When word began to spread in the last two weeks that former Arkansas basketball player Robert Birden had died, there was a message through a mutual friend to “please call Darrell Walker.”
“I wanted to tell you about Robert Birden, a great Razorback, forgotten by most,” Walker said. “Along with others, he set the foundation for our great program.”
Walker, head coach at Arkansas-Little Rock since 2018, was four years behind Birden at Arkansas. But they knew each other intimately because of pick-up games that began when Walker played at Westark Community College in Fort Smith.
“I learned about Coach [Eddie] Sutton’s defense playing summer ball against Robert,” Walker said.