The first in a series on the 2024 inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Little Rock's Glen Day never thought of playing golf professionally.
When he finally decided to, what would come of it wasn't much of a thought.
Both decisions were a means to an end at the time.
But 36 years after turning pro, Day, 58, has been selected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame as a member of its 2024 induction class.
The class will be inducted April 19 during the hall's banquet at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
"It's just a great honor," Day said. "As athletes, you want to do the best that you can do. Golf is a sport that has a lot of highs and a lot of lows. The highs are real high and the lows are real low. The whole object is to keep things as level as possible.
"I want to represent good things that are going on. So you never set out to go, 'Hey, I'm going to get into the Hall of Fame. I want to be in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.' It's never even a thought. So to be recognized for what you've done by other people, it's a great honor."
Day was born in Mobile, Ala., and grew up in Poplarville, Miss. From an early age, learning from his grandfather Glyndol Bass, life seemed to always point Day back toward golf.
He initially accepted a scholarship from Ole Miss to play golf as a way to pay for college. But at the end of his sophomore year, he found himself without a team and headed toward a life without it.
The following summer, Day ran into Gregg Grost at lunch. Grost had just accepted the head coach position at the University of Oklahoma and was in town for a wedding, so Day struck up a conversation not thinking anything of it.
By the end of that chance encounter, two things had been decided: Day was going to go with Grost to Norman, Okla., and play his last two years for the Sooners, and he'd have to wait a year for a scholarship spot. Day went on to become a two-time All-American in 1987 and 1988
"Had I not met him for lunch that day, I would have never played golf again," Day said. "[That is] someone that really is owed a lot of credit for me playing professional golf, just because he gave me an opportunity to play college golf."
Shortly after helping lead Oklahoma to a runner-up spot at the NCAA Championships, Day found himself without a next step.
"All of a sudden, I'm sitting there and it kind of hit me, 'Holy cow, what am I going to do now?' " Day said. "I have no idea what I'm going to do. I'm in Oklahoma. I've only been there for two years. I had made some friends, but I didn't have the support staff, let's say that I had in Mississippi where I had family and everything else. And I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I have no idea what I'm going to do.' "
Day's teammate, Tripp Davis, told him about a tournament in Iowa and invited to stay in the hotel room he had booked. Before that conversation, Day said he had no idea how someone even became a professional golfer, let alone what that life looked like.
"I don't think anybody makes a decision right then thinking, 'This is going to change my life right here,' " Day said. "It just happens."
Day spent two years on the Asian Tour and three on the European Tour before qualifying for the PGA Tour in 1993. In his rookie season, he finished 45th overall in earnings with a runner-up finish at the Anheuser Busch Classic in Williamsburg, Va.
In 1999, Day clinched his lone career PGA win with a 35-foot putt on the first extra hole to win the MCI Classic in Hilton Head, S.C., winning a playoff against Jeff Sluman and Payne Stewart.
In Day's career on the PGA Tour, he made 277 of 477 cuts with 4 runner-up finishes, 5 third-place finishes and 38 top-10 finishes. He reached No. 30 on the world rankings in 2000.
He joined the Champions Tour when he turned 50, where he still competes. His next competition is set for April 19 at the Invited Celebrity Classic in Irving, Texas.