Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
THE BUD TURNS
Razorbacks celebrate quarter of a century playing in arena
FAYETTEVILLE — Bud Walton Arena is turning 25 this season.
It doesn’t seem that long ago to Arkansas Razorbacks men’s basketball coach Mike Anderson when the building opened for the 1993-94 season that ended with a national championship.
“Is this 25 seasons coming up?” Anderson said. “Really? That is hard to believe.
“I think it’s still one of the great venues in the country. I’m biased, but I was there when it was built.”
Anderson was an assistant coach to Nolan Richardson during Walton Arena’s first nine seasons as the Razorbacks’ home court and is going into his seventh season as Arkansas’ head coach.
“I love playing in Bud Walton,” Anderson said. “It’s still ahead of its time. Fans love coming to games there, it’s fun to watch games there on TV, and we win there.”
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville is 332-77 in Walton Arena — an .811 winning percentage — including 95-15 the previous six seasons under Anderson.
“I think it’s the toughest place for us to play in the SEC,” said Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy, whose No. 5 Aggies lost at Arkansas 74-71 in 2016. “I think just the energy that arena has, it’s like no other I’ve ever been in.”
So Walton Arena is even tougher for a visiting team than Kentucky’s Rupp Arena?
“In my opinion, Bud Walton is the toughest place in our league,” Kennedy repeated to a group of reporters at SEC media days. “The Arkansas fans are always rabid and they love basketball.
“Their home-court advantage has got to be as good as anywhere in the country.”
Kennedy’s Aggies are 0-4 in Walton Arena, including an 81-75 loss Feb. 24, 2015, when a banner ceremony for Richardson was held.
“We were there the night they honored Nolan Richardson,” Kennedy said. “That didn’t help.”
TIME TO UPGRADE
Richardson recalled that he and Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles met with Bud Walton — who co-founded Wal-Mart with his older brother Sam — in 1991 shortly after the Razorbacks left the Southwest Conference for the SEC.
Broyles and Richardson agreed that moving to the SEC meant Arkansas needed an upgrade from Barnhill Arena and its capacity of 9,000 seats.
“Coach Broyles called me and said we need to meet with Bud Walton,” said Richardson, who coached the Razorbacks to a 389-169 record in 17 seasons. “Coach Broyles said, ‘I think he’s going to try and help us get a million dollars so we can take Barnhill and add about 1,000 or 2,000 seats and make it really nice.’
“So we went up to Mr. Walton’s office and after we exchanged pleasantries, he said, ‘What can I do for you guys?’
“That was my cue to ask if he could help raise a million dollars so we could renovate Barnhill now that we were going into the SEC.
“Mr. Walton said, ‘I’m not too sure I want to do that Nolan, because your program is too good for you to still be playing in that building.’
“He said, ‘What would a new one cost us?’”
Broyles said it would cost about $30 million for a new arena.
“Mr. Walton said, ‘Have you got a spot for it?’ ” Richardson said. “We said, ‘Yeah, we can find a spot for it.’ He said, ‘Well, what’s keeping you from building it? Let’s get it done.’”
Walton contributed $15 million. He didn’t want his name on the building — Walton suggested calling it the new Barnhill Arena — but Broyles insisted it be named in Walton’s honor.
“We went in hoping for a million dollars and we came out with $15 million,” Richardson said. “That was a pretty good meeting.”
Walton Arena was built in about 18 months and more than doubled Barnhill Arena’s seating with a capacity of 19,200.
“I can remember the day they decided where the arena was going to be placed,” Richardson said of its spot along Razorback Road on the south end of the campus. “Then I got really excited when they started actually building it.
“I went there when they first dug the hole and you could see, man, this place is going to be big.
“I’d go by the building site once every seven to 10 days. It was really fascinating that you could see a piece of land turn into such a beautiful structure.
“I really praise the engineers and the imagination they had for how to bring something together and make a building like we’ve got. Watching it develop is something I’ll never forget.”
Richardson said when Walton Arena opened it exceeded his expectations.
“I knew it was going to be nice,” he said. “But it was way better than what I thought it would be. Just an unbelievable place for basketball.”
GLORIOUS FIRST SEASON
Arkansas’ first game in Walton Arena was a 93-67 victory by the No. 2 Razorbacks over Murray State Nov. 29, 1993, but the dedication game was against Missouri Dec. 2.
Missouri was selected for the game at which Walton was honored in a pregame ceremony because he previously lived in Columbia, Mo., and attended Hickman High School.
A sellout crowd announced at 20,212 watched the Razorbacks beat the Tigers 120-68.
It was the most-lopsided loss ever for Missouri and Coach Norm Stewart, who had been 5-0 against Arkansas in Barnhill Arena.
“After the game, Norm said, ‘You’ve either got a hell of a team or we’re just awfully damn bad,’ ” Richardson said. “I said, ‘No Norm, you’ve got a good team. It was just one of those nights where everything we did was right and everything you did was wrong.’ “
The Razorbacks hit 42 of 71 shots (59.2 percent), including 16 of 25 threepoint attempts.
“We could have kicked the ball in the basket that night,” Richardson said. “Our guys were pumped up to play, and
I think the fans were really pumped up as well.
“Boy, when they threw the ball up, right off the bat we went to work. Everybody we put in the game was knocking down shots.”
Missouri hit 1 of 11 three-pointers and had 27 turnovers.
Fourteen Razorbacks scored and seven hit at least one three-point basket.
Scotty Thurman led Arkansas with 18 points and hit 4 of 5 three-pointers. Corliss Williamson scored 14 points and Roger Crawford 13.
Richardson offered encouraging words for Missouri and its fans after the game.
“Missouri was not a very good basketball team tonight, but I think they will be,” Richardson said. “Sometimes the buzzsaw hits you.”
Richardson was right about the Tigers.
Missouri won the Big Eight championship with a 14-0 record and like Arkansas was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers almost had a rematch with the Razorbacks at the 1994 Final Four in Charlotte, N.C., but Arizona beat Missouri in the West Regional final.
A reporter found Stewart at the coaches’ hotel in Charlotte to ask him about an Arkansas-Arizona matchup since the teams were meeting in the national semifinals.
“Well, it’s hard for me to compare the teams,” Stewart said. “Because the night we played Arkansas, the game was in Fayetteville, but our team was in Little Rock.”
Arkansas capped its inaugural season in Walton Arena by beating Duke 76-72 at Charlotte Coliseum to win the national championship.
Charlotte Coliseum, which opened in 1988, was demolished in 2007. The arena didn’t make it to even 20 years old.
STILL THE PALACE OF MID-AMERICA
Meanwhile, Walton Arena is still going strong.
“I can’t really tell it’s 25 years old,” Arkansas senior guard Daryl Macon said. “It seems like a brand new arena when they turn the lights on.”
Richardson, who attends several games in Walton Arena each season, said he’s impressed with how well the building is maintained.
“They really take good care of it,” he said. “It seems just as nice now as the day it first opened.”
While Walton Arena seems timeless in many ways, it has undergone some changes through the years.
There have been three different overhead scoreboards with the newest version — installed before the 2015-16 season — having the largest video screens of any college arena in the country according to Arkansas.
Locker rooms were expanded in 2005 with lounges and meeting space added in 2012.
Eight suites were added in 2008, bringing the total to 47, and court-side seats became available in 2009.
“It for sure doesn’t seem like it’s been 25 years for Bud Walton,” Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said. “Arkansas has had a lot of magical moments there.
It’s one of the best home-court advantages in the country without question.”
Missouri junior forward Kevin Puryear has played in Walton Arena the previous two seasons.
“Every time we go to Bud Walton it’s crazy,” Puryear said. “It’s actually one of my favorite road games because the environment is so good.
“To me, it seems like a new arena because of the scoreboard and how well they keep the place up.”
Auburn Arena, which opened in 2010, cost $86 million and has 9,121 seats. The Pavilion at Ole Miss, with a capacity of 9,500, opened two years ago and cost $96 million.
Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena, which opened in 2011 and has a capacity of 12,364, cost $227 million. Nebraska’s Pinnacle Bank Arena, with a capacity of 15,500, opened in 2013 and cost $180 million.
According to inflation calculation websites, the $30 million spent on Walton Arena in 1993 today would be worth $51 million, making the building quite a bargain.
“From the standpoint of any other new facility opening up around the country, I don’t think they can outdo what we’ve already had here for 25 years with Bud Walton,” Richardson said. “We’ve got something really special and to duplicate it you’d have to spend at least four or five times what it cost if not more.
“I don’t think there’s a bad seat in the house. Even at the tip top. As a matter of fact, I used to go up there sometimes during practice, because you can see everything from that area.”
Walton Arena has the SEC’s third-largest capacity behind Rupp Arena (23,000) Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena (21,678).
“You can go to Kentucky and Tennessee, and they’ve got some bad seats up at the top sections,” Richardson said. “People in the top seats at those places, they’re just in the building.
“But when you come into Bud Walton, no matter where you’re sitting,