Texarkana High School head football coach Bill Keopple received the second annual Buddy Harding Award during last Saturday’s UCA football game.
Keopple led the Razorbacks to back-to-back Class 6A state titles in 2006 and 2007. He played football at UCA and served as an assistant coach for 14 years, including the 1984, 1985 and 1991 national championship seasons. Keopple has also served as an assistant in the college ranks at Boise State, Arkansas and Tulsa.
The Buddy Harding Award is named in honor of Rush “Buddy” Harding, Jr., who graduated from UCA in 1951. Harding went on to spend over 30 years at Clarendon High School as a coach and administrator. He is a member of the UCA Sports Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. The award is presented annually to a UCA alumnus for Arkansas high school coaching excellence and is sponsored by Harding’s UCA fraternity, Sigma Tau Gamma.