FAYETTEVILLE -- Toasting and roasting a good man brought good money to good causes for children that the Fayetteville Northside Rotary Club will distribute.
Norm DeBriyn, the retired Arkansas Razorbacks College Hall of Fame baseball coach (1969-2002) and unretired before he could retire Razorback Foundation executive, was roasted and toasted for charity Monday night at the Fayetteville Town Center.
There was more toasting than roasting, though one of four roasters, Dave Van Horn, DeBriyn's All-Southwest Conference second baseman (1982), assistant coach (1985-88) and successor upon DeBriyn's 2002 coaching retirement to serve in the Razorback Foundation, met the medium rare roast minimum.
Van Horn set the record straight to his current players that the jovial elder they know dropping by Baum Stadium actually was a coach maniacally intense.
Van Horn recalled a player already on the thinnest of disciplinary thin ice ambling late to practice at George Cole Field while Norm was fungo-batting to infielders.
"Norm starts towards him madder and madder," Van Horn said. "The guy backs up then sprints away. Norm is on him with the fungo chasing him down Razorback Road. Obviously with those bad knees Norm didn't catch him. Years later I asked him what would he have done if he had."
"'Geez,'" Norm said according to Van Horn. "'I don't know. ...' I tell that story to our players all the time so they know the real Norm DeBriyn."
Van Horn also recalled after a March snow that DeBriyn was so determined to play a scheduled game that he dried the base paths by setting fire to rubber tires.
The Razorbacks' uniforms became indelibly sootier than a chimney sweep. They still looked like coal miners opening the SWC season in Austin against Texas.
"The Wild Bunch [a caustic collection of Longhorns fans] let us have it non-stop." Van Horn said.
No coach, Van Horn said, ever looked out more for his players even in their post-Razorbacks days.
When Van Horn's pro baseball career ended with a minor league release, he recalled DeBriyn immediately urging him to complete his degree.
"I said, 'I need a little more time,'" Van Horn said. "And Norm said, 'As you get older, time flies by. Get your degree.'"
Van Horn did, parlaying the degree into a head coaching career since 1989.
"I guarantee you I have told 500 kids that same thing," Van Horn said.
With the opening of Baum Stadium in 1996, Van Horn now has coached far more games at Baum than his old coach.
That changes nothing, Van Horn said, citing the donors' love for Norm that built Baum beautifully.
"Baum Stadium ain't about Dave Van Horn," Van Horn said, choking back the lump in his throat. "It's Norm DeBriyn."
Considerable Razorbacks fundraising and goodwill still is, too.
Scott Varady knows that well. New as the Razorback Foundation's director, but wise to and loving the UA as an alum long serving in its general counsel's office, Varady convinced DeBriyn indefinitely to put off the retirement that Norm intended last January.
Sports on 03/12/2016