Hogs' home rose from uncertainty

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles walked into baseball coach Norm DeBriyn's office, shut the door and skipped the small talk.

The conversation that followed in the summer of 1990 was maybe the most heated the two had during the 28 years they shared in an AD-coach relationship, a discussion sparked by DeBriyn telling the media that Arkansas' baseball program wouldn't be able to compete nationally unless improvements were made to the outdated George Cole Field.

"So you're going public with your problems, huh?" Broyles asked DeBriyn, clearly unhappy with the coach's quote, which came on the heels of a Southwest Conference title.

The two went back-and-forth, with DeBriyn listing reasons why it was time for a change from George Cole Field: the padding between the AstroTurf and asphalt had eroded, there was no clubhouse and the rest of the park was bare bones, putting Arkansas behind its competitors. But his boss was in no mood to hear it that day.

Broyles went out of town for two or three days following the verbal spat, time DeBriyn spent trying to make an appointment with his boss to apologize. But to no avail.

"I thought I was going to get fired, I really did," DeBryin said.

Then DeBriyn finished practice one night and ran into Broyles, back from his trip, in a hallway. Broyles only asked how baseball recruiting was going.

"He never had any animosity or held a grudge and I appreciated that so much," DeBriyn said.

Arkansas played at George Cole Field for another five-plus years, but the seed had been planted for a new stadium. Fast forward to now, Baum Stadium is the realization of DeBriyn's dreams and Broyles' vision. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the stadium's first games, a doubleheader win over Auburn.

Baum's appearance has changed a great deal over the last two decades, morphing from a 3,328-seat park with only a few suites to a gleaming 10,737-capacity stadium with 34 luxury suites. But it has always been among college baseball's finest.

Arkansas is tough to beat at the park, sporting a 463-185 record, good for an impressive .715 winning percentage in its friendly confines. It's played host to regionals and super regionals, packing the house for both and creating electric atmospheres while serving as the backdrop for some of the most memorable moments in Arkansas history, from numerous walk-offs to earning trips to the College World Series in 2004 and 2015, to Brady Toops' season-saving, grand-slam in the 2004 regional, likely the biggest hit in Arkansas baseball history.

"There was something electric about playing at Baum Stadium," Toops said. "I don't know exactly what it was, but there was just something about playing in Baum Stadium where you felt the energy. You felt like you were going to win most every game.

"There was nothing like it, from the Diamond Dolls to the RBI Girls to the announcers to the crazy Razorback fans. It was just fun to play baseball there."

Baum Stadium is still state of the art. It was ranked the No. 1 stadium in the country by Baseball America in 1998 and still has a reputation as one of the premier parks in the nation thanks to near-constant renovations and upgrades, which have made it possible for Arkansas to finish in the top two nationally in attendance for four consecutive years.

"What made this job a great job obviously is it's the SEC and you had a ballpark you could recruit to, because we have to go all over the place to get players," current Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said.

Baum Stadium has come a long way in the past two decades, but it never would have become a reality without sizable gifts from two prominent local families.

The Baum Gift

In an unlikely turn of events, the problems of a local American Legion team unintentionally started the chain of events which paved the way for Baum Stadium's construction.

Two years had passed since DeBriyn made the statement about the upgrades needed at George Cole Field, two years since he and Broyles' argument. Arkansas was in the SEC now, which gave DeBriyn an up-close look at several top-flight parks, including a new one at Georgia.

"The facilities at these stadiums and the brand of baseball was very good," DeBriyn said.

Renovations were at one point in the works at George Cole Field, but Broyles halted plans when they came in over budget. DeBriyn's attempts to change Broyles' mind, against the advice of then-associate AD Terry Don Phillips, didn't work.

"He chewed me up and spit me out and that was it," DeBriyn said of his meeting with the AD.

In January 1992, DeBriyn received a phone call from Billy Jack Mahan, who was with a local American Legion team. The team needed about $10,000 to complete a project for lights at their field, but Mahan wasn't asking DeBriyn for the money that day.

"I think you go to church with a guy, first-generation Walmart guy, that could help us," Mahan told DeBriyn. He was referring to Charlie Baum.

So DeBriyn called and spoke to a seemingly unreceptive Baum, telling him what the American Legion team needed. The conversation ended abruptly and DeBryin didn't think much more of it, but two weeks later he received another call from Mahan thanking him for his help -- Baum had written the team a $10,000 check later the same day DeBriyn called him.

DeBriyn called Baum back, thanked him and asked if he liked coffee, which led to Baum inviting DeBriyn to join him for a coffee klatch. The first meeting went exceedingly well.

"He made it easy," DeBriyn said. "He said, 'Now that you're in the SEC, what're you going to do about that facility?' And I said, 'That's why I'm here.'"

Baum wrote a $250,000 check that morning. A few weeks later, he wrote another $250,000 check. Arkansas was in the midst of building Bud Walton Arena for the basketball program at the time, so Broyles took Baum to lunch shortly after he caught wind of the donations.

"(Baum) said, 'I know you boys want some money for basketball. I don't have money for basketball, but I've got a half-million for baseball,'" DeBriyn recalled.

Broyles shared the story with an ecstatic DeBriyn that night after baseball practice. Baum had donated $1 million altogether and it seemed like headway was finally being made toward much-needed improvements to George Cole Field.

"I wasn't even thinking of relocating the baseball field," DeBriyn said. "For some reason, I wasn't thinking outside the box at all."

He and Broyles would eventually do that, but not for another few years.

The Walker Gift

Two years went by, with Bud Walton opening up and housing a national championship team, but still no renovations made to George Cole Field or even plans in the works.

The lack of action caused a stir among members of the program's Swatter's Club, who went to Baum and DeBriyn with inquiries. DeBriyn, in turn, took their questions to Broyles on the day of a Swatter's Club meeting in 1994. Broyles wound up speaking at the meeting at a local barbecue joint that day.

"Frank said we want to do it right, we want to relocate in a different area," DeBriyn recalled. The statement prompted someone in attendance to ask what it would take to get started on a new park. Broyles was ready with an answer -- another $1 million.

Later that day, Johnny Mike Walker, who lettered for DeBriyn in 1975, stopped by practice. He wanted to set up a meeting with DeBriyn, Broyles, himself and Willard Walker, his father and a first-generation Walmart worker, like Baum.

The next day, the Walkers pledged the needed $1 million, giving the program $2 million in earmarked funds. Within two days, DeBriyn and Broyles were in Arizona looking at stadiums and designs. The improvements were coming to fruition in a way DeBriyn hadn't even imagined.

Broyles was opinionated during the design process, ready with a list of specifications he knew he either wanted or didn't think the park needed.

"He made a comment, 'I'm not a very good visionary,'" DeBriyn said. "And he is. As it turns out, the design you see at Baum Stadium was basically his."

Arkansas opened the stadium by sweeping a Saturday doubleheader against Auburn on April 13, 1996. There was still scaffolding up around the stadium as finishing touches were being made, but to the players, coaches and fans, the new digs were perfect.

"It was the same kind of feeling we got three years ago when we moved from the Broyles (Complex) into the new Fred Smith Center," said former Arkansas quarterback and current tight ends coach Barry Lunney Jr., who also played baseball for the Hogs in both stadiums. "It was a feeling of, wow, you don't realize what you had until you get something new. Everybody was really excited about that back then."

Since it's opening, Baum has transformed over the years in keeping with the times, much to the delight of DeBriyn, Van Horn, players and fans alike.

The Van Horn Era

DeBriyn retired after the 2002 season, capping a hall-of-fame 33-year career which included four College World Series appearances. The move opened the door for Arkansas to hire Van Horn, who lettered for DeBriyn in 1982, served as a grad assistant on his staff for four years in the 1980s and by 2002 had established himself as one of the best coaches in baseball after leading Nebraska to two College World Series.

Van Horn had helped design a new stadium at Nebraska and had a few changes he wanted made to Baum Stadium, namely moving the coaches' offices to the venue, enclosing the batting cages, changing the turf to grass and extending the seats all the way down both lines, which led to the addition of 2,600 chair-back seats prior to his first year. But the stadium was still a big draw the day he took the job at his alma mater.

"If we were in Houston it'd be different, whatever, they're going to come and play for (you)," Van Horn said. "But when you're getting kids from all over the country, you better have a ballpark that they want to play in. It would've been a lot more difficult decision to make if they didn't have Baum Stadium."

There have been plenty more upgrades and renovations over the course of Van Horn's 14-year tenure as the program has become one of college baseball's elite, making four College World Series appearances, winning three SEC West titles and one overall SEC crown.

In 2004, 12 luxury boxes were added, along with a new scoreboard, the coaches offices Van Horn desired and the grass field he requested.

In 2007, 20 additional luxury boxes were added along with 1,000 chair-back seats and an expanded Hog Pen and picnic area, renovations which brought the capacity to its current 10,737, which has led to Arkansas being a constant presence near the top of the NCAA attendance lists, with an engaged fan base routinely selling out for big games.

"When Dave was hired and came in after the '02 season, they announced the expansion and I thought, well that's going to look great for recruits but they're never going to fill that place up," said Chuck Barrett, the football and basketball voice of the Razorbacks who also called Arkansas baseball games for 23 years. "I didn't think they'd ever do it and I was as wrong as wrong can be."

There have been several upgrades over the last few years, including the addition of LED ribbon boards in 2013, the construction of a 52,000-square-foot baseball and track training center -- another Van Horn request -- in 2014 and this season's latest addition, an LED video board that, at 25-by-71 feet, is the largest on-campus baseball scoreboard in the nation.

The changes have helped keep Baum Stadium fresh and up-to-date, on the cutting edge and among the best, if not the best, stadiums in the country. They've also resulted in a stadium that's far different aesthetically than the one DeBriyn and Broyles initially designed, the one Baum and Walker made happen.

The former duo's vision led to the construction of one of the top parks in the country, while the latter duo's generosity made those dreams a reality.

Two decades later, it's still among the largest and best stadiums in the nation. And with plenty of space to grow and planned renovations that will add outfield luxury suites and a concourse connecting the entire stadium, its billing as one of college baseball's elite venues doesn't appear to be going anywhere soon.

"That stadium was called Norm's reward when it was built," Barrett said. "And that's very true, it was Norm's reward. There was an outright SEC championship won in that stadium within the first four years of it being open, so it certainly had its benefits.

"But when Dave came in and they expanded the stadium, it all goes hand-in-hand. The next year, Toops hits the home run and ever since then they've needed every one of those seats."

Sports on 04/13/2016