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    Hit That Line!
    Hit That Line!
    Hit That Line!
    Ebook187 pages2 hours

    Hit That Line!

    By Glenn Short

    ()

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    About this ebook

    It’s a history steeped in tradition about a team that was once nestled and hidden away in the remote Ozark Mountains. The traditions continue today, but no longer is the team to be found in what was once an isolated area. The facilities have long since been transformed into some of the finest to be found anywhere in the country.

    Hit That Line tells of how a poor, agricultural state became completely immersed with this college football team and its players. The coaches, the “Voices,” the legends, traditions, and memorable games are all described in detail as the reader follows the team from its small beginning up to the present day.

    Among other items, you’ll find described here are some of the major controversies and rivalries that faced the early years of the Razorbacks. It’s a story that continues to grow and mature with each succeeding season. For less than the price of a t-shirt, you can join your fellow fans kneeling on the sidelines in reliving the complete history of Arkansas' football team, the Razorbacks. GO HOGS. Woooo Pig Sooiee!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGlenn Short
    Release dateAug 22, 2013
    ISBN9781301900909
    Hit That Line!
    Author

    Glenn Short

    As a graduate of the University of Arkansas, I was fortunate enough to attend during the peak of the Razorback's membership in the Southwest Conference. The history of the football program has always been a fascination of mine, and with the emergence of e-books I can now tell the whole story.Living in northwest Arkansas has been a real treat for me, as we are completely surrounded by the Razorbacks and all of their history.

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      Book preview

      Hit That Line! - Glenn Short

      University of Arkansas - Fayetteville

      Hit That Line!

      a fan’s perspective of

      Razorback football

      by

      Glenn L. Short

      Edited by Brandon Cone

      Published by Glenn L. Short at Smashwords

      Copyright 2014 Glenn L. Short

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Forward

      Introduction

      Chapter 1–In the Beginning

      Chapter 2–Coaches - The People Who Taught the Game

      A Humble Start

      A Razorback Is Born

      The Depression Years

      The War Years

      Frank and the Boys

      The Lean Years

      Resurgence

      Chapter 3–Legends - The People Who Played the Game

      Quarterbacks - It Starts With the Snap

      Running backs and Receivers - The Playmakers

      Linemen - They Fought in the Trenches

      Kickers - It’s Good!

      Chapter 4–Traditions

      Calling the Hogs

      The Hog Hat

      Running Through the A

      The Alma Mater

      Senior Walk

      Arkansas Fight

      Big Red

      The Chi Omega Greek Theater

      The Razorback Marching Band

      Razorback 45-rpm Records

      Chapter 5–Voices From the Past - The People Who Announced the Game

      Chapter 6–Oh, Those Memorable Games

      Ole Miss

      Kentucky

      Oklahoma

      LSU

      Nebraska

      Texas

      Chapter 7–Finally a Complete Team

      Chapter 8–Conclusion

      Bibliography

      About the Author

      Connect With Me Online

      FORWARD

      As a child growing up in the 50s and 60s, I can still remember fall days that were sunny and clear with a cool briskness just right for a light jacket, the smell of burning leaves, and a cloudless sky with an extra hint of blue. This was what has become known as "football weather" in Arkansas.

      On any Saturday afternoon during this period, you would find my dad relaxing on his bed, intently listening to Bob Cheyne, and later Bud Campbell, on a small radio as they would announce play-by-play for the three hours encompassing each gridiron contest. They would describe in enthusiastic detail all of the efforts put forth by the Hog football team as it would line up against the opposition to compete for a win on some distant field. As in our home, this was a scene that you would find multiplied in the majority of homes across the entire state. For the Razorbacks are, in fact, Arkansas’ team.

      If, by chance, the team lost, there would be a cloud of gloom over the whole state that would take several days to vanish. If they won, then there would be a celebration that would last for the next week. For that week, each notable play would be recalled over and over again in newspapers and local barber shops throughout the entire state.

      And best of all, was Texas Week when all testing would be suspended at the University for the entire week before the game. During this week, most conversations would center around the upcoming game against the Longhorns from Austin. Although Texas may have won the majority of the games that we played against them, to win one was an even more special treat. We were the true underdog rising up to slay the dragon. What a great rivalry! There was none bigger for the Razorback fans.

      As the season would come to an end and winter would settle in, the fans would reminisce over the past few months with anticipation of spring practice. Summer would last forever, but eventually it would end, and all thoughts would turn toward the next season and the promises that it held. This was the cycle of football in Arkansas.

      I was fortunate enough to be at the University during the late 1960s when the rivalry was at its peak. We had our heroes (many of whom you will find mentioned later in this book) who would play with everything they had for the full 60 minutes, leaving it all on the field. Names like Lance Alworth, Lighthorse Harry Jones, and a small quarterback named Freddie Marshall were among our heroes. What a great time to celebrate Razorback football!

      This book begins in 1894 and extends to the present day. Along the way, we will cover the coaches, legends, memorable games, traditions, and other subjects that I think you’ll find of interest. There are many people that I would like to thank in leading me to this point of sharing these thoughts with you.

      However, rather than bore you with a list of parents, family, and friends (who you probably don’t know anyway), let me just say "Thanks. I also wish to thank Southern Music Company (who owns the rights to Arkansas Fight") for allowing me to use their lyrics in the title and in the writing of this book. Additional thanks go to Bob Cheyne, Bill Burnett, Randy Peschel, Brandon Cone, and many others in the compilation of this effort for your reading.

      Remember to always "keep the Hogs in your heart and continue to shout …

      WOOO PIG SOOIE, RAZORBACKS

      GO HOGS!

      Happy reading

      INTRODUCTION

      On a crisp, fall Saturday morning during what we call "football weather, you can feel the excitement and anticipation all across the state of Arkansas for the coming of the Hogs." Saturday mornings become preparation for the time when the Razorbacks will do battle on the gridiron against their selected opponent. Fans are decked out in their favorite red outfits, tailgaters are setting up, and Hog calls can be heard at most gatherings of two or more fans. Soon it will be time to take the field for the ever anticipated KICKOFF!

      In all of the excitement, you might wonder how did this all begin? Who were the players and coaches who laid the foundation for the whole story behind the Razorbacks? And as game time approaches, it’s a time to understand how deep the feeling runs in the spirit of a fan raised in Arkansas … for this is about Arkansas’ team.

      CHAPTER 1

      IN THE BEGINNING

      It all started with the team called the Arkansas Cardinals. Wait a minute, are you sure it was the Cardinals? Yes.

      Until Hugo Bezdek (then the football coach) and the Arkansas football team arrived by train on Tuesday, November 16, 1909, there was no thought or intention of a name change for the Cardinals. You see, when the sport’s programs were formed there was a vote to establish which colors would be used to represent the school. Cardinal and white were the winners, and thus came the name of the Arkansas Cardinals.

      However, after the arrival in 1909, Bezdek referred to the Arkansas football team as "fighting like a bunch of razorback hogs." There was a certain meaness implied here, but the name change would come later.

      It all began sometime around 1894. However, we don’t know the exact date or whose mind had the first thought of forming a football team, but this is a story about the people who were associated with molding the history of Arkansas football. It tells about the history of the people who taught the game, the people who played the game, and the people who announced the game for a state eager to follow their team.

      Arkansas’ first season took place in 1894 with the formation of the Arkansas Cardinals. Back then, college football was still in its infancy having only been around since November 6, 1869, when Rutgers College and the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University) matched up at College Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey to play the first game. In a game that favored rugby and played on a field 120 yards long by 75 yards wide using a round ball, much like today’s soccer ball, Rutgers College won 6–4. From this small beginning came the sport that dominates each fall known as American Football.

      Being located in the remote far northwest portion of a poor and primarily agricultural state, location had delayed the influence of the larger more metropolitan areas of the nation and subsequently, the local formation of football. The eastern coast was an eternity away from Fayetteville, Arkansas. However, football did finally find its way to Fayetteville and has provided many years of cheers along with many years of tears. It’s a story that began in 1894 and still continues to this day. And what a story it has been!

      CHAPTER 2

      COACHES–THE PEOPLE WHO

      TAUGHT THE GAME

      A Humble Start:

      By 1894 the Cardinals football team had taken its form with only 14 players. As times would have it, a new Latin professor named John Clinton Futrall had just joined the University of Arkansas. During this same year, he began to serve as the first football coach, although serving would only be on a part-time basis. By today’s standards, the team, known as the Cardinals, would now be considered more of an intramural squad rather than a true football team.

      Having a team now would require finding opponents to play against. This led to scheduling the first game in Fayetteville against a Fort Smith team made up primarily of athletes from Fort Smith High School. The game ended with an inaugural win for Arkansas, 42–0. A second home game soon followed and was played against the same Fort Smith team. It also ended with an Arkansas win of 38–0. The future looked bright for this naïve and inexperienced team.

      Next came their first intercollegiate game against the University of Texas at Austin on Thanksgiving Day. Unknown to them, this would be the beginning of their most celebrated rivalry.

      On Monday, November 26 the team set out by train for Austin. Arkansas lost to a Texas Longhorn team 54–0 before an estimated crowd of 1,500 onlookers who had paid a total of $700 to watch the game. Not a pretty sight for Cardinal fans. Luckily there were few in attendance.

      The Arkansas-Texas rivalry had begun. This completed the first season of Arkansas football and neither the school nor the state would ever be the same again.

      Known as the first Cardinal football team, it consisted of quarterback Wright Lindsey, halfbacks Arthur J. McDaniel and W.W. Haydon, fullback Herbert Y. Fishback, center Frank D. James, guards Tommy H. Rogers and J.C. Braswell, tackles LeRoy Campbell and Raleigh Kobel, and ends Edward Mook and Dade Moore. Substitutes were Jim Brown, W.S. Norman, and E. Carney.

      Cardinal fullback Herbert Fishback became the first campus Cardinal football hero and served as team captain for three years. He kept this honor until his untimely death four years later on January 3,1898 after playing against Drury College in a football game at Springfield, Missouri.

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