Bazzell continues battle with Arkansas admin, but who is on right side?

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There is no irony in the king of Arkansas sports trophies taking time for the second week in a row to throw shots at the Razorbacks athletics administration — this time in regard to how old football treasures such as trophies and plaques from last century are handled at the university.

"I'm going to make a commitment right here. Everybody gets irritated with me up on The Hill anyway," former Razorback turned radio host David Bazzell said at the Little Rock Touchdown Club Monday, indicating he was prepared to burn down anything left standing after controversial, pointed comments last week. "So, so all these guys up here [on stage], if they've won any trophies, any plaques, any jerseys, they're all sitting in a storage unit somewhere in Rogers. And Dean Weber told me, he said, 'David, I feel like,' and this might have been under Jeff Long. I don't know, and I don't really care. He says, 'I feel like we're sort of, they're dismissing everything that was done before 2000,'

"So I don't know where the Grantland Hill trophy is. I don't know where the Cotton Bowl trophy of the 60s was. I think they're all in a storage unit somewhere. So here's the deal. I'm just telling you, I don't care if Hunter Yurachek wants to do it or not. But, Chancellor [Charles F. Robinson], here's the deal. These guys and all of us who've played for the last 60 years, 75 years, we're coming for that stuff. And if you don't want to put them in the athletics department, we'll find a place to put them somewhere."

Those fiery comments resonated in the room, and there's good reason to want to track down many of the awards from last century so they can have a place of honor rather than in a supposed storage area 20 miles from campus. They want those trophies found and on display, because, as a Touchdown Club, their responsibility is to do all they can to help fans remember the glory days of last century when the football team was good.

"I'm marking it right here to where Chancellor Robinson, if you want to put them in Old Main, if we're gonna find a barbecue restaurant in Fayetteville, I don't care, but the history of this program is not being represented in the end zone complex that was built a few years ago," Bazzell said. "You walk by, you see three-inch pictures of the greatest players, when I was remember when we were there, you'd walk by, you see these great trophies and all these different things.

"I don't want to forget that the guys that we're standing on the shoulders of right here — all those folks up there that are making millions, including kids — they're standing on the shoulders of these players right here. So I was going to make a commitment. We're going to get that done this year."

It definitely makes for a good headline from a public relations perspective. That's what Bazzell appears to be reaching for as he stitches up support for what looks like a much bigger battle for the heart of the athletics program with a new incoming football coach and a push to make a change at athletics director by those on Bazzell's side of the Bobby Hopper Tunnel.

However, as the old cliche' goes, there are two sides to every story, although there are technically three when considering the affected third party that experiences the consequences of the two sides in conflict. Either way, in this case, both have a strong case for being right, which also means an equal case for being wrong.

Yes, there is a need to honor the distant past, even though it's certainly not as pressing with some of the lesser momentos. For instance, if Arkansas is indeed in possession of the Grantland Rice Trophy, which Bazzell, in his state of high emotion mistakenly referred to as the Grantland Hill Trophy, then it needs to be displayed somewhere.

That being said, those of us from a different era have always been told by the old timers that if Hogs fans want to see this trophy, they need to go to Alabama. Now whether they were being figurative because the Tide are the nationally recognized rightful national champions from that season, including in the old sports almanacs, or because it was possibly initially awarded to Alabama and they didn't give it to Arkansas after the scandalous vote remains to be seen.

For those unaware, in 1964, the Tide were named national champions at season's end because the regular season determined the winner. Bowl games were considered exhibitions and not part of consideration.

However, after the Tide lost, 21-14, to Texas in the Orange Bowl, and Arkansas edged out No. 6 Nebraska, 10-7 in the Cotton Bowl to finish undefeated, an Arkansas reporter, Orville Henry if memory serves correctly, called together four friends and voted after the fact to name the Razorbacks the national champion by a tally of 4-1 with the one dissension going to Texas.

That technically awarded Arkansas a national championship. In this case, they should have received the Grantland Rice trophy for the winner of the Football Writer's of America vote.

Because it feels akin to the UCF national championship a few years back, and took place when only white players were allowed on most teams, it's hard for many under age 50 to view the championship as truly legitimate, especially with the major national titles awarded to Alabama. However, that doesn't negate its place in history and how revered it is by most Hogs fans.

It should be prominently displayed somewhere, and is one of the few football items that deserves a definite spot in the athletics office. That is if there truly is a physical Grantland Rice trophy in Northwest Arkansas somewhere since multiple internet searches have yet to yield a discernable image of the Razorbacks with the 1964 trophy in hand.

Bowl trophies also deserve their own space somewhere in the athletics office. Until recently fired head coach Sam Pittman showed up, winning them proved rather difficult for the program, so there can't be that many to display, which makes their presence all the more valuable.

However, as far as any of the other football artifacts from last century needing a place in the athletics office, the answer is a hard no. That's a place for national championships and current success.

All of those old trophies and plaques were moved out because there needed to be room for all the other sports that are actually winning. Literally every other sport has had its moment, or in most cases is still currently having numerous moments on a regular basis outside of football.

That is an area of pride for current athletes to see what they, or their most recent predecessors, have accomplished, and that's a lot as Arkansas has been perhaps the most dominant overall athletics program in all of the SEC under Yurachek. If the football teams wants more space, then it needs to do something to earn it.

For a quick litmus test, name the last three football players Arkansas fans truly consider stars. It's probably something along the lines of Cam Little, Treylon Burks and Alex Collins.

That's a full decade to drag up three, although there are technically more with the issue being offensive linemen not getting the respect they deserve. However, compare that to the list of just baseball and men's basketball players from the last decade.

Those are dramatically longer and much more prominent. Those two sports alone, plus their coaches during that span, are enough to drive older football memorabilia out of the various display areas around the sports facilities.

Factor in all the other sports like soccer, softball, track and field, cross country and golf and the mountain of sustained success going on there, and it's no wonder items from last century are lacking a place. However, as Bazzell said, that doesn't mean simply giving up.

They shouldn't be chunked into a closet or storage unit somewhere. There has to be a place willing to act like the 1960s through the 1990s existed in football.

That's probably also the case for baseball, and, as sacrilegious as it may sound, even portions of 1990s basketball. While Bazzell is all up in arms about football, those programs need a protector of trophies too and no one has more right to brandish the Captain Trophy shield more.

He's responsible for nearly every trophy handed out in this state, or, in a lot of cases, kept in other states because of the inability of the football team to get its footing. The proposed barbecue joint idea isn't the most ideal way of displaying these valued relics considering the number of sticky hands on small children and the even stickier hands, in a much different way, of teens and college students about to bolt town after graduation.

I got your back @DavidBazzel , will proudly display any Razorback trophies you want! https://t.co/BfR8xwfC1X
— Wright's Barbecue (@wrightsbarbecue) November 10, 2025

However, there needs to be a place of honor. It's probably not an issue worth adding a blowtorch to a relationship with a fuse already lit where there was once a brotherly bond, but it's worth at least a discussion.

The administration is right to not have the vast majority of the 20th century relics taking up room in athletics facilities. Fewer and fewer people are alive to remember anything about them, so there's decreased excitement to see them.

You have to be 50 or older to have actual memories of Bazzell's playing days. Still, he's right in there needing to be more thought than basically a junk closet.

He has good reason to defend his friend's worries. Weber, much like the efforts put forth by the athletes of those eras, deserves to be remembered and honored.

So, put down the swords and create a committee to designate and log places for Hogs fans to experience each of these items. Just make sure someone checks in on them every few months to make sure they are receiving better care than currently being administered.

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