Pittman to kick off Little Rock Touchdown Club season

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman is shown during practice Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in Fayetteville.
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman is shown during practice Friday, Aug. 6, 2021, in Fayetteville.

Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman is scheduled to speak Aug. 24 at the Little Rock Touchdown Club.

It will be Pittman’s first time to address the touchdown club. Arkansas coaches are a staple at the club that began in 2004, but because of the covid-19 pandemic there were no meetings in Pittman’s first season leading the Razorbacks in 2020.

More from WholeHogSports

https://www.wholeho…">Latest preseason camp coverage

Pittman is one of seven speakers affiliated with the Razorbacks who are scheduled to speak in Little Rock this year. Others are Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek (Sept. 20); former running back Darren McFadden (Sept. 27); former quarterbacks Matt Jones (Oct. 4), Austin Allen (Oct. 18) and Quinn Grovey (Nov. 15); and former coach and player Ken Hatfield (Nov. 22).

Grovey is the color analyst for Arkansas' radio broadcasts on the Razorback Sports Network.

Jones and Grovey will be joined by former quarterbacks who started opposite of them in college — Jones by Eli Manning, the two-time Super Bowl winner with the New York Giants who played college football at Ole Miss, and Grovey by Andre Ware, the 1989 Heisman Trophy winner at Houston.

Jones and Manning were the primary quarterbacks during Arkansas’ 58-56 win at Ole Miss in seven overtimes in 2001. Grovey and Ware were starters in another classic game in 1989 when Arkansas defeated No. 12 Houston 45-39 in Little Rock.

The touchdown club will also welcome three Pro Football Hall of Fame members this year. Terry Bradshaw, a four-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers, is scheduled to address the club Sept. 14. Cliff Harris and Drew Pearson — former Dallas Cowboys teammates who were inducted into the Hall of Fame last weekend — are scheduled to appear together Oct. 25.

Other scheduled speakers in Little Rock this year are former CBS football play-by-play announcer Verne Lundquist (Aug. 30); former Texas and NFL quarterback Vince Young (Sept. 7); Arkansas State coach Butch Jones (Oct. 11); Central Arkansas coach Nathan Brown (Nov. 1); and Little Rock-native NFL referee Walt Coleman (Nov. 8).

The touchdown club will meet at DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Little Rock. Membership and ticket information is available at LRTouchdown.com.

Little Rock Touchdown Club 2021 Lineup

Aug. 24 — Sam Pittman

Aug. 30 — Verne Lundquist

Sept. 7 — Vince Young

Sept. 14 — Terry Bradshaw

Sept. 20 — Hunter Yurachek

Sept. 27 — Darren McFadden

Oct. 4 — Eli Manning and Matt Jones

Oct. 11 — Butch Jones

Oct. 18 — Austin Allen

Oct. 25 — Cliff Harris and Drew Pearson

Nov. 1 — Nathan Brown

Nov. 8 — Walt Coleman

Nov. 15 — Andre Ware and Quinn Grovey

Nov. 22 — Ken Hatfield

Upcoming Events