years, his smile and joyful attitude have made him a household name, in every dorm on campus, at least.
“It took me a while to get used to [being called] ‘Mr. Ricky,’ he said. “It sounds like a nerd or a geek or something, but I’m used to it now.”
No matter what he’s called, Clinton says working at Ouachita is the best job he’s ever had.
And he’s had some interesting ones.
“I did concrete work for 35 years until arthritis got me down, so I had to do something else,” he said. “This is easier and a lot more fun.”
During his days of concrete work, his nights were spent usually doing odd jobs, including a four-year gig as a late-night radio DJ.
“I always have been in to music,” Clinton said. “They needed a DJ and nobody wanted to work the shift from midnight to five o’clock. They asked me if I wanted to try and I said, ‘No, I don’t want to be a disc jockey. They talk too much.’”
He tried it anyway and when he realized he didn’t have to say too much that late at night, he decided he liked it. So after pouring concrete during the days on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 1980 to 1983, he headed over to the station to man the late-night airwaves.
Originally from Pine Bluff, Ark., Mr. Ricky’s time in Arkadelphia came much later and began when he was visiting his cousin who had recently married an Arkadelphia resident.
“I just came to visit,” he said. “And I liked it.”
He then asked his cousin’s wife if he could maybe get a job in the town. She told him there was a plant in town that hired new employees all the time. So, he took his shot.
“I went in there on a Friday to apply and they called me in Pine Bluff on Monday and said, ‘Can you come work this evening?’” he said.
After a while, he retired from the concrete business and became antsy to do something else.
“One of Ouachita’s maintenance workers was over at my house to check my air conditioner and I was telling him how bored I was doing nothing,” he said. “He told me to go to the cafeteria on campus.
“I came over here on a Monday morning and filled out an application and they called me about 3:30 that afternoon asking if I could be at work at four. Been here ever since.”
Now, he arrives every weekday at three in the afternoon for his shift at four. He feels that his daily interaction with the students who frequent the caf gives him a certain insight on what kind of day people are having.
“My favorite part is greeting the students as they come in. I see all kinds of personalities and attitudes. They’re different every day. I don’t know names, but the ones I see often, I can look at them and tell if they’ve had a bad day. I might say something like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be all right,’ and they’ll smile,” he said.
Mr. Ricky tries to keep things fun, especially on Fridays. He likes to play upbeat, dance music to celebrate the passing of another week and ring in the weekend.
Otherwise, he opts for jazz music to play through the stereo.
“I love jazz. It’s easy. Nothing too harsh,” he said. “Give me a little rhythm and some instrumental music and I’m okay.”
Before he could be found playing smooth jazz in the Ouachita Commons, his childhood self was performing for sold out crowds in front of his mirror with the help of a hairbrush.
“I pretended to be everybody. Even Michael Jackson,” he said.
In elementary school, he was in several plays. His favorite part was when he was in the fifth grade and played an Indian boy named “Don boy” who saved his people from a drought. No matter what the part was, he was up for the challenge, whether he wanted to be or not.
“They would always say, ‘Ricky, you play this part!’ and I would do it,” he said. “I was a ham.”
He still loves to make others laugh and those efforts do not go unnoticed. When asked how it felt to be the unofficial most popular man on campus, he responded with a modest, “I really didn’t know I was. I heard that last year, but I’m thinking it’s just because they see me every evening. I think that’s really nice, actually.”
It’s a mutual feeling.
“I love these children,” he said. “I’ll be 60 in less than two years, so they’re almost like my grandchildren.”
