UA letterman tourney reunites past Hogs

BY DAVID SHOWERS Northwest Arkansas Times

Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2008

URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/nwat/64579/

Afternoon showers brought an abrupt end to the University of Arkansas Letterman Tournament Friday at Paradise Valley Athletic Club, but golf was peripheral to the event’s primary purpose.

The brainchild of erstwhile Razorback football coach Danny Ford, the tournament is held the day before the spring football game and reunites players spanning more than a half-century of Arkansas sports.

“ It’s been a very popular event, ” said Harold Horton, vice president of the Razorback Foundation and tournament director. “ We’ve always had a good return. People come from a long ways. They may be football players, basketball players or baseball players, but it’s mostly football. It’s a reunion. ”

Preston Carpenter (1953-55 ) was the most venerable of the football lettermen represented Friday. More recent players, including Tony Bua (2000-03 ) and Bo Lacy (2001-03 ), were also present. Under a canopy near the practice green, Barry Switzer (1957-59 ) could be found holding court with past teammates.

“ I try to get here when my schedule permits, ” said Switzer, who resides in Norman, Okla. “ I try to get here as often as I can. Some of these guys I only see once a year. That’s why I try get back over here. We’re all scattered around the country. ”

Switzer and his cohorts didn’t play golf Friday, choosing instead to regale each other with yarns from bygone days. Switzer didn’t lament missing out on the golf. His time shagging balls for former Arkansas head football coach and athletic director Frank Broyles didn’t engender an interest for the game.

“ I’m not much of a golfer, ” Switzer said, wearing the Super Bowl XXX championship ring he won as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. “ The only reason I’m not was Frank gave me a lot of lessons but he never let me swing the club.

“ I was really good at picking up golf balls for him during lunch breaks when I was his assistant coach. He never showed me how to hit a 9 iron. I never got to swing it. ”

Arkansas AD Jeff Long got his swings in Friday even if he wasn’t among the 30 teams participating in the four-man scramble. Horton ferried Long and his clubs around the course so he could visit with as many past players as possible.

“ I take my clubs, ” Long said. “ I don’t get in a foursome, but I jump into a group here and there and take a shot. My day is trying to meet as many players as I can. They’re the backbone of what we do. They built our program, and I just feel a strong sense of wanting to get out and meet them. ”

Long said Friday was his first opportunity to meet the past players in a group setting since assuming the reins of the athletic department at the first of the year. He said the tradition those players represent is integral to an athletic department.

“ Tradition is very important, ” Long said. “ It’s special. It’s something that you can’t manufacture. It has to be earned and it has to be built. There’s a great tradition here. It’s one of our strengths, the fact that we do have such a strong tradition. You can’t manufacture it. You have to build it. ”