Why I will always love the Razorbacks!

[bollweevil]

I was as down as I've been for a long time after Saturday's loss to Mississippi State, so I had to remind myself why I invest so much emotion into a team as I do this one. I've probably been around longer than most on this board, so some of the references may be a little unfamiliar, but I hope you enjoy this ode to my favorite team. I call it:

Section G, Row 6, Seat 23

   It's been 45 years since "The Big Shootout" when Arkansas and Texas played for the national championship in the final game of college football's 100th year. The 16-year-old boy who occupied that seat so many years ago – Section G, Row 6, Seat 23 – oblivious to the cold, drizzle and sleet, is now gray around the temples with two grown children and a bad golf swing.
   So why begin a tribute to a team with memories of its most devastating loss?
   Only another Razorback fan would understand. It was a defining moment for those of us of a certain generation who came of age during Frank Broyles' heyday in the 1960's. The hurt we still feel in a way explains the passion, the devotion, and the love Razorback fans have for their team.
   When Broyles came to Arkansas in December 1957, the state was reeling from the aftermath of the showdown between Governor Orval Faubus and President Eisenhower over the integration of Little Rock Central High School. Already viewed by much of the country as backward and isolated, the television images of hate-filled mobs only reinforced a negative image of the state and gave its citizens a collective inferiority complex.
   Arkansans needed something to feel good about, and Broyles gave it to them.
   Before Broyles, the Razorbacks had enjoyed occasional success, but were never considered a traditional power on the national stage. That all changed, and changed quickly, when Broyles took charge.
   Over the next decade, the Razorbacks won six Southwest Conference titles, went to eight New Year's Day bowl games, won 22 games in a row (the longest winning streak in college football in the '60's), and captured the 1964 national championship.
   Along the way, they won the hearts of a state with no major professional sports franchise and no other major college. Arkansas fans thrilled to the exploits of Lance Alworth and Jim Mooty, Billy Moore and Wayne Harris, Jon Brittenum and "Light Horse" Harry Jones.
   And they picked me up and took me along for the ride.
   Saturdays in the 1960's meant one game on television. Razorback fans followed their heroes on the radio, listening to Bob Cheyne and George Walker describe the action from faraway places like Austin, Lubbock, Waco and Fort Worth.
   Over the years the players changed – from Bill Montgomery and Chuck Dicus to Scott Bull and Dan Hampton. Broyles retired from coaching in 1976, a few days before I took my last final exam at the University of Arkansas. He hired a fast-talking Yankee named Lou Holtz, who gave Razorback fans one of their most cherished memories – a 31-6 thrashing of No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
   Ken Hatfield, an all-time Hog hero in his own right, followed Holtz and took Arkansas to six bowls in six years. The move to the Southeastern Conference in 1992 brought tough times, but Danny Ford laid the foundation and Houston Nutt made the Razorbacks a national player once more. Bobby Petrino took the program to dizzying heights but left in scandal with the program in tatters. Today, Bret Bielema is working mightily to put the pieces back together and restore the luster of Razorback football.
   When I look back at a lifetime of favorite Razorback memories, two dates come to mind.
   I got my first real look at the Razorbacks on November 14, 1964, 12 days short of my 11th birthday. Dad, Mom, my sister, brother and I piled in the car and made the 20-mile drive south from Rogers to Fayetteville. We sat on boards in the grass of the old horseshoe-shaped north end zone. It was Homecoming and Razorback Stadium was packed with 33,000 people, the most I'd ever seen in one place. Arkansas whipped SMU 44-0 to clinch the host spot in the Cotton Bowl. Six weeks later, the Razorbacks mounted an epic fourth quarter drive to defeat Nebraska 10-7 and claim the national title.
   November 23, 1991, was a bitterly cold day in Little Rock. The Razorbacks were wrapping up a lackluster 6-5 regular season against Rice in a game few will remember. I do because it was the first time I took my son to see the Hogs in person. He's now a graduate of the University and like the rest of us, a die-hard Razorback.
   A few years ago, someone gave me an old videotape copy of "The Big Shootout." Once in a while, I dust off the VCR, pop it in and step back in time. There's ABC's Chris Schenkel and Bud Wilkinson and Bill Fleming. The game comes to life as I remember sequences of plays – Bill Burnett's leap, Montgomery to Dicus. I usually stop the tape at the end of the third quarter with Arkansas leading 14-0. But once in a while, I let the tape run, hoping for a better finish. Maybe this time Peschel will drop the damn pass!
   Go Hogs.
   
   
   

[razorbacker3]

Great post, I could not have said it better myself. I went to my first hog game in 1962 and been a lifelong fan. The Razorbacks are family to me. Win, Lose or Draw, I was born a Razorback and will die a Razorback. WPS

[eusebius]

I was as down as I've been for a long time after Saturday's loss to Mississippi State, so I had to remind myself why I invest so much emotion into a team as I do this one. I've probably been around longer than most on this board, so some of the references may be a little unfamiliar, but I hope you enjoy this ode to my favorite team. I call it:

Section G, Row 6, Seat 23

   It's been 45 years since "The Big Shootout" when Arkansas and Texas played for the national championship in the final game of college football's 100th year. The 16-year-old boy who occupied that seat so many years ago – Section G, Row 6, Seat 23 – oblivious to the cold, drizzle and sleet, is now gray around the temples with two grown children and a bad golf swing.
   So why begin a tribute to a team with memories of its most devastating loss?
   Only another Razorback fan would understand. It was a defining moment for those of us of a certain generation who came of age during Frank Broyles' heyday in the 1960's. The hurt we still feel in a way explains the passion, the devotion, and the love Razorback fans have for their team.
   When Broyles came to Arkansas in December 1957, the state was reeling from the aftermath of the showdown between Governor Orval Faubus and President Eisenhower over the integration of Little Rock Central High School. Already viewed by much of the country as backward and isolated, the television images of hate-filled mobs only reinforced a negative image of the state and gave its citizens a collective inferiority complex.
   Arkansans needed something to feel good about, and Broyles gave it to them.
   Before Broyles, the Razorbacks had enjoyed occasional success, but were never considered a traditional power on the national stage. That all changed, and changed quickly, when Broyles took charge.
   Over the next decade, the Razorbacks won six Southwest Conference titles, went to eight New Year's Day bowl games, won 22 games in a row (the longest winning streak in college football in the '60's), and captured the 1964 national championship.
   Along the way, they won the hearts of a state with no major professional sports franchise and no other major college. Arkansas fans thrilled to the exploits of Lance Alworth and Jim Mooty, Billy Moore and Wayne Harris, Jon Brittenum and "Light Horse" Harry Jones.
   And they picked me up and took me along for the ride.
   Saturdays in the 1960's meant one game on television. Razorback fans followed their heroes on the radio, listening to Bob Cheyne and George Walker describe the action from faraway places like Austin, Lubbock, Waco and Fort Worth.
   Over the years the players changed – from Bill Montgomery and Chuck Dicus to Scott Bull and Dan Hampton. Broyles retired from coaching in 1976, a few days before I took my last final exam at the University of Arkansas. He hired a fast-talking Yankee named Lou Holtz, who gave Razorback fans one of their most cherished memories – a 31-6 thrashing of No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
   Ken Hatfield, an all-time Hog hero in his own right, followed Holtz and took Arkansas to six bowls in six years. The move to the Southeastern Conference in 1992 brought tough times, but Danny Ford laid the foundation and Houston Nutt made the Razorbacks a national player once more. Bobby Petrino took the program to dizzying heights but left in scandal with the program in tatters. Today, Bret Bielema is working mightily to put the pieces back together and restore the luster of Razorback football.
   When I look back at a lifetime of favorite Razorback memories, two dates come to mind.
   I got my first real look at the Razorbacks on November 14, 1964, 12 days short of my 11th birthday. Dad, Mom, my sister, brother and I piled in the car and made the 20-mile drive south from Rogers to Fayetteville. We sat on boards in the grass of the old horseshoe-shaped north end zone. It was Homecoming and Razorback Stadium was packed with 33,000 people, the most I'd ever seen in one place. Arkansas whipped SMU 44-0 to clinch the host spot in the Cotton Bowl. Six weeks later, the Razorbacks mounted an epic fourth quarter drive to defeat Nebraska 10-7 and claim the national title.
   November 23, 1991, was a bitterly cold day in Little Rock. The Razorbacks were wrapping up a lackluster 6-5 regular season against Rice in a game few will remember. I do because it was the first time I took my son to see the Hogs in person. He's now a graduate of the University and like the rest of us, a die-hard Razorback.
   A few years ago, someone gave me an old videotape copy of "The Big Shootout." Once in a while, I dust off the VCR, pop it in and step back in time. There's ABC's Chris Schenkel and Bud Wilkinson and Bill Fleming. The game comes to life as I remember sequences of plays – Bill Burnett's leap, Montgomery to Dicus. I usually stop the tape at the end of the third quarter with Arkansas leading 14-0. But once in a while, I let the tape run, hoping for a better finish. Maybe this time Peschel will drop the damn pass!
   Go Hogs.

Thanks for sharing. Love the part about stopping the game tape at 14-0. I do that with the 82 SMU game. In my mind, no pass interference, SMU punts, we make a few first downs and run out the clock, and we win 17-10.

[Hawgey-Davidson]

Should be required Hogville reading. Great post. Keep it up.

[code red]

I was almost over the Miss State game...until I DVRed the 98 UT game and watched it last night.  I got to say....how many more heartaches can a fan base endure?

[bphi11ips]

What an awesome post.  Absolutely awesome.

[sowmonella]

I was almost over the Miss State game...until I DVRed the 98 UT game and watched it last night.  I got to say....how many more heartaches can a fan base endure?

Watch the 99 Tenny game and you should feel better. Great OP.

[code red]

Watch the 99 Tenny game and you should feel better. Great OP.

Yeah....why the heck did SEC network not show that one??

[hogsevenseven]

I remember listening to Hogs games on radio when I was young.  We would be cutting and hauling firewood during games with radio in my dad's or granddad's truck. Trying to get as much as possible when chain saw was not running.

[WarPig88]

The Hogs are a part of the family. Whether it was going to games, listening, or watching.

I remember when we won it all in basketball. Some of us traveled to an aunt's house just so we could be together when it happened.

I love the Hogs. Coaches come and go, but the Hogs will always be there.

[Michael D Huff AIA]

I was raised in East Arkansas, Wynne to be exact.  Saw my first game in 1977 at 3 years old with my grandparents.  Those seats are still in our family.  I've seen games from those same seats with my grandfather, my dad, my wife, and my son.  My son saw his first game at 3 years old, too. 

My name is on Senior Walk in front of Old Main.  Within about 75 yards you can find my name, my wife, my grandfather, my brother and my uncle.   

I live in Oklahoma now, a 3 1/2 hour drive from Fayetteville.  My touchdown hog sits near my front door, and I'm fine being the oddball in among the OU and OSU fans here.  My son wants to go to school at UA. 

Maybe one day he can take his son to his first game in those same seats.

[EastexHawg]

My dad used to get a legal pad and write all the games each Saturday on it, along with kickoff times and the radio station carrying the game.  He wrote the team he picked to win on top and the loser on the bottom.  As a kid I started doing the same thing and we compared to see who picked the most winners.

We got to see the Hogs on TV probably twice a year on average.  The rest of the time we listened to Bud Campbell on the radio.  I don't remember the first game I ever saw or listened to, but I remember the Sugar Bowl win over Georgia after the 1968 season well.  I remember hearing that that year's Texas game was the only one in the history of college football to end with a final score of 39-29.

I remember that our big (probably 24-25 inch) color TV broke before the 1975 Texas A&M game, so we got the little red RCA, black and white with probably an 11 inch screen, that my dad had bought for my sister for Christmas and hooked it to the antenna in the living room.  We huddled up close to that little screen and guffawed as the Razorbacks turned a tight game into a blowout after The Immortal Teddy Barnes' late second quarter TD catch.

I lost all my lunch money for probably two weeks betting with the Texas fans all around me before The Big Shootout in 1969.  I said and did some things I'm not proud of when The Stoernover blew our next best chance at a late season national championship run almost three decades later.

I know I'm just one of many who have a lot of time, money, joy, heartache, love, and memories invested in the Razorbacks.  As hard as I tried, I couldn't keep the tears from welling up when Coach Broyles hoisted the Grantland Rice Trophy over his head the night of this year's Alabama game, so many of his great players around him.  If it had that much effect on me, I can only imagine what must have been rushing through his mind and heart.

[HawgWyld]

Great post. Frankly, all of the hubbub over this season is a bit perplexing. I've been a lifelong fan of the Razorbacks and, sadly, a 17-game losing streak in the SEC and a blowhard of a coach is all pretty much par for the course with this club.

Rooting for Arkansas means you put up with some rotten seasons and enjoy the few good ones here and there. That's just how things have gone, particularly since the team joined the SEC.

[eusebius]

I follow all kinds of sports, but I only root for one team and that is Arkansas. The Hogs have been my obsession all my life mostly due to my older brother. We used to collect the grocery sacks that had the coaches pictures on them and the schedule listed. I used to have my mom make me no. 16 Brad Taylor jerseys and had the sporting goods store make me a no. 8 Greg Thomas mesh jersey. Going to War Memorial was like going to a Disney World for me (yes I know that is hard for many of you to believe). We used to play all the games in our front yard. I have tackled the greatest running backs of the 70's and 80's SWC: Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, Kenneth Davis and Darren Lewis . . well it was me being Billy Ray Smith, and Greg Lasker and Steve Atwater and my brother was the opponent. I dressed up as Marshall Foreman for Halloween and Kendall Trainor kicked many a field goal over our basketball goal. I was physically ill when Stoerner fumbled and I was there in the Coliseum when USC hung 70 on us. I only own three types of clothing: Sunday clothes, what the Army makes me wear, and Razorback stuff.     

[Jackrabbit Hog]

My first memories of the Hogs were from the 1966 season, listening to a couple of games on the radio.  I remember my dad being a big Jon Brittenum fan.  That's about it.

The next season, 1967, I got to go to a game at War Memorial and for a 7 year old it was like dying and going to heaven.  I was hooked.

1968 was the first year I went to all the Little Rock games - which coincided with the beginning of the Montgomery/Dicus/Bill Burnett years so that may explain why that's still my favorite era.  Between 1968 and 1986 I never missed a Hog game in Little Rock, so I got to see so many memorable games we've talked about on this board.  We would try to go to one Fayetteville game a year - sometimes we would make it and sometimes we wouldn't.  Saw the '77 Texas game up there.  Back then it was a family social event for us.  My dad, my mom, my sister and I would go.  War Memorial seats were in the north end zone for about the first 8 years, then they moved us to the south end zone which is where we stayed until my dad got sick and he gave up his season tickets.

Times have changed.  The folks are gone and the games have flipped from Little Rock to Fayetteville.  I've moved from central Arkansas to Memphis.  But one thing that hasn't changed is that we still have season tickets - 2 for me and my wife, and 2 for my sister.  We don't miss a home game and we typically make 1-2 away games.  It's way too expensive and it's running our cars into the ground, but we go anyway because we love the Hogs.

We all care far too much about a football team and it has given us so much heartache over the years to go with the occasional moments of joy.

Ain't it great?  I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

[lumphog]

Well,    I'm with you fellers

[A_R_K_A_N_S_A_S]

Great posts on this thread, thanks.