Six Razorbacks inducted to Ark Sports HOF

FAYETTEVILLE – Former Razorback and current Major League Baseball star Cliff Lee headlines a class of six University of Arkansas student-athletes selected to the 2011 Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. They were among 11 new inductees honored at a banquet at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, Ark., Friday.Lee is joined by former Razorback football standouts Dick Bumpas, Ben Cowins and Quinn Grovey, in the regular category. Former Razorback basketball player Jerry Carlton was selected in the senior category while football player and long-time college coach and administrator Cliff Horton was inducted posthumously. The six Razorbacks were among the 11 honorees at Friday’s event."We are proud of the six former Razorbacks who are among the most recent inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame," Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long said. "Each of them has achieved success in their respective careers bringing honor and recognition to the University of Arkansas and to our state. Congratulations to all 11 inductees on their extraordinary success and their enshrinement into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame."In addition five other honorees with Arkansas connections round out the 2011 class including jockey Calvin Borel, former Arkansas Tech football player Bill "Sleepy" Curtis, bass fishing pioneer Forrest Wood, former Ouachita Baptist women’s basketball coach Carolyn Moffatt and martial arts pioneer Haeng Ung Lee.The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1959. For more information on the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, visit www.arksportshalloffame.com.

2011 Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Inductees (University of Arkansas only)Dick Bumpas – The Fort Smith native lettered three years for the Razorbacks. He was the Southwest Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 1970, earning consensus All-America honors at tackle. Bumpas went on to play tight end and linebacker for the Memphis Southmen of the World Football League and the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League. He began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1977. He’s now widely recognized as one of the top defensive coordinators in the country, having worked at Texas Christian University since 2004. TCU led the nation in defense in 2008 and 2009. Both times, Bumpas was among the five finalists for the Broyles Award, which recognizes the nation’s top assistant coach. Bumpas was inducted into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 2006.

Ben Cowins – Considered one of the best Razorback running backs of all time, Cowins was one of just 10 Arkansas players to earn All-Southwest Conference honors three times (1976-78). Though many of his school records were later broken by Darren McFadden, Cowins left Arkansas with what at the time was the school rushing record of 3,570 yards. He had 16 100-yard rushing games. The St. Louis native led the Southwest Conference with a 6.3-yard rushing average in 1976. He led his team in rushing in 1976 (1,162), 1977 (1,192) and 1978 (1,006). Cowins had 30 career rushing touchdowns and scored 180 points. Cowins, a team captain in 1978, was named to the UA’s All-Decade team for the 1970s. He played in the 1979 Hula Bowl and later played for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs along with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

Quinn Grovey – As one of the most productive quarterbacks in University of Arkansas history, Grovey led the Razorbacks to back-to-back Southwest Conference titles in 1988 and 1989. Grovey, a native of Duncan, Okla., lettered four years while passing for 4,496 yards and rushing for 1,746 yards. He earned All-SWC honors in 1988 when he led the conference in passing accuracy at .633. He passed for 966 yards and four touchdowns that season while rushing for 515 yards and seven touchdowns. In 1989, Grovey accounted for five touchdowns in a memorable 45-39 victory over a University of Houston team led by Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware. Grovey was named to the school’s All-Century team and was inducted into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 2001. Arkansas recruited Grovey after he had led his high school teams to records of 12-2, 14-0 and 9-4 with two state championships along the way. Grovey is now part of the radio broadcast team for Razorback football games.

Cliff Lee – The former Texas Rangers pitcher has been remarkable again in this postseason. Lee’s American Legion coach was former major league relief pitcher Wes Gardner, who helped develop him at an early age. Lee was drafted out of Benton High School in the eighth round of the 1997 major league draft but chose to attend Meridian Community College in Mississippi. Lee transferred to the University of Arkansas after two seasons at the community college and pitched one season for the Razorbacks. In the 2000 amateur draft, Lee was chosen in the fourth round by the Montreal Expos. He signed in July of that year. He played for the Class A Jupiter, Fla., team in 2001. In June 2002, the Expos traded Lee to the Cleveland Indians. He was called up to the major league club in September of that year and had his big league debut on Sept. 15, 2002. Lee won at least 14 games in each of his first three full seasons. Following the 2008 season, Lee was a near unanimous choice for the American League Cy Young Award as he went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA for the Indians. On July 29, 2009, just before the trading deadline, the Indians traded Lee to the Philadelphia Phillies. Lee posted a 2-0 record in the first two rounds of the playoffs and then pitched a complete game in the first game of the 2009 World Series as the Phillies beat the New York Yankees. He was the first pitcher since Deacon Phillippe in Game 1 of the 1903 World Series to pitch a complete World Series game with 10 or more strikeouts and no walks. Lee earned another victory as the Phillies won Game 5. The Yankees, however, went on to win the World Series. Lee was traded to the Seattle Mariners in December and traded again to the Texas Rangers on July 9. As of Oct. 22, he had 34 strikeouts and only one walk in the 2010 postseason with two wins against Tampa Bay and a win against the Yankees.

Senior CategoryJerry Carlton – The Sheridan native starred in both basketball and baseball at the University of Arkansas after being recognized as one of the top high school basketball players in the country at Sheridan. As a Razorback, he led the baseball team in batting three times with averages of .341, .375 and .382. In basketball, he became only the second player to that point in the school’s history to score more than 1,000 points and posted the highest field goal and free throw percentages to that point in Razorback history. Carlton’s free throw percentage was fifth in the country as a junior and second in the country as a senior. He earned All-Southwest Conference honors in basketball following the 1961 and 1962 seasons. Carlton was drafted out of college by both the St. Louis Hawks in basketball and the Cincinnati Reds in baseball. He chose to play professionally in the Reds organization. Carlton was inducted into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 2004.

Posthumous CategoryCliff Horton – After lettering for three seasons in basketball at the University of Arkansas and helping lead the Razorbacks to the Southwest Conference championship in 1949, Horton began a long coaching career. He had successful stops at the high school level at St. Joe, Waldo, Crossett and Pine Bluff (where he was 221-68). Horton later was hired as head basketball coach at what’s now the University of Central Arkansas. His teams won 20 or more games six times in his 14 seasons, including two trips to the NAIA national tournament. His 24-4 team of 1958-59 was among the best in school history. Horton later served as UCA’s athletic director in the early 1970s. A number of Horton’s players such as Cliff Garrison, Monroe Ingram, John Hutchcraft and Joe Graham went on to successful coaching careers.For more information regarding Razorback athletics or University of Arkansas athletics, please visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.