Scott, Broyles had a good run, too

LITTLE ROCK — At first glance, Arkansas Razorbacks return man Joe Adams appeared to have no chance with the 61-yard punt he fielded in the Tennessee game last fall.

He zipped this way, swung around that way, while at least six tacklers barely missed knocking him off his feet. But then, suddenly, Adams was streaking toward the end zone, convoyed by some seven or eight teammates. At the end of the touchdown, all he had to do was step over the end zone and lay the ball on the ground.

Millions of TV viewers have seen replays of Adams’ touchdown during the past several months, and in certain areas, perhaps thousands of people have seen it dozens of times.

A friend of mine - a Razorbacks booster - called me and asked, “Why didn’t they give that ESPY to Adams?” When I asked him to define an ESPY, he hung up.

There was no such reaction in 1949, 62 years ago, when Coach Jimmy Karam’s undefeated Little Rock Junior College Trojans were selected to play Santa Ana (Calif.) Junior College, also undefeated, in the “Little Rose Bowl’’ game at Pasadena. The Trojans won, 25-19.

Benny Scott, a 125-pounder, was one of All-American Clyde Scott’s older brothers. Benny Scott also made an incredible all-over-the field run that became a film-room classic.

“I guess it was a punt that Benny caught, but I’m not sure,” said Stanley Goldberg, a former LRJC player.“I think it was for about 70 yards. Who knows now? He was all over the place.

“Some people say every [opposing player] on the field touched him, but I don’t think that sounds reasonable.”

Frank Broyles, after serving as an assistant at Baylor, Florida and Georgia Tech, and one year as head coach of Missouri, joined the University of Arkansas in December 1957, when he was hired as head coach.

Later he became athletic director, and proved exceedingly successful in both jobs. His autobiography, HogWild, was published in 1979.

Have you heard the story about Broyles’ 100-yard run against Tulane?

In 1946, his senior year at Georgia Tech, Tulane quick-kicked, catching Broyles at safety.

“I picked up the ball at the 15-yard line and started running,” Broyles wrote in Hog Wild. “T-formation quarterback was a rocking chair in those days and I reversed my field a couple of times, kept circling, looking, backtracking, and ran well over 100 yards getting in the end zone.’’

Actually it was called back because of a clipping penalty. After all that running, it didn’t even stand as an official play. The jokes started right there.

Some of his teammates claimed they blocked three men. Some said they blocked the same man three or four times. Somebody called it the longest run in history - in elapsed time. Tech Coach Bobby Dodd said they called it back for delay of the game.

“I’ll still tell you I was slow,” Broyles wrote in 1979. “I haven’t become a swift All-American after the fact - like some of them.”