Compared to similarly-sized athletic programs, some say the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville lags behind when it comes to memorializing its legacy athletes.
“We need to do a better job of honoring former players,” said David Bazzel, former Razorbacks linebacker and Little Rock Touchdown Club founder. “We really do not do a good job of it. Frankly, we’re not very good at all, maybe the worst in the SEC.”
Bazzel may have a point.
As a means of comparison, the University of Tennessee celebrated Neyland Stadium’s centennial in 2001 by adding four bronze statues of former Vols football greats Lester McClain, Jackie Walker, Condredge Holloway and Tee Martin.
Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium, meanwhile, has loaded its walk of champions with five 9-foot bronze statues of championship-winning coaches Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Paul “Bear” Bryant, Gene Stallings and, most recently, Nick Saban. A bronze statue of late Crimson Tide linebacker and NFL star Derrick Thomas went up this year, and lest anyone forget where they are, a 7-ton bronze elephant greets visitors at the corner of Wallace Wade Avenue and University Boulevard.
Oklahoma has a similar corridor of sculpted bronze, with five statues of Heisman Trophy winners — Billy Vessels, Steve Owens, Billy Sims, Jason White and Sam Bradford — lining the east side of OU’s Memorial Stadium. In 2022, the Sooners unveiled a statue honoring brothers and legendary OU defensive stars Lee Roy, Dewey and Lucious Selmon.
Nothing like that exists at Fayetteville’s Razorback Stadium. There is a monument at the south end of the stadium of a pack of razorbacks commemorating the 16-0 victory over Louisiana State University in 1909, a game that prompted Arkansas coach Hugo Bezdek to praise his team for playing “like a wild band of razorback hogs” and prompting the introduction of the razorback as the mascot one year later.
The Wild Band statue was commissioned and paid for by UA alumnus and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, a member of the Hogs’ 1964 national title team.
Razorback Stadium is already home to Wild Band and Frank Broyles statues. (Photos provided by Arkansas Athletics)
A statue of longtime coach and athletic director Frank Broyles was added in 2014, although the monument is not considered part of the actual stadium.
In 2025, already a turbulent year for Razorbacks football, a group of deep-pocketed fans have begun to demand more. Specifically, the call has gone out for a statue of former Hog running back Darren McFadden, known across the state simply as D-Mac.
Attempts from Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek to compromise and ameliorate the situation have been received with mixed emotions at best.
“If you look at how schools in the SEC and prominent schools in the country honor their greatest athletes and coaches, that’s how they do it,” said Bazzel, who said he would also like to see a monument for former Hogs basketball coach Nolan Richardson, who already has a street named for him on campus.
“Hunter’s up there, and people are trying to raise money for the university,” Bazzel said, “but part of that is growing pride in your program by highlighting the stars that you have.”
Instead, the university honored McFadden during its Oct. 18 game against Texas A&M. McFadden was feted on the field during halftime and presented with a replica of his famed No. 5 cardinal-red jersey. In addition, the two players presently wearing McFadden’s number — Cam Ball and Ja’Kayden Ferguson — sported “DM” patches on the front of their jerseys.
McFadden would later take to social media, calling the moment “the honor of a lifetime.”
For many, that was not good enough, and they point to both the lack of a statue and how the athletic department stopped short of actually retiring McFadden’s jersey number.
Yurachek did not respond to a request for comment, but associate athletic director and spokesperson Kyle Parkinson said, “As of right now, I’m not aware of any plans for a statue for Darren. We were excited to have him here to honor his jersey and install his No. 5 on the video board in the stadium during the halftime ceremony.”
McFadden’s ample Arkansas legacy begs a question: If not him, then who? The Little Rock native endured a hardscrabble childhood before starring for the now-defunct Oak Grove High School in North Little Rock. Despite heavy recruiting interest from established college football programs across the country, especially in the Southeastern Conference, McFadden elected to stay home and sign early with the Razorbacks.
Once ensconced in Fayetteville, McFadden quickly lived up to the hype and then some. He ran for more than 1,000 yards as a freshman — only the seventh to do so in the history of the SEC — and bagged SEC Freshman of the Year honors. He ran for a school-record 1,647 yards as a sophomore and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
As a junior, McFadden solidified himself as a first-round NFL prospect, rolling up 1,829 yards and finishing second in Heisman voting to Florida quarterback Tim Tebow while earning consensus All-American honors. McFadden was awarded the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back following his sophomore and junior seasons.
From there, McFadden was selected fourth overall by the then-Oakland Raiders in the 2008 NFL draft and played for both the Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys until retiring in 2017.
In recent years, McFadden has upped his public profile in his home state and home city, appearing in television commercials and sharing his journey from alcohol addiction to what is now more than two years of sobriety.
Part of McFadden’s reconnection with his home state was a Sept. 8 packed-house appearance before the Little Rock Touchdown Club. McFadden spoke warmly about his time in Arkansas and revealed how his life has changed for the better since becoming sober.
All that was enough for Andrew Meadors. The amiable Little Rock insurance executive and sports fanatic has presided over the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and for a decade kept the stats for legendary Hogs broadcaster Paul Eells, establishing himself as a prominent Razorbacks fan and booster despite having attended college at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Andrew Meadors
Meadors was taken by McFadden’s talk at the Touchdown Club and overall abundance of good will toward his home state, so much so that the following week, he approached close friend Bazzel about pushing for a statue.
“I’ll go by, and I’ll do a fist bump with Coach Broyles’ statue each time before I go in the stadium,” Meadors said.
Meadors said both Bazzel and another friend, Little Rock insurance magnate Greg Hatcher, agreed that McFadden needed to be memorialized, and that is when all three approached Yurachek after his Sept. 15 appearance at the club.
Darren McFadden holds the LRTDC
trophy named for him.
(Photo provided by LRTDC)
Meadors said he told Yurachek: “You know, Hunter, Busch Stadium, baseball, the Cardinals, there’s a statue out there of Bob Gibson, Dizzy Dean, Ozzie Smith. Why don’t we have one of Darren McFadden? And before you say money, I’ll raise the money in one day for it, man. Don’t worry about that.”
Meadors added that he had five guys lined up who would give him $100,000 right now to build a statue of McFadden — it would only take five phone calls.
“Hunter said, ‘Give me your card,’ and that is it to my knowledge,” Bazzel said.
Through his experience with the Touchdown Club, as well as with the Broyles Award and Cliff Harris Award, Bazzel knows what a bronze monument would cost. Even if the lone interested parties were Meadors, Bazzel and Hatcher, all financially successful, fronting the expense would not be a problem.
“I deal with guys who do statues,” Bazzel said. “You could easily do a statue of Darren McFadden for $100,000.”
Meadors said his pitch to Yurachek was and remains low pressure, acknowledging what has been a rough few months for the athletic director. Yurachek triggered a miniature firestorm at his Touchdown Club appearance, claiming Arkansas was “not set up to win a national championship” in football due primarily to less financial commitment when compared to the program’s well-heeled SEC peers.
Yurachek’s comments so amply ruffled Razorbacks fans’ feathers that he ended up explaining his statement to the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees. Yurachek then fired Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman on Sept. 28 and has since been neck deep in a coaching search that has fans divided over who should take over the program.
All that is to say that Yurachek has a lot on his mind and a lot on his calendar, something both Bazzel and Meadors readily acknowledged. But the noncommittal stance from Fayetteville since Meadors handed his card to Yurachek has not sat well with either man, especially since McFadden’s on-field ceremony has come and gone.
“I do think there’s value in recognizing the fact, because nobody’s going to bring this up, that a month ago, you had somebody from the Touchdown Club offer $100,000 to do it,” Bazzel said.
For now, the matter remains in a holding pattern. Combined with Yurachek’s comments to the Touchdown Club, Pittman’s firing and the possibility of Arkansas dissolving its relationship with Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium, the statue adds a dollop of contention to a season that has already been defined by unmet expectations and lingering resentments.
“I just think [McFadden] really, really deserves it,” Meadors said. “I’d be happy to put my head down and raise the money, especially because Darren has been involved with things around here in Arkansas, especially the last couple of years. He’s been vocal about his sobriety and his growth as a person. He’s grown up here. He’s stayed here. He is a real good guy and loves being around people.”
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