The first two weekends of December have turned into one of my favorite times of the year. I love high school football, and I enjoy hosting a Friday night radio scoreboard show that airs on more than 50 stations across the state from 10 p.m. until midnight for 13 consecutive weeks. However, getting to the studio early to prepare means I can't attend games.
The show ends on the Friday before Thanksgiving, and these two weekends in December allow me to watch state championship games at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium. The first of six title games was played last night. There will be two games today, one on Friday next week and two next Saturday.
I also get to spend time at a place where I've made many memories through the years. In the five decades I've been attending games at War Memorial Stadium, the facility has never looked better. In 2017, Gov. Asa Hutchinson put the stadium under what's now the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism. That same year, high-definition video boards and scoreboards were installed, thanks to support from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council, which distributes proceeds from the state's real estate transfer tax. Improved artificial turf was added this year.
"The turf and scoreboard are state of the art," says Justin Dorsey, the stadium manager. "Anyone who hasn't been here in a while will definitely appreciate these upgrades. Our field is now one of the best to play on in the state."
The stadium's security system has been upgraded with more cameras and a command center. Multiple law enforcement agencies can gather in one place during events. There's also a weather monitoring station. Locker rooms for game officials and visiting teams have been renovated. A renovation of the home locker room is scheduled to take place before next season.
"The visitor's locker room has a team area with 72 individual lockers," Dorsey says. "There's a separate area for the trainers and their equipment. The team has a meeting area. We have a separate room that has 11 lockers for coaches. ... We renovated the shower and restroom facilities. This locker room also includes its own media area for coaches and players to host their press conferences."
Arkansans have John Barnhill, the late University of Arkansas athletic director, to thank for the stadium. In order to make more money for the UA athletic department, Barnhill moved the 1947 Arkansas-Texas game to Crump Stadium in Memphis. Arkansans were so upset that the Legislature later passed bills providing $750,000 in revenue bonds for a 31,000-seat stadium. Once War Memorial Stadium was completed, the Razorbacks began playing three to four games a year there.
Barnhill would later say that the construction of a Little Rock stadium "enabled us to stay in the Southwest Conference. Other conference teams were getting tired of paying us fat sums for playing before big crowds in Texas and getting much less money for playing to our small crowds in Fayetteville."
An article in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly in 2016 noted: "Little Rock boomed and rural areas stagnated. ... Faced with outmigration and disappearing agricultural jobs, state government spearheaded a campaign to invite large and small companies to establish factories in Arkansas. Similar to other states competing for such business, Arkansas was compelled to invest public money in the construction of buildings that would enhance its image. Sports facilities were identified as one way communities could suggest they were modern."
Barnhill enlisted the assistance of prominent business leaders such as Aetna general manager Gordon Campbell and First Pyramid Life Insurance Co. president Herbert Thomas to push for a stadium. The cost of the stadium was $1.2 million. The first event there was a game between the Razorbacks and a team from Abilene Christian University in Texas on Sept. 18, 1948. Maurice "Footsie" Britt, a former Razorback and a Medal of Honor recipient who would go on to serve as Arkansas' lieutenant governor from 1967-71, was the honored guest during the dedication ceremony.
After the Razorbacks won several versions of the national championship in 1964 under head coach Frank Broyles, more than $150,000 in state funds were spent on end zone bleachers that increased capacity to 53,555. In 1965, at the behest of Gov. Orval Faubus, the Legislature appropriated $200,000 for a press box and elevator. The Football Writers Association of America honored the stadium for having the best press box for college football in the country.
Orville Henry, who chronicled the Razorbacks for decades as Arkansas Gazette sports editor, said Barnhill recognized the importance of playing more games in Little Rock soon after being hired in 1946 to coach the Razorbacks. Barnhill, a Tennessee native, was a star player in the 1920s for the legendary Robert Neyland at the University of Tennessee. He was 27-3 in three seasons as a high school coach at Bristol in east Tennessee and was hired by Neyland as the freshman coach at his college alma mater in 1931.
Barnhill became the head coach at Tennessee in 1941 when Neyland reported for military duty. Arkansas hired Barnhill after Neyland returned from military service at the end of World War II. Barnhill gave up coaching following the 1949 season but remained athletic director until 1971.
According to longtime Arkansas sportswriter Jim Bailey, the Razorbacks were "just kind of a once-a-year curiosity" in Little Rock's Quigley Stadium prior to Barnhill's arrival.
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Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 12/07/2019