FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas baseball Coach Dave Van Horn is going into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Van Horn will be inducted during a first-of-its-kind ceremony Jan. 25 at Fayetteville Town Center.
"It's a huge honor for me, personally," Van Horn said. "It's something you don't really think about. It's something I think that comes with time."
Van Horn was elected to the Hall of Fame's 2017 class but was unable to attend the ceremony in Little Rock because it conflicted with the Razorbacks' baseball schedule.
Van Horn will be classified as a member of the 2019 class. The remainder of the 10-member class will be inducted during a March 29 ceremony at Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The Arkansas baseball team is scheduled to host Ole Miss that night.
"There had been some conversation over the past year about it ... and I really didn't know what to say, if I could get there or not," Van Horn said. "They just decided to have a banquet here, which was really nice."
Van Horn, 58, is in his 17th season as the Arkansas head coach with a 643-364 record. In June, the Razorbacks finished national runner-up to Oregon State in their fifth trip to the College World Series under Van Horn, a former Arkansas middle infielder who was named Southwest Conference newcomer of the year in 1982.
Van Horn played one season for the Razorbacks after transferring from McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. After a brief stint in the Atlanta Braves' farm system, Van Horn returned to Arkansas as a graduate assistant coach for Norm DeBriyn for four seasons, which included trips to the College World Series in 1985 and 1987.
"As a player for us he was like a coach on the field," DeBriyn said. "After pro ball he came back ... and just did a great job. I could see the potential in him as being a tremendously successful coach, and that's exactly what has happened.
"What he's done with the Arkansas program, the monster he's built is just a tribute to him and his staff and his players."
Van Horn caught his coaching break in January 1998 when after three seasons coaching Northwestern (La.) State, he was hired as head coach at Nebraska. He won three Big 12 championships and took Nebraska to its first College World Series appearances in 2001 and 2002.
He was hired to replace DeBriyn who retired following the 2002 season.
"I thought for sure he was the right guy and [former UA Athletic Director] Frank Broyles felt that way, too," DeBriyn said.
In addition to five College World Series appearances, Van Horn won a Southeastern Conference championship at Arkansas in 2004 and has won at least a share of four SEC West division titles with the Razorbacks, including in 2018.
Van Horn will be the 13th Razorbacks head coach to be inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, and former football coach Houston Nutt will be the 14th during the banquet in March.
This is the fourth time Van Horn has been elected to a hall of fame. He was inducted as a player into the Winnetonka (Mo.) High School Alumni Hall of Fame and the Ban Johnson League Hall of Fame in Kansas City, and was inducted into the Central Missouri State Hall of Fame as a coach. Van Horn led Central Missouri to a Division II NCAA championship in 1994, his only season with the program.
Sports on 12/20/2018