Bob Holt, who wrote about the Arkansas Razorbacks for the Arkansas Democrat and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for 43 years, died Wednesday evening after collapsing at the site of the Hogs’ football loss Saturday to Holt’s alma mater, the University of Missouri.
He collapsed after postgame interviews and was hospitalized in Columbia until his death, which stunned his newspaper’s newsroom and thousands of devoted sports readers. He was 65 years old.
“It’s a huge loss for us as a newsroom and as a company,” Publisher Eliza Hussman Gaines told Arkansas Business in a telephone interview. “It’s also a huge loss for our readers who have grown to know him and love him and appreciate his love for the Razorbacks. It’s a very sad day.”
Managing Editor Alyson Hoge said Holt started at the Arkansas Democrat in 1981.”He’s an institution, and so, you know, today we’re just trying to grapple with [losing him].
“They had done postgame interviews and he stayed behind to talk to the players,” she said. “He was the last person walking up to the press box, and when somebody went looking for him, emergency personnel were trying to revive him. Bob was a graduate of the University of Missouri, and I thought it was notable that he was there, and doing what he had loved doing for more than 40 years.”
The Democrat-Gazette published a full obituary Thursday morning, a tribute by Bill Bowden that Hoge said would probably have embarrassed Holt.
Managing Editor for Sports Wally Hall said Holt was one of the Southeastern Conference’s most diligent reporters. “He was always the first to arrive at a game and the last to leave. …
“Three or four years ago at the SEC football media days, Nick Saban came in and made his opening statement. He said, ‘I guess we’ll take questions now and we’ll just go straight to Bob.’
“He was already on his feet.”
Holt was born Sept. 21, 1959, in Saginaw, Michigan. He grew up from fourth grade on in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
The Democrat hired him a month out of college in 1981, and employed him to the end. For a few years, he was based in Dallas, covering the Cowboys and their then-new owner, Arkansan Jerry Jones. Accolades over his long career included four Arkansas sportswriter of the year awards from the National Sports Media Association and induction into the Arkansas Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 2022.
Razorbacks basketball coach John Calipari brought up Holt at a news conference Tuesday night, saying he was praying rosary for the tenacious reporter.
“I took mass this morning at St. Hugh’s, and I took communion for him yesterday and today. I’d just say … I don’t know if my prayers are helping, I know they don’t hurt, and I tell everybody just pray a nice prayer for Bob Holt, one of the good guys in this profession,” Calipari said. “Literally, you think about a good man, that’s who he is. So it’s a sad day for all Arkansas fans and our state.”
Sign up for Daily E-news
![A Standard Lithium employee at its demonstration plant in El Dorado. [Madison Ogle] ]](https://arkansasbusiness.wppcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2023.7.20_Standard_Lithium-20_opt-150x150.jpg)
