Though the Arkansas Razorbacks won on the field against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions, the Golden Lions’ band won the fans in the stands.

On Thursday, the Arkansas-Pine Bluff band — named the “Marching Musical Machine of the Mid-South” — performed a rendition of WWE star Cody Rhodes’ theme song, “Kingdom,” during the game.

Rhodes fought Kevin Owens in the undisputed WWE title match at the Bash in Berlin on Saturday. Rhodes defeated Owens to remain the undisputed WWE champion.

Prior to his match, Rhodes heard the band’s rendition of his theme song and expressed his excitement about the performance. He said he would play the band’s version once or twice in the locker room.

Berlin had me already fired up for #WWEBash

But THIS may be played once or twice in the locker room before my match today.

Awesome stuff @UAPBM4 ❤️ https://t.co/cYA5lcG8Lw

— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) August 31, 2024

The band’s full performance went viral on X and received over 866,000 views as of Saturday evening.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff director of bands John Graham said the band members were doubtful at first once they received the piece in practice. But as they rehearsed the song, they began to love it.

“When our arranger put the song on paper for us, I looked at it [and] some of the students were shaking their heads thinking, ‘No, why are we playing this’ and then we started rehearsing it, the piece came alive,” Graham told ESPN.

“I said, ‘This is going to go.’”

“Kingdom” wasn’t arranged for the Golden Lions-Razorbacks game, but instead as a piece that could be used later in the season. However, Graham saw the Arkansas game as the perfect opportunity to debut the song in the stands.

When Graham gave the downbeat for the band to play the song, excitement filled the stadium.

“As soon as I dropped the hammer and we started playing, I looked over and saw fans reacting like, ‘They’re playing “Kingdom,”‘” Graham said. “I saw them standing up with excitement and positive reactions, and I told myself, ‘We’re in here now.’ It was a beautiful moment.”

FAYETTEVILLE — Billy Moore, the University of Arkansas’ first All-American quarterback, passed away on Thursday in Little Rock at age 84.

Moore, a dual-threat quarterback and the starter from 1960-62, earned All-American honors from the Football Writers Association of America in 1962. The Little Rock native led the Southwest Conference in rushing that season with 585 yards, passed for 673 yards and scored a then school-record 14 touchdowns.

As a senior, Moore was a captain for a 9-2 Arkansas team that was ranked No. 6 nationally and lost to No. 3 Ole Miss 17-13 in the Sugar Bowl.

Moore, part of legendary Arkansas coach Frank Broyles’ first recruiting class for the Razorbacks, was inducted into the UA Sports Hall of Honor in 1996 and the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame in 2014. The Razorbacks went 25-8 during Moore’s three seasons, won two Southwest Conference championships and played in the Sugar Bowl twice and the Cotton Bowl once.

“We’re going to miss Billy,” said Harold Horton, a former Arkansas player and assistant coach and Razorback Foundation administrator who was Moore’s teammate for three seasons. “He was the type of quarterback that won championships.

”We knew we’d been on the verge of losing him the last couple years, but he stood in there and fought it as long as he could.”

Ken Hatfield, the former Arkansas coach and standout safety and punt returner, was a sophomore when Moore was a senior.

“Billy was a heck of a Razorback and he was a great leader,” Hatfield said. “He played in the old days where you played both ways. He was the quarterback and also the starting free safety. He was one tough hombre, I’m telling you.”

Hatfield recalled that during Moore’s senior season, the coaching staff began calling plays on offense rather than leaving it to Moore because he was so unselfish.

“Back then the quarterback usually called the plays after meeting with the offensive coordinator and went over game situations. But when we got down close to the goal line, Billy was wanting to give the ball to the fullback or somebody else, even though he was the main reason we’d gotten the ball down there,” Hatfield said. “The coaches knew the best play was a call for Billy to carry the ball, but it just wasn’t in his makeup to call his own number. So they had to send in the plays for him to run the ball himself.”

Moore was back in the news 15 seasons ago when two of his Arkansas records went down in the same game during an offensive assault in the Hogs’ 63-27 win over Eastern Michigan in 2009 on Halloween night in Bobby Petrino’s second season as head coach.

In that game, Broderick Green had a 99-yard touchdown run to break Moore’s school record run, a 90-yard scoring run in a 42-14 win over Tulsa in 1962.

In the same game, quarterback Ryan Mallett completed 14 of 16 passes for 87.5% completions to surpass Moore’s 85.7% completions (12 of 14) in the same game against Tulsa in 1962.

Moore, speaking to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette a couple of days after that game in 2009, was in good spirits after having his records eclipsed and related a humorous story about the incident.

Moore, who attended most of the Razorback home games during that time, said he was watching the game that night with friends, including UA teammate Jim Mooty, at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock. He had stepped out for a couple of minutes and Green reeled off his 99-yard play during that time.

“I came back in and they said, ‘Billy, your name was just on TV,’ and I said, ‘For what?’ ” Moore told the Democrat-Gazette, laughing.

“They just broke your 90-yard record,” Mooty told his friend.

Moore’s long run against Tulsa came on a broken play, when Billy Joe Mooty had gone the wrong way.

Moore was very diplomatic about Green and Mallett taking down his marks.

“The boy deserves it,” Moore said of Green. “It was a great run. I never dreamed that (his 90-yard record) would last this long, to tell you the truth.”

Moore was also made aware that Green was also a Little Rock native.

“I congratulate the young man,” Moore told the Democrat-Gazette. “That means Little Rock boys have the longest run and the second-longest run. I saw a playback of it. Let me say this, his run was a lot prettier than mine.”

Also speaking in 2009, Jim Mooty discussed Moore’s impact for the Razorbacks, who lost only one regular-season game in 1062, Broyles’ fifth season at Arkansas.

“Billy has a way,” Mooty said. “Old No. 10. He didn’t have great speed, wasn’t the best passer, he just always got the job done.

Broyles also paid a tribute to Moore’s long run and his legacy as a Razorback.

“Billy had to change things around on his long run, and I think that will stay forever the longest run by a quarterback. And he deserves it because he’s the best runner we ever had for a quarterback.

“The other players loved him because he could perform. He didn’t just hand it off. He’d run and be just as tough as a fullback.”

Hatfield said Moore was the perfect quarterback to play for Broyles.

”When Billy came here, he was the ideal leader that Coach Broyles wanted,” Hatfield said. “He was tough as boot leather and he was a team man. He had played for Coach (Wilson) Matthews at Little Rock Central. So he’d been in a lot of big games in high school.

“Billy was fun to be around. He was jovial, he’d cut up, but the boy could play football, I’m telling you.”

After his football days, Moore became the first manager of Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in the Riverdale area of Little Rock, and also worked in oil, gas and insurance before operating a billboard company prior to his retirement.

“Billy was a good man, and a great Razorback,” Hatfield said. “He’ll be missed, but I guarantee you he’ll be remembered by the Razorback fans.”

In an attempt to relieve pressure from crowded county jails while the completion of a new 3,000-bed prison facility remains in the distant future, the Arkansas Department of Corrections and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders have turned their focus to immediate expansions.

“We have roughly [a] 16,000-prison-bed capacity and we have north of 17,000 people that need to occupy that space,” Sanders told the Advocate Tuesday. “So it’s very clear that you don’t have to be great at math to know those numbers don’t add up, and so looking for every opportunity we can to expand capacity and crack down, make sure that violent repeat offenders aren’t back on the street.”

According to a Friday report to the prison board, more than 2,100 state inmates were being held in county jails, Division of Correction Director Dexter Payne said.

Officials started moving inmates into a vacant Tucker Unit work release facility earlier this month, and recently completed the transfer of 124 people, all of whom are either assigned to a work-release program or require minimum security.

The expansion at the Tucker Unit in Jefferson County was a project proposed by former Corrections Secretary Joe Profiri, who was fired from his corrections position and then hired as a senior adviser to Sanders. Profiri’s pursuit to quickly add more beds amidst staffing shortages caused issues among Board of Corrections members, primarily with Chairman Benny Magness.

Profiri was not mentioned during Friday’s discussion.

Nearly 325 additional beds are planned in three other state correctional facilities in Batesville, Texarkana and Newport. Department Secretary Lindsay Wallace said the projects were moving toward completion and should be finalized in mid-October.

The 3,000-bed prison, which Sanders announced last March, is still in the preliminary phase. According to a recent press release from the department, officials are working alongside Sanders’ office in the selection of an “owner’s representative,” who will provide design, engineering and construction advice for the new prison.

When board member William Byers asked about the new prison Friday — which Wallace referred to as the “big elephant in the room” — Wallace assured members that selecting the owner’s representative would “really be the trigger that really pushes [us] forward.”

The land for the new prison has not been selected, Wallace said. 

Counsel contract

Though not on the agenda for Friday’s meeting, board member Lee Watson asked his colleagues to consider rescinding a previous procurement document related to attorney Abtin Mehdizadegan. He said rescinding the document would clarify that the board’s engagement letter with the attorney from December remains in full effect.

Arkansas’ prison board in March announced it would investigate when and how changes were made to a legal contract without the knowledge of state procurement officials. In the months that followed, lawmakers criticized members of the board for being unaware of their altered contract and took issue with the lack of a formal bid process for the contract.

UPDATED: Arkansas lawmakers approve audit into Corrections Board’s hiring of outside counsel

Lawmakers in June authorized the state’s independent auditing agency to conduct an audit of the correction board’s hiring of Mehdizadegan as outside counsel.

The board rejected Watson’s motion to immediately take action on the procurement documents. Board member Lona McCastlain said she didn’t “see what the hurry [was]” and wanted to have enough time to fully look over any related documents.

Watson said he received an agreement letter from Mehdizadegan Thursday evening, which he said was why the board didn’t have much time to review it. McCastlain said that type of quick work is “exactly why we’re here. Because we don’t look at it.”

The agreement will be taken up at the Board of Correction’s in-person meeting next month.

Other business

Board members at the start of Friday’s meeting met in executive session for more than four hours to conduct interviews for an “executive assistant to the director.” When they returned from meeting in private, Magness announced the board approved the hire of Effie Murphy.

According to the online job description, minimum qualifications for the position include a bachelor’s degree in a related field, two years of experience in program administration or a related field, and one year in a supervisory capacity. Job functions include scheduling meetings, preparing agendas, and maintaining various records.

The Board of Corrections in July announced they received 26 applications for a public information officer position, but decided to amend the job description and repost it. Currently, at least three PIO-related positions are listed on the department’s career webpage.

The interviews board members conducted Friday were not for the PIO position, though Magness said Murphy would help Shari Gray, an assistant to the board who has taken on many communications-related tasks since their previous employee retired.

Magness said in July he was looking for a “true public relations person” who would share more positive news about the agency.

Antoinette Grajeda contributed to this report.