Horton shares more stories

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• By Richard Davenport
• 6:00AM on September 3rd, 2010

Longtime Arkansas assistant football coach and administrator Harold Horton was kind enough to share a few interesting recruiting stories in Sunday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Horton, who serves as the executive director of the Razorback Foundation, was an assistant coach at Arkansas under Frank Broyles and Lou Holtz from 1968-1980 and the head coach at Central Arkansas from 1982-1989.

Here are a few stories that didn’t make the newspaper.

Horton recalled how Arkansas ended up offering Little Rock Central linebacker Jimmy Walker a scholarship late in the recruiting process. Walker would go on to earn All American honors as a defensive tackle for the Hogs.

He and Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer were on hand to watch Walker as the Tigers took on Fort Smith Northside in a late season game.

“I went to watch the game and Jimmy was the linebacker,” Horton said. “He played that whole game and he made one tackle,” Horton said. “I went back and told our people there’s no way we can take that kid, in the championship game he lines up at linebacker where he should be the leading tackler and he makes one tackle. Switzer saw the same thing because they didn’t offer Jimmy either.”

All that changed when Horton along Coach Frank Broyles, assistant coaches Ken Turner and Frank Falks attended the Arkansas High School All Star game in Little Rock in the summer of 1975.

“Jimmy Walker played as a defensive lineman and he had an outstanding game,” Horton said. “He was chosen the MVP. We offered Jimmy a scholarship that night.”

Because NCAA rules were much different during Horton’s time at Arkansas, the Razorbacks were able to sign Walker.

“At the time, Jimmy had signed with Arkansas Tech,” Horton said. “But in those days Tech didn’t have a national letter of intent so we were able to sign Jimmy Walker. To me Jimmy Walker is most underrated All Americans we’ve ever had at the University of Arkansas.”

Horton said while on Broyles staff, he and the other coaches liked to have fun and came up with unique way to honor one coach after each signing class.

“We would give what you would call a Golden Goober award,” Horton said. “It’s a trophy we would put on a coaches desk that signed what the coaches thought were the worst recruit.”

One particular year, assistant coach Richard Williamson signed an undersized defensive lineman from Richardson, Texas in 1974.

“He got the golden Goober award for recruiting Reggie Freeman,” Horton recalled. “A few years go by and we’re playing in the Orange Bowl against Oklahoma and Reggie Freeman was selected the defensive MVP of the Orange Bowl as the nose guard. You don’t know what’s going to happen with these recruits as you sign them and they come in and mature and get bigger stronger and faster.”

While the recruiting coordinator under Coach Danny Ford, Horton had to convince Ford that an Arkansas lineman was worthy of an offer.

The Hogs offensive tackle/tight end coach Buddy King and center/guard Coach Larry Van Der Heyden looked at film and weren’t’ sold on Grant Garrett of Lake Hamilton.

“I knew Grant Garrett was the top discus thrower in the state as a junior,” Horton said. “I talked to Danny Ford and said “Coach, you need to go to Lake Hamilton and just watch this kid practice. Danny liked to get out and visit with high schools coaches.”

Ford traveled south and liked what he saw of Garrett..

“Coach Ford called me from the Lake Hamilton dressing room and he said “I’m going to offer this boy a scholarship” Horton said.