A compilation of stories, blurbs, etc., that caught my eye in recent days:
* This Made Me Feel Old. Scotty Thurman Jr., whose dad made a mild contribution or two to the basketball program back in the early 90s, plans to walk on Bobby Petrino's football Razorbacks this fall. The younger Thurman was a wide receiver for Fayetteville High this past fall.
* Gulley Joins the Hogs. Speaking of walk-ons and Fayetteville High, former Bulldog point guard Fred Gulley has transferred from Oklahoma State to Arkansas. According to Chris Bahn of ArkansasSports360.com, Gulley is not currently on scholarship and will have one and a half seasons of eligibility remaining once he becomes eligible at the end of the 2012 fall semester.
Gulley averaged only 4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists for the Cowboys, so don't expect him to revolutionize the program, but Anderson's program, as we all know, requires depth, and the hometown hero should be able to provide that.
* Calling It Quits. Sylvester Ford Sr., the legendary Memphis Fairley High School basketball coach who coached former Razorbacks Corey Beck, Dwight Stewart, Elmer Martin and Marlon Towns when they were prepsters, is retiring at the end of this season. Ford recently coached his final home game, an event that was attended by none other than Mr. Stewart himself.
In a moving blog post about Ford's impending retirement by Memphis Commercial Appeal writer John Varlas, Stewart - described by Varlas as a "sweet-shooting big man" - had this to say about his former coach: "There were times when he got on me really hard. He kicked me out of practice ... did whatever he could to help me get my head on straight. He really was like a father figure to me."
* Pel's Passion Play. There are only a few minutes of Valentine's Day left here in the Eastern Time Zone, but this is worth checking out: our friend Chris Bahn remembers a hilariously bizarre Valentine's Day press conference by former Razorback head coach and current Florida Gator assistant John Pelphrey. Money quote: "So today from me there’s a lot of red flowing around ... Sometimes a warrior just has to kind of lay down on the ground for a minute, just stay there for a second, and have a good bleed. And just bleed."