Seasons on the Hill
October 13-19, 2025
By Jay Edwards
This is a rerun from 2016. Because sometimes memories are all ya got.
So you blink and now your 68 instead of 20. But you still recall the moments like they were yesterday.
You remember one October day, standing in a long line in the Student Union, taking your shift with fraternity brothers for tickets to the big game against the Longhorns, finally getting to the window, the lady smiling at you as she hands you the prize, her looking over her glasses so she can see your reaction at being on the 50-yard line.
You make your first bet, $50.00 on your team because your new head coach from Ohio had fired you up at the pep rally the night before, sending the crowd into a frenzy as he slurred into the mike that, “Tomorrow, the University of Arkansas WILL beat the University of Texas.”
You believed. But you only got 3 and 1/2 points and the final is 13 to 9.
You feel bad, but it would be the last time, because that team doesn’t lose again.
You transition with excitement into basketball season, where your team begins the year ranked 7th in the AP and 9th in the UPI, after a 26-2 record the year before.
You have to arrive at Barnhill Arena earlier because what goes on inside isn’t a secret anymore.
You travel home to Little Rock to watch the game against a good Mississippi State team, a team that would eventually finish second in the SEC. You watch your team run them off the court 94-61.
You’re undefeated after a win against Kansas, and are now ranked third in the nation.
You travel to Memphis on New Year’s Eve and watch the magic continue as your team avenges one of its losses from last year, beating Memphis State 95-70.
Two nights later you win your $50.00 back as the football team covers their last point spread by 43, in the romp over OU in the Orange Bowl.
Your basketball team takes their undefeated record south to the home of Abe and Fatty, to The Erwin Center in Austin, where they would suffer the first loss of the year to the unranked Longhorns, 75-69.
Over the years however, “The Drum,” as it was often called, was usually kind to the Hogs. It was there the very next year, in 1979, when Arkansas returned and gave the Longhorn men their first loss in the building. That was the game Eddie Sutton complained to Texas guard Johnny Moore about a pick, causing Abe Lemons to charge towards the Arkansas coach, threatening to rip his “Sunday Suit” for berating one of his players)
And then in 1981 it was the site of the famous half-court prayer by U.S. Reed, which sent Louisville home from the Midwest Regional.
It was also where Nolan took his famous “stroll,” in 1990, to the locker room, causing him to miss Lee Mayberry’s 28-foot-three that put the game against Texas into overtime.
And of course who will ever forget Lawrence Moten calling his famous timeout that Syracuse didn’t have, allowing Scotty Thurman’s free throw to send the Midwest Regional game into OT, and the Hogs a step closer to their second straight championship game.
It was Texas however, who won there in ’78 and got ranked, but when they come to Fayetteville your team is #2, and Sports Illustrated is on hand looking for a memorable cover.
You win 75-71, spurred by then freshman Reed’s 11 points, which allows the team’s move to #1 later that month after mighty Kentucky loses.
It doesn’t last long however, as a good Houston team hands you your second loss, 84-79.
You move into SWC Tournament play and get easy wins over TCU and SMU. Houston waits in the semis, the winner to face Texas in the finals.
You listen to the game on the radio at your home in North Little Rock, as your dad chain-smokes and paces around the house.
With 8 seconds left you have the lead 69-68. Your leader and 90% free-throw shooter Ron Brewer is at the line with a 1 & 1.
He misses and the Cougar’s Cecile Rose hits the game winner.
Houston gets the conference’s automatic bid with a win over Texas. You sweat with the rest of the state, hoping for an at large bid to one of the 32 spots. It finally comes, but you are sent west to play someone called Weber State.
Texas is left with the NIT, which they win.
You are in the toughest region, with UCLA, Kansas and North Carolina.
After beating Weber State you meet UCLA, who you make look bad in the first half. You sweat it as they come back late, but you hold on for the biggest win in school history.
After the Final Four in St. Louis another great team finishes third in the country.
At the time it wasn’t quite enough, but 48 years later it seems there has never been a year quite like it.
Photo Cutline:
Old Main, as viewed from the northwest. On the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Photo Credit:
(Brandonrush CC ASA 3.0)
