Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

8/30/2010 at 5:45am

Got a favorite University of Arkansas sports memory? There’s a good chance that one of this year’s 11 inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor is a part of one of those memorable moments.

Included in the Class of 2010 are football standouts Ike Forte, Arkansas all-decade team member Greg Koch and Southwest Conference Player of the Year quarterback Kevin Scanlon; men’s basketball 1,000-point scorer U.S. Reed; baseball All-Southwest Conference player Bubba Carpenter; track All-Americans and national champions Erick Walder and Tracy Robertson; and diving national champion Karen Gorham. Other inductees include football player, coach and athletics administrator Terry Don Phillips and football defensive tackle Jim Williams, plus three-sport standout Milan Creighton, who is a posthumous induction.

Honorees are selected by members of the Unviersity of Arkansas’ “A” Club. Below, courtesy of the UA, is a look at each inductee, who will be recognized at a banquet Sept. 3 at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale.

Modern Era Inductees

Bubba Carpenter
A four-year letterman and three-time All-Southwest Conference performer, Bubba Carpenter finished his stellar Razorback career with a batting average of .332. He was a three-time All-Southwest Conference selection in 1989, 1990 and 1991 and hit .351 as a sophomore and .360 as a junior. During his outstanding career, Carpenter hit 42 doubles, 13 triples, 10 home runs and drove in 119 runs.

Ike Forte
Ike Forte was the leading rusher for the Razorbacks in his junior and senior seasons, earning All-Southwest Conference honors in both 1974 and 1975. He had eight 100-yard rushing games in his career and his 1,957 career rushing yards ranked third in school history at the time and still ranks 17th. He led Arkansas to a win over Georgia in the 1976 Cotton Bowl, rushing for 119 yards and two touchdowns and earning the game’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player award. Drafted by the New England Patriots, he also played for the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants.

Karen Gorham
Karen Gorham was the first female and second student-athlete in Arkansas history to be named an All-American in four consecutive seasons. She captured the 1981 AIAW one-meter springboard championship, leading the competition from start to finish and scoring 425.80 points. Named the AIAW Diver of the Year, she was a seven-time All-American in her career, which spanned from 1980-83. She swept the Southwest Conference titles in the one- and three-meter springboard in 1983, her senior season.

Greg Koch
A member of Arkansas’ 1970s all-decade team, Koch lettered for the Razorbacks from 1973-76 as an offensive tackle. He played in the 1976 All-American Bowl all-star game and earned All-Southwest Conference honors in 1975. A member of one of the most talented offensive lines in school history, Koch helped the Razorbacks set a school record with 3,523 rushing yards in 1975, a mark that stood for 31 years until it was broken in 2007. Koch went on to play in the NFL for 11 seasons, including nine seasons with the Green Bay Packers.

U.S. Reed
U.S. Reed is one of 33 Razorbacks to score more than 1,000 points during his basketball career, and in 122 games he averaged 10.3 points to accumulate 1,260, a total that ranks 21st in the Arkansas record books. A four-year letter winner from 1978-81, Reed was a member of four NCAA Tournament teams and advanced as far as the Final Four in 1978. His half-court shot to beat Louisville in the second round of the 1981 NCAA Tournament is one of the signature moments in Razorback basketball history, and was named by Sports Illustrated as the second-most historic event in the history of the NCAA Tournament.

Tracy Robertson
A nine-time All-American for the Razorbacks’ cross country and women’s track and field program, Tracy Robertson was a four-year letter winner for Coach Lance Harter from 1998-2001. She was a key member of both of Arkansas’ conference triple crown championship teams in 1999-2000 and 2000-01. A nine-time All-SEC performer, she earned her degree from the UA before a brief professional career in track and field.

Kevin Scanlon
Kevin Scanlon played for the Razorbacks for just two years (1978-79), but during that time made an indelible mark on the Arkansas program. In 1979, he earned SWC Player of the Year honors after completing 92 of 139 passes for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns as the Razorbacks finished eighth nationally with a record of 10-2 that included a 17-14 win over No. 2 Texas. His 66.2 completion percentage in 1979 still stands as a single-season school record as does his record for most passes completed in a bowl game (22) which he recorded in the 1980 Sugar Bowl against eventual national champion Alabama. Scanlon was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in 1980 following his Razorback career.

Erick Walder
The most decorated national champion in the 2010 class, Erick Walder was a 10-time national champion, 13-time All-American and eight-time Southeastern Conference champion in the long and triple jumps over a four-year career (1991-94). He swept the NCAA indoor long and triple jump titles in 1992, 1993 and 1994, while also capturing the outdoor long jump championships in each of those seasons. He continues to hold school records for the long jump both indoors (27-8) and outdoors (28-8.25) as well as the NCAA outdoor long-jump record. His very successful professional career included three world indoor and outdoor championships in the long jump. 

Heritage Inductees

Terry Don Phillips
A three-year letterman for the Razorback football team (1966, 68-69), Terry Don Phillips helped the Hogs compile a 25-7 record and earn two trips to the Sugar Bowl. He was a starting defensive tackle for the Hogs playing alongside his brother and Outland Trophy winner Loyd Phillips. Following his playing career, Phillips began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1970-71 before moving on to Virginia Tech where he spent seven seasons. His more than 30-year career in collegiate administration began in 1979 and has included administrative stints at Florida and Missouri before assuming athletic director roles at Liberty, Louisiana-Lafayette, Oklahoma State and Clemson.

Jim Williams
Jim Williams was the captain the of Razorbacks’ 1965 football team that went 10-1 and won the SWC championship at 7-0. He was also a key member of Arkansas’ 1964 national championship squad during his three-year playing career and as a defensive tackle recorded 173 tackles. During the Razorbacks’ national championship run he made 86 tackles, and, in 1965, Williams turned in a 69-tackle season, including 19 tackles in a 27-24 win over No. 1 Texas. Razorback teams went a combined 26-6 with Williams on the team, including a streak of 22-consecutive wins, a national championship and two Southwest Conference championships.

Posthumous Inductees

Milan Creighton
The most decorated letterman in the 2010 Arkansas Hall of Honor class, Milan Creighton was a standout on the gridiron, on the hardwood and on the track for the Razorbacks. A three-year letterman for the Razorbacks in basketball from 1929-31, he also earned three letters in football from 1928-30 and was a three-year letterman in track and field (1929-31). He earned two All-Southwest Conference honors during his basketball playing career and was the captain of the football team in 1930. Following his playing days in Fayetteville, Creighton played professional football for seven seasons with the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL and also served as the Cardinals’ head coach from 1935-38.

Tagged: Hall of Honor, Ike Forte, Greg Koch, Kevin Scanlon, U.S. Reed, Bubba Carpenter, Erick Walder, Tracy Robertson, Karen Gorham, Terry Don Phillips, Jim Williams, Milan Creighton, Arkansas Razorbacks