FAYETTEVILLE — Thirteen former Arkansas athletes and the state's most influential sportswriter have been selected for induction into the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame.
The inductees include former Arkansas football players Jim Benton, Ronnie Caveness, Joe Ferguson, Steve Little, Fred Marshall, Wear Schoonover, Billy Ray Smith Sr. and Dennis "Dirt" Winston; basketball players Ron Brewer, Amber Shirey and Darrell Walker; track athletes Edrick Floreal and Cynthia Moore; and Orville Henry, the longtime sports editor of the Arkansas Gazette who covered the Razorbacks for 60 years.
The class will be inducted during a luncheon hosted by the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday, Oct. 30. Benton, Caveness, Henry, Little, Schoonover and Smith will be inducted posthumously.
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"We are once again delighted to work wth the University of Arkansas in honoring another amazing class of inductees into the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame," said Cooper Jones, President/CEO of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. "Their accomplishments and dedication to their families and their schools set a high standard of excellence that exemplifies the very best of the Southwest Conference era, and has left a great legacy for all Razorbacks to be very proud of."
Among the notable accomplishment's from this year's class:
• Schoonover (1929, tight end), Benton (1937, tight end), Caveness (1963-64, linebacker) and Little (1976-77, kicker) were first-team All-Americans.
• Little kicked an NCAA-record 67-yard field goal during a 1977 game against Texas.
• Marshall (quarterback) and Caveness (linebacker) were members of Arkansas' 1964 national championship team. Caveness had 25 tackles in a win over the No. 1 Longhorns that year after setting the school record with 29 tackles against Texas the year before.
• Winston (defensive lineman) was part of Arkansas' first large recruiting class of black athletes in 1973 after Jon Richardson broke the color barrier four years earlier. He had 22 tackles in an upset of No. 5 Southern Cal in 1974.
• Brewer was an All-American in 1978 and as a member of the famed "Triplets" guard tandem that helped Arkansas to the Final Four.
• Floreal was a five-time NCAA triple jump champion with titles indoors in 1988-89 and outdoors 1988-90.
• Shirey finished as the all-time leader in assists at Arkansas and was named Southwest Conference Tournament MVP in 1991 as the Razorbacks won their final tournament in the league.
This is the fourth large class of Razorbacks to be inducted in an effort to add more Arkansas athletes and coaches into the SWC Hall of Fame. Henry is the first Arkansas-affiliated inductee that was not a player or coach for the Razorbacks.
"It's a great honor for my father, but one he'd probably wonder about," said Clay Henry, publisher of Hawgs Illustrated. "He did not think it appropriate when he was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame as a non-athlete. He'd probably say that again with the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame.
"But it's hard to argue that he wasn't a great part of the SWC. He had an impact with the intimate way he covered the head coaches both in football and basketball throughout the conference. He could phone any head coach and they'd respond."
The SWC Hall of Fame was absorbed in 2013 by the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco. More than 300 SWC-affiliated inductees of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame were grandfathered in at the time, but only two, Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson, had any connection to the Razorbacks.
Jones and Johnson had been inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame by virtue of their affiliation with the Dallas Cowboys - Jones as the longtime owner and Johnson as a two-time Super Bowl champion head coach.
Each year, the SWC Hall of Fame selects nine new members - one each from the nine schools that comprised the conference. A committee selected former football player Dick Bumpas as the Razorbacks' representative for the 2017 SWC Hall of Fame class.
Bumpas will be inducted during a luncheon next Monday in Fort Worth, Texas.
Arkansans in Southwest Conference Hall of Fame
Football: Lance Alworth, Jim Benton, Frank Broyles, Dick Bumpas, Bill Burnett, Ronnie Caveness, Chuck Dicus, Joe Ferguson, Quinn Grovey, Dan Hampton, Leotis Harris, Wayne Harris, Ken Hatfield, Steve Little, Fred Marshall, Wayne Martin, Bill Montgomery, Billy Moore, Loyd Phillips, Cliff Powell, Wear Schoonover, Clyde Scott, Billy Ray Smith Sr., Billy Ray Smith Jr.
Men's Basketball: Ron Brewer, Todd Day, Joe Kleine, Lee Mayberry, Sidney Moncrief, Nolan Richardson, Eddie Sutton, Darrell Walker
Women's Basketball: Bettye Fiscus, Amber Shirey
Baseball: Norm DeBriyn, Kevin McReynolds
Golf: R.H. Sikes
Men's Track & Field: Mike Conley, Joe Falcon, Edrick Floreal, John McDonnell, Frank O'Mara, Niall O'Shaughnessy
Women's Track & Field: Bev Lewis, Cynthia Moore, Melody Sye
Journalist: Orville Henry