Dec 6, 2024 - News

Arkansas loses longtime sports reporter

Alex Golden

photo of Bob Holt — Bob Holt in 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Bob Holt, who worked as an Arkansas sports journalist for 43 years, died unexpectedly Wednesday at 65 years old, his employer the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

What happened: Holt died of cardiac arrest. He was rushed to the hospital on Saturday after collapsing at an Arkansas Razorbacks football game he was covering for the paper and died days later at the hospital.

What they're saying: "He wasn't one of those kind of guys to me that was out to get someone," Nolan Richardson, former head coach of the Razorbacks men's basketball team, told the newspaper.

"He was good at doing the job that he did. He wasn't confrontational about it. The way he presented himself made it a lot easier for the guy who was trying to answer the questions."

Background: Holt started working at the paper right out of college in 1981. He was inducted into the Arkansas Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 2022.

He was a Heisman Trophy voter and Heisman coordinator for Arkansas. He was on the board of directors for the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and a voter for the AP Top 25 basketball poll.

Our thoughts are with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff and readers.

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Arkansas loses longtime sports reporter

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