Horton heads to work for final day at Arkansas

Harold Horton will head off to the Arkansas campus today to raise money in support of Arkansas Razorbacks athletics like he has for thousands of work days just like it.
Harold Horton will head off to the Arkansas campus today to raise money in support of Arkansas Razorbacks athletics like he has for thousands of work days just like it.

— Harold Horton will head off to the Arkansas campus today to raise money in support of Arkansas Razorbacks athletics like he has for thousands of work days just like it.

At the end of the day, Horton, 72, will step away from his job as executive director of the Razorback Foundation,and fundraising for Arkansas athletics might never be the same.

“We’ll find somebody to take his place, but he’s not replaceable,” said longtime Arkansas football Coach and Athletic Director Frank Broyles, who coached Horton (1959-61) and then hired him onto his staff.

“You’re not going to beat him to work,” said Norm DeBriyn, the longtime Arkansas baseball coach and associate director at the foundation and a close friend of Horton’s.

“He’s going to be the first guy there. He’s going to make more phone calls than anybody else. He’s going to raise more money. He’s a grinder.”

And that goes back to his days as a player and coach.

Horton played on three Arkansas teams that finished in The Associated Press top 10, and was captain of the 1961 team that won the second of back-to-back outright Southwest Conference titles.

Reflecting on his career earlier this summer, Horton’s pride in being associated with successful teams - from Bald Knob and Forrest City high schools to the Razorbacks to the his two-time NAIA national champion Central Arkansas Bears - was apparent.

“Wherever I’ve been, we’ve always had a good team,” Horton said. “I’ve been blessed.

“I’ve been blessed to have an opportunity to be here at the Razorback Foundation. I really want to praise the Razorback Foundation board. They spoke up and because of them I got an opportunity to go into this position.

“I’ve enjoyed the communication I’ve had with people in this state. The relationships I have throughout this state have been invaluable.”

DeBriyn tells a story of getting off a plane in Blytheville for a fundraiser, and Horton pointing to every house along the route to the event and knowing something about the occupants.

“I’m thinking, ‘How does that work?’ ” DeBriyn said. “So we go to El Dorado and the same thing happened. I’m thinking, ‘This guy knows everybody.’ And he really does.”

Sean Rochelle, also a foundation associate director, said Horton was the driving force behind record membership and fundraising drives, despite the ongoing economic troubles in the country and the state.

“We’ve moved forward with increases in our membership and our annual fundraising every year ... and a lot of that can be attributed to Coach and his relations,” Rochelle said.

“You can’t go out and dial that kind of person up in terms of experience and their institutional knowledge.”

Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long had been on the job almost a year when Horton was promoted to executive director in Nov. 1, 2008.

“With Coach Horton, there’s not a better man, there’s not a better Razorback, there’s not a stronger person who has a love for the university and the Razorbacks,” Long said.

“Looking back on it, there wasn’t a person who would have been better at stepping in to lead the foundation when he did. So I have nothing but respect and appreciation for Coach.”

Arkansas running backs coach and recruiting coordinator Tim Horton said he still considered his father a coach.

“He may have been in administration for 22 years, but he’s a coach,” Tim Horton said. “Not very often do you get to go out on your terms, so for him to do that is great.”

Horton at a glance

BIRTHDATE Nov. 14, 1939

HOMETOWN DeWitt

PLAYING CAREER Member of three Arkansas teams that won or shared Southwest Conference titles (1959-61) and went 25-8. Was elected team captain in 1961, when the Razorbacks were 8-3 overall and won the SWC outright with a 6-1 record.

COACHING CAREER Compiled a 45-15-3 record in six seasons at Bald Knob and Forrest City high schools. Hired as Arkansas linebackers coach by Frank Broyles in 1968 and Razorbacks went 36-8-1 in his first four years. On staff four years with Coach Lou Holtz, including 11-1 season with an Orange Bowl victory in 1977, the Hogs’ last 11-victory campaign prior to 2011. Compiled a 74-12-5 record in eight seasons at Central Arkansas, including seven consecutive Arkansas Intervcollegiate Conference championships and two NAIA national titles (1984-85). The Bears won 38 consecutive regular season games during one stretch of his tenure.

PROFESSIONAL HONORS Voted AIC Coach of the Year five times. An inductee into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, the UA Letterman’s Association Hall of Honor and the UCA Sports Hall of Fame.

Sports, Pages 19 on 07/31/2012

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