The 10th in a series on the 2024 inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
FAYETTEVILLE -- The arrival of SuperPrep All-American and Conway High School star Peyton Hillis at the University of Arkansas in 2004 was the first piece to one of the greatest backfields ever assembled in college football.
Joined by Darren McFadden and Felix Jones the following year, the trio spearheaded a prodigious Razorback backfield for three seasons, culminating with all three of the running backs being selected in the 2008 NFL Draft.
Hillis wound up taking an auxiliary role at Arkansas with his flashier mates in the backfield, but tonight belongs to him. Hillis, 38, is being recognized for his contributions to sports in the state with his induction into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame tonight at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
"Sometimes I think, 'Poor Peyton.' He was overshadowed by Darren and Felix because they were great, great players too," said Tim Horton, the former Razorback who served as running backs coach at Arkansas from 2007-12.
"He just happened to be the third horse in that stable. Sometimes he doesn't get the credit that he deserves. So I'm certainly glad to see him go in the hall of fame. He deserves it."
Hillis was in the news in January last year after his harrowing rescue of his son and niece on the Florida Gulf Coast, when a rip tide pushed them out from the shore.
Hillis ran in the water and saved both of the children but almost paid for it with his life. Because he swallowed and inhaled so much water and sand during the rescue, he passed out after finally staggering back into shallower water.
He needed dialysis for his kidneys and was intubated. Doctors kept him sedated for close to two weeks before he finally regained clear consciousness.
"It is 100% a miracle that somebody didn't die," Hillis told former NFL great Michael Strahan in a "Good Morning America" interview five months after his recovery. "It's just amazing we weren't burying somebody."
Hillis told Strahan he would rather be considered a dad doing his job rather than a hero for the rescue, but the split-second life-saving action was clearly heroism from a fighter.
It's the same kind of traits he showed in remaining productive with the Hogs after McFadden, the two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up, showed up along with Jones.
Hillis had 240 rushing yards with 6 touchdowns as a freshman in 2004. He improved that with 315 rushing yards in the three-headed monster backfield the following season.
Hillis was limited to 10 games in 2006 and his production fell off. But he rebounded with 537 receiving yards with 5 touchdown catches and 347 rushing yards with 2 touchdowns to finish strong as a senior. All told, Hillis produced 1,195 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns plus 959 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns as a Razorback.
Houston Nutt, the Arkansas head coach from 1998-2007, said he appreciated Hillis sticking with the program to create the nation's most productive backfield from 2005-07.
"If you look in today's world and temperature, everybody's quick, very quick, to leave and the grass is always greener [elsewhere]," Nutt said. "Especially if you have Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, you've got great NFL-caliber players. And he stays right in there and that just shows the confidence he had too, in his ability.
"He had a lot of talent and he always had a role. Special teams, he could catch the football very well. He could run the football very well. Block. I mean, he could do it all."
Hillis was able to stand more in the spotlight when he got to the NFL as a seventh-round pick by the Denver Broncos.
After a couple of slow seasons in Denver, Hillis was traded along with a draft pick to the Cleveland Browns for quarterback Brady Quinn. The 6-1, 240-pounder found his footing and a fan following with the Browns in his first season.
Hillis rushed for 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2010, averaging 4.4 yards per carry on a career-high 270 attempts.
"He was a one-back, inside-outside zone runner," Horton said. "Sometimes a back that's so fast he just had the right pace of play. Sometimes as a zone runner it's better not to be this super-fast guy but have just the right feel and vision for where creases are and holes are and he had that.
His popularity in Cleveland spread and he was chosen in a fan vote to adorn the cover of the video game Madden NFL 2012.
Horton, now in his second stint as running backs coach at Air Force, said he remains in regular contact with Hillis and dishes fun stories about his former pupil.
"If there was an Outdoorsman Hall of Fame in terms of the greatest hunters and fishermen ever, Peyton Hillis would be in it because he loves to hunt and fish and he's very good at it," Horton said.
Horton also related a story that dealt with the apex of the Hillis, McFadden and Jones backfield -- the Hogs' 50-48 triple-overtime win at No. 1 LSU in Nutt's final game.
During the week, Hillis got permission from Nutt to remain in Louisiana after the game so he could participate in the opening day of deer season there as opposed to flying back with the team and then driving down to northern Louisiana.
"After the game I've got to walk Peyton Hillis in his Razorback sweats outside of Death Valley, amongst the LSU crowd to hook up with his mom and dad so Peyton could stay and hunt on Saturday in Louisiana," Horton said.
Not long after, Nutt resigned and was soon under contract to become head coach at Ole Miss.
"I don't see Peyton on Monday and I don't see Peyton on Tuesday," Horton said. "I call him and he's not calling me back. So I have no idea where Peyton Hillis is.
"Finally Peyton calls me back and he says, 'Coach, we didn't even have a head coach and I was killing deer down here. I just decided I'd stay in north Louisiana for the week.' "
At a glance
ARK. SPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY
WHEN 6:30 p.m. today
WHERE Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock
INDUCTEES Carla Crowder, Glen Day, Al Flanigan, Butch Gardner, Jeff Glasbrenner, Ed Harris, Peyton Hillis, Eric Jackson, Ryan Mallett, Jason Peters