War Memorial Stadium will have a forever imprint on University of Arkansas football, from the Powder River play in 1954 to the Miracles on Markham I and II in 2002 and 2008, and the seminal win over LSU in 2010 that sent the Razorbacks to the Sugar Bowl and their only Bowl Championship Series appearance.
Today, another kind of history will take place at the grand old stadium near downtown Little Rock.
The Razorbacks (4-3) will play their first in-state opponent in football in 77 years today at 11 a.m. when they take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-5) at War Memorial.
The game against a "sister" institution grew from a softening of stances by UA leaders after a decades-long policy instituted by then-UA Athletic Director John Barnhill in the mid-1940s was meant to help the flagship school stand out in the state.
Second-year coaches Coach Sam Pittman at Arkansas and Doc Gamble at UAPB have old-school backgrounds, but they're hip to the changes.
"I think it's smart," Pittman said. "I mean, I do. I don't want to help them and then they beat our tails, you know. But I do, I think it's smart.
"You're always taking a risk as the head coach at a major university by playing anybody in the state. It's a risk, but I think that's smart."
Gamble, who directed the Golden Lions to the SWAC Western Division title in the spring, said the program is happy about making history with the Hogs.
"If we've got an opportunity to play a money game in-state, that's what we should do," Gamble said. "It's a lot better than us having to leave the state.
"I think it's great for the fans, because both teams are recognizable to them being from the state."
There's a lot more than football involved in today's proceedings. The pageantry should be special, as both bands -- UAPB's Marching Musical Machine of the Mid-South and the Razorback Marching Band, the "Best in Sight and Sound" -- will perform separately and then together at halftime.
The chancellors -- UAPB's Laurence B. Alexander and UA's interim Charles Robinson -- and athletic directors Hunter Yurachek of UA and Chris Robinson from UAPB will be involved in a pre-game ceremony along with Dr. Stephen Broughton, chairman of the UA board of trustees, whose approval was a necessary step in creating the historic first matchup between the schools.
Arkansas has played games recently against historically Black colleges and universities in Little Rock, with wins over Alcorn State (52-10 in 2016) and Florida A&M (49-7 in 2017), but many football fans wondered if it wouldn't be better to keep those game guarantee checks in state.
When Yurachek took the reins in December 2017, the wheels were set in motion for seismic changes. Arkansas baseball Coach Dave Van Horn was already eager to change the long-standing policy and soon many others were on board.
"It first started from a conversation that Joe and I had, Chancellor Steinmetz," Yurachek said. "And then Chancellor Steinmetz had a conversation with president [Donald] Bobbitt at the time about the possibility of playing in-state schools, and it started with our sister schools prior to covid, to where we'd play Pine Bluff and Little Rock specifically, and the board was very supportive of that," Yurachek said. "Kind of dipping our toe in the water and kind of seeing how that occurred."
Once the covid-19 pandemic gripped the country, the Razorbacks' scheduling was opened up to all state schools to help reduce travel, and soon games in multiple sports were scheduled against Arkansas State and Central Arkansas as well as system schools UAPB and UALR. The Razorbacks are set to open the 2025 football season against Arkansas State in War Memorial Stadium on Sept. 6.
"The board was supportive, Dr. Bobbitt was supportive and Chancellor Steinmetz was supportive at the time," Yurachek said of the widespread in-state scheduling. "And it was something our coaches wanted to do. It was one of the first things that Coach Van Horn and I talked about when I arrived."
Yurachek worked with then-UAPB AD Chris Peterson, who was replaced this year by the ex-Golden Lions quarterback Robinson, to put together a contract for football games this season and in 2024, and also to give a large group of football lockers involved in a UA renovation as part of the deal.
The Golden Lions will receive a $600,000 guarantee for the game, which was originally scheduled to be played in Fayetteville before Arkansas rearranged its schedule to have this year's Missouri game played on campus the day after Thanksgiving.
For a long time, the attitude at Arkansas regarding scheduling in-state games had been why should the Razorbacks uplift in-state schools and risk the chance for losses of games and face.
"Especially for our sister schools within our system, what's the problem with paying Pine Bluff to help them build their athletic program so they can save a little money by only having to travel, in this case, over to Little Rock, or to travel across the state?" Yurachek countered.
"What's the issue with Arkansans helping fellow Arkansans? I think that's what this state was built on."
Pittman, an assistant an Arkansas teams that went 1-3 in Little Rock between 2013-15, noted there are disadvantages to traveling to a home game, but he also displayed a deeper perspective.
"I think some are wondering why we're going over there," he said. "Well, hell, we're going over there because people in Little Rock want us to go over there. We need to go over there and win and put on a show for the fine folks in Central Arkansas."
Pittman shared historic information in his media appearances this week, including that far-off game when Arkansas dispatched Arkansas-Monticello 41-0 on Dec. 2, 1944.
"Even as old as I am I wasn't born at that point, so I think it's a big deal," Pittman said. "Obviously we're playing Arkansas State in ... 2025, I believe.
"So I know for years ... they said it's not good for the University of Arkansas. But at that point in time if we haven't turned our program around enough to do well in these type games then it'll probably be a new guy talking about it. It's exciting. I think it's exciting for the state."
Said Gamble, "I know everybody with UAPB is excited about this game and looking forward to it.
"I thank those guys, the Arkansas board of trustees and the Arkansas administration, for allowing us to play this game. ... To be able to keep the money in the state, that's a win-win for everybody."
Razorbacks with ties to Central Arkansas understand the significance of playing an in-state opponent and what it could mean to the Golden Lions.
"I think they'll be very excited," said safety Simeon Blair, a Pine Bluff High graduate. "They get to play a bigger school and also I'll get to see a lot old school friends that I went to junior high with and high school and elementary school and stuff like that."
Pulaski Academy graduate and legacy Razorback Hudson Henry attended games at War Memorial in a golden era of sorts for Arkansas football more than a decade ago.
"We're getting to play in a place where we grew up watching Darren McFadden run the ball," he said. "We grew up watching Matt Jones being able to sling it. ... You know, he was the one who had the Miracle on Markham. I mean, places like that you get to play in and play in your own backyard, it's pretty fun."
Long-time UA sports information director Rick Schaeffer, who has been a member of the "Drive Time Sports" radio show, shed some historical perspective on the origins of the long-time Arkansas scheduling policy.
"John Barnhill came to Arkansas in 1946," Schaeffer said. "He was seeing football players leave the state of Arkansas and go to other places, including Bear Bryant going to Alabama.
"So he wanted to put a lock on the state. He wanted the University of Arkansas to be the premier and really the only program in the state. So he made it his policy that Arkansas would not play any in-state schools."
Frank Broyles recognized the power of standing alone as the statewide power when he visited Fayetteville for football games as a Baylor assistant coach in the late 1940s before Barnhill hired him as football coach in 1958.
"He's walking around downtown Fayetteville and he said all he saw was Razorbacks in the windows," Schaeffer said. "Every business had Razorback stuff. OK, Broyles had played at Georgia Tech, and as good as Georgia Tech was, he always felt like they were secondary to the University of Georgia in the state of Georgia. His thought process was if I could ever get a head coaching job at a school where there's just one school in the state that's where I want to go."
Schaeffer said Broyles made a pitch to solidify in-state unity by basically giving games away to every radio station in the state that wanted them, which quickly turned out to be stations around the state.
"Because once they started wining, if you weren't carrying the Razorbacks no one was listening to you," he said. "He wanted every person in Arkansas, if they were going to listen to football, he wanted them to listen to Arkansas. Of course he struck it rich when his second, third and fourth teams all won conference championships."
Broyles continued the scheduling policy after becoming UA athletic director in 1973, a position he held through 2007.
The first grumbling Schaeffer recalled hearing about in-state teams wanting to play Arkansas came after the 1975 Arkansas State team finished 11-0 under Coach Bill Davidson.
"That was I think probably the first time you heard rumblings of, 'Hey, why won't the Razorbacks play us,'" Schaeffer recalled. "That continued for a while.
"The only school that has ever clamored to play Arkansas is Arkansas State. And when they're not any good they never say anything about it. So ... when they are good, they get very vocal about it."
Arkansas-Democrat-Gazette reporter Bob Holt contributed to this article.
At a glance
RECORDS Arkansas-Pine Bluff 1-5; Arkansas 4-3
LINE No line
COACHES Doc Gamble (5-6 in second season at UAPB); Sam Pittman (7-10 in second season at Arkansas)
SERIES First meeting
RADIO Razorback Sports Network