Arkansas football history is blessed by several coaches who became members of the College Football Hall of Fame. The first: Hugo Bezdek, who made a significant contributon to UA sports beyond the playing field
We have seven months until Arkansas football begins its 2026 season. The program has fallen on hard times but is hoping for a revival under new coach Ryan Silverfield. It's worth appreciating the history and tradition of Arkansas football. This is not Indiana. This is not a place which was dormant for basically 120 years before coming alive under Curt Cignetti. No, Arkansas football has actually achieved a lot in its time, which increases the urgency for Silverfield to get it right and restore this program to its rightful place as an SEC contender which is nationally relevant.
The Arkansas football program has hired several coaches who eventually became College Football Hall of Famers. The first one was Hugo Bezdek, who -- aside from wins and losses -- made an enormous contribution to UA football and sports. He said of his 1909 team that it "played like a wild band of razorback hogs!" Arkansas was known as the Cardinals before then. The nickname was changed to Razorbacks based on that comment from Bezdek.
Arkansas went 14-1 in two seasons in 1909 and 1910. The 1909 team, Bezdek's best at Arkansas, finished 7-0, which was first among 35 different Southern or Mid-Atlantic schools which were independents.
How good was the 1909 Arkansas team under Hugo Bezdek? The cumulative score for the season was Arkansas 185, opponents 18. The Razorbacks never allowed more than six points in any game they played. They won six of their seven games by a margin of at least 15 points. They registered four shutouts. They scored 21 points in five of their seven games. In one of the two games in which UA failed to score at least 21, it still produced a commanding 16-0 shutout win over LSU. The only close scrape was a 12-6 win in a road game at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri.
Hugo Bezdek's life and athletic career were and are remarkable and a portrait of the American dream. Born in Prague (now the capital of Czechia, formerly Czechoslovakia), his family emigrated to the United States in the 1890s. Bezdek immediately dove into sports as a kid and became really good in multiple sports. He took to coaching and proved to be a natural. Amazingly, this accomplished Hall of Fame football coach was also the manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates in Major League Baseball. He was briefly an NFL head coach (the Cleveland Rams) in the 1930s. How many other people can claim that trifecta: college football head coach, NFL head coach, and MLB manager?
Bezdek took three schools -- Oregon, Mare Island, and Penn State -- to the Rose Bowl after his Arkansas tenure ended. He is the only man to achieve that feat.
Hugo Bezdek did many great things in many places, but Arkansas is part of his story. Hugo Bezdek is part of UA football's Hall of Fame heritage.