FAYETTEVILLE - Upon his recent induction into the Arkansas Activities Association Hall of Fame, Bill Breazeale remarked, “I have never been in front of that many people that I didn’t get booed.”
Despite his recall of fuming fans and caustic coaches, Breazeale, 78, of Fayetteville, was inducted in the AAA Hall of Fame for his decades of excellence officiating high school football and basketball.
However in this space, Breazeale is chronicled for his unique perspective on Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches from Frank Broyles in the 1960s through Bobby Petrino.
Whether officiating August, pre-bowl or spring scrimmages or serving on the game-day sidelines from supervising the ball boys to operating the play clock, Breazeale worked while Broyles, Lou Holtz, Ken Hatfield, Jack Crowe, Joe Kines, Danny Ford, Houston Nutt, Petrino and their staffs worked until he retired in 2011.
As people, Breazeale praised Hatfield, especially, and lauded Broyles, Crowe, Kines, Ford and Nutt. His feelings for Holtz were a mixed bag but ultimately respectful.
Breazeale compared Petrino, to put it in family newspaper context, to a portion of the posterior.
Breazeale had retired from officiating scrimmages by the time Petrino arrived at Arkansas but for games operated the play clock on the sideline by SEC edict rather than the press box like many leagues.
“Petrino got so mad at us,” Breazeale said. “He just hated us being out there in front of him. I told him, ‘Hey, look, these are the rules and this is what they want us to do. Do you want the damn thing kept or not?’ He would mouth something. One time he got a delay-of-game and he said, ‘Keep that clock right!’ And I said, ‘It is right, Coach. Get your play called and you won’t have a problem.’
“I couldn’t stand him anyway.”
Quite a contrast to Hatfield.
“Kenny was calm, and I never heard him say a cuss word” Breazeale said. “He was probably my favorite out of all of them. I really liked him, and he was a good coach.”
Ford cussed, Breazeale said, “but he was funny and fun to be around.”
Broyles, Kines, Crowe and Nutt all kept decorum, Breazeale said.
“Frank got excited during games, and Houston Nutt was so damn hyper he made everybody nervous, but that’s just the way he was,” Breazeale said. “I liked him. He was awfully nice to us and never gave us any trouble at all.”
Breazeale dealt with Holtz both on the sidelines during games and officiating the preseason and spring scrimmages.
“Now Lou could really be a jerk, but after the game or scrimmage was over he was fine,” Breazeale said.
They even shared a laugh during one game, Breazeale said.
Upon officiating the second-to last scrimmage of an August preseason - conference officials customarily work the final preseason scrimmage -Breazeale jokingly told Holtz, “You probably have already had your best-officiated game all year.”
“During the first game I’m on the sideline,” Breazeale recalled, “Lou came by and said, ‘By God, you are right! You guys do a whole lot better job than these guys are doing.’ ”
Sports, Pages 16 on 07/24/2013