Every once in awhile in this recent flood of University of Arkansas athletic change, comes a day of high ground.

A day to reflect what the Razorbacks often have meant and still mean to their state and their fans. A day above the message boards and controversies and the hyphenated corporate speak of today’s college athletics. A day cutting to the heart of matter, that in fact this program and its fans do have a heart.

That heart beat as one Sunday at Baum Stadium at Larry Shank Day, a day honoring the longtime Razorback baseball public address announcer who passed away last July after a two-year battle with cancer.

Shank, as you might have guessed if you haven’t been to a Razorback baseball game since 1989 at the old George Cole Field until the baseball Hogs moved to Baum Stadium in 1996, was more than just your standard p. a. man.

“ In 1989 everything changed, ” Norm DeBriyn, the longtime baseball coach still 14 years from retirement when Shank was hired on the recommendation of former Razorback pitching coach John Luedtke, said Sunday. “ He was an entertainer. More energy at the ballpark. ”

ADVERTISEMENT

DeBriyn, Dave Van Horn, the Razorbacks’ coach since 2003, and Andy Shank, Shank’s son, all spoke during ceremonies preceding Arkansas edging Alabama 5-4 on Sunday.

Jeff Long, the athletic director hired two months after Shank passed on, began Sunday’s program as he properly should as the new Head Hog. After officially proclaiming it Larry Shank Day and announcing the public address henceforth is named for Larry Shank and that a display honoring Shank will be at the stadium, he wisely turned it over to those knowing the honoree.

Van Horn presented Shank’s wife, Karen, and the Shank family with a 2007 SEC West championship ring, which the Razorbacks won in Larry’s last year on the microphone.

“ We love him and we miss him, ” Van Horn said.

Shank bonded Baum Stadium fans with patter enthusiastic but always enough restrained never to overshadow the game.

An accomplished singer, his seventh inning stretch rendition of “ Take Me Out To The Ballgame” was always punctuated with his signature “ This - is - BASEBALL !, ” and he began every game announcing the weather in baseball degrees.

“ Dad loved being at the ballpark, whether it was 38 or 78 baseball degrees, ” Andy Shank told Sunday’s crowd. “ And when he said, ‘ This is BASEBALL !, ’ it was his true expression for his love of the game. ” Larry could more than unite a ballpark. His rendition of the National Anthem, always only on Sundays, could unite a country if beamed nationwide. Always sung with the sincerest simplicity, no showy notes or dramatic pauses, the Larry Shank version of the National Anthem could make a bar room full of arguing political extremists immediately stand at attention in mutual respect. “ You so looked forward to the National Anthem on Sunday, ” DeBriyn said. “ You got goose bumps. I think I got goose bumps every National Anthem that he sang. ” At events like Sunday, things tend to get overdone with droning, mostly inaudible scoreboard videos. Not this one. All they played Sunday on the scoreboard video was Larry’s seventh-inning stretch “ Take Me Out to the Ballgame, ” which they have run every game this year in tribute, and for the first time since his passing, a video of one his National Anthems was used for Sunday’s National Anthem. It allowed Larry to pay another tribute to those paying tribute to him.