My First Razorback Football Game

     Those of you who know me probably think I'm crazy. If you think putting your entire being behind a team or pouring a huge amount of emotion into a team is crazy, then that's your right. I don't think it is though. I have no problem supporting the Arkansas Razorbacks in every sport with every square inch of my body. Why am I this way? Well, I guess it goes back to how I was raised.
     I was born on April 13, 1994, just nine days after the Razorback men's basketball team won the NCAA National Championship. When I was just 13 months old, my nana taught me how to "Call the Hogs." But somewhere in between, something big happened: I attended my first Razorback football game.
     Sure, I was only five months old and don't remember anything about it, but from what I've been told by my nana, papa, and parents, this monumental event almost didn't happen.
     Before the football season started, my parents showed interest in getting tickets, so my dad's parents, who I call nana and papa, bought them season tickets by theirs. They only bought two extra tickets because they didn't figure I needed one since I was a baby and wouldn't take up a seat.
     However, about two weeks before the first Fayetteville home game, which happened to be Alabama, they found out I did need a ticket. My papa went to the ticket office to purchase an extra ticket, but the game was already sold out
     After my nana had called every radio station around asking for tickets and no one could find one, they resorted to desperate measures.
     My nana wrote a letter to Danny Ford, who was the head coach of the football team at the time, asking if he had any tickets "floating around." My mom wrote a letter from my point of view, in which "I" say I'd give up my pacifier to be able to go to the game.
     I went with my nana on September 13, 1994, 18 years ago tomorrow, to deliver the letters directly to Coach Ford. He read the letters, smiling all the way through, and sent my nana to Coach Frank Broyles, who was the Athletic Director at the time.
     Coach Broyles also smiled while reading them, and called the ticket office and told them "Mrs. Hutchinson is on her way there and she WILL purchase a ticket for Saturday's game."
     So finally, they got a ticket for me to attend the game. Unfortunately, I didn't bring much luck, as they lost to #12 Alabama 13-6.
     Since then, I have only missed a couple Razorback home football games in Fayetteville. The last, and only, one I remember missing was the 2005 loss to Vanderbilt. I missed the game because I was in Washington, D.C. with my parents.
     When I told Frank Broyles this story earlier today (I was interviewing him for a story on the 1964 National Championship team, which will appear in the Friday issue of The Arkansas Traveler), he was thrilled.
     Of course, he doesn't remember it, but he was so happy that he played a part in me becoming such a big Razorback fan. He said that it made his day to hear such a story.
     Now, almost exactly 18 years after my first game (against Alabama), I am anxiously waiting to camp out for my first SEC game as a student at the University of Arkansas (also against Alabama).
     It has truly come full circle.

This is the letter my nana wrote to head coach Danny Ford and the one Frank Broyles eventually read.

This is the letter my mom wrote as me. I "signed" it with my footprint.  Last year, I met Danny Ford and asked him to sign the letter.

This is the ticket to my first Razorback football game.

Here's a picture of me...Hog fan since birth!