UA to unveil Broyles statue

A statue of longtime Arkansas football coach and athletics director Frank Broyles will be dedicated prior to the Razorbacks' game against LSU on Nov. 23.

The statue will be unveiled at a 10 a.m. ceremony on the steps of the Broyles Athletic Center. It will just the second outdoor statue of an individual to be put on the University of Arkansas campus and first since one of former U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright was placed in front of Old Main in 2002.

Broyles, 87, retired as the Razorbacks' athletics director at the end of 2007. He has served as a fundraiser for the Razorback Foundation, a fundraising entity for UA athletics programs, since his retirement.

After coming to Arkansas in December 1957 as football coach, Broyles won a record 144 games in 19 seasons. In 1964, the Razorbacks finished 11-0 and won the school's only national championship in football.

Broyles' teams came within one win of winning additional championships in 1965 and 1969. Broyles' teams won seven Southwest Conference championships during his tenure and he was named the league's coach of the year six times.

He replaced John Barnhill as the UA's athletics director in 1973. During his tenure, the Razorbacks won 43 national championships and 105 conference titles in men's sports and he oversaw the construction of all existing athletic facilities on the UA campus by helping raise more than $215 million.

Broyles is a member of at least seven halls of fame, including the College Football Hall of Fame, Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, University of Arkansas Hall of Honor, Georgia Tech Hall of Fame, Cotton Bowl Classic Hall of Fame, Orange Bowl Hall of Fame and Gator Bowl Hall of Fame.