A longtime sports reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette collapsed Saturday while walking back to the press box at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri, after the Arkansas Razorbacks-Missouri Tigers football game.

Bob Holt worked that snowy night, covering the Hogs as he had done since 1981, when the newspaper was known as the Arkansas Democrat.

Holt was taken to a hospital where he died Wednesday evening at the age of 65. A cause of death was not given.

Wally Hall, sports editor at the Democrat-Gazette, said he learned of Holt’s death from a family member.

“Bob was a very, very proud graduate of the University of Missouri,” Hall said. “He loved the Tigers. He grew up wanting to go to the University of Missouri. He started his career there and ended it there. I honestly believe that if Bob could have picked a place to go, it would have been a Missouri football game.”

Holt was known for his easygoing manner and his affable tenacity.

“He’s a very unique personality in that he was fundamentally relentless given the volume of questions and the style of his questioning,” said Tom Murphy, another Democrat-Gazette reporter who covered the game Saturday night. “When he needed an angle, he would ask the question until he got the answer that he thought would fit his story well. He would ask again and again. And he was kind of notorious for that.

“In fact, I think some players in some sports were told, ‘Hey, wait until you get the Bob treatment,’ because Bob was so probing. Bob had the unique ability to conduct interviews in a non-controversial manner. And I think he made a lot of coaches and players feel comfortable.”

Robert Owen Holt was born on September 21, 1959 in Saginaw, Michigan. His family moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin when he was in second grade and then to Cape Girardeau, Missouri when he was in fourth grade.

After graduating from college in 1981, he began working as a sports reporter at the Arkansas Democrat the following month and remained with the newspaper throughout his career.

From 1989 to 1991, Holt lived in Dallas after an Arkansan named Jerry Jones purchased the Dallas Cowboys.

Holt was inducted into the Arkansas Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 2022. He has been named Arkansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association four times and was a finalist for this year’s award.

Holt was a Heisman Trophy voter and Heisman coordinator for Arkansas State. He served on the board of the US Basketball Writers Association and participated in the AP Top 25 Basketball Poll.

He also owned a very small part of the Green Bay Packers.

After Holt’s medical emergency on Saturday, word spread that he was in the hospital and not feeling well.

John Calipari, head coach of the Razorbacks men’s basketball team, spoke about Holt during his press conference after Tuesday’s game against the Miami Hurricanes.

“I prayed a rosary for one of our beat writers, Bob Holt,” Calipari said. “I attended Mass at St Hugh’s this morning and celebrated communion for him yesterday and today. I would just say… I don’t know if my prayers are helping, I know they aren’t hurting, and I say to everyone, just pray a nice prayer for Bob Holt. One of the good guys in this job.

“In the truest sense of the word you think of a good man, that’s him. Therefore, it is a sad day for all Arkansas fans and our state.”

Nolan Richardson, who was head coach of the Razorbacks men’s basketball team from 1985 to 2002, said Holt reminded him of Columbo, the detective played by Peter Falk in the 1970s television series of the same name.

“Bob was a very smart guy,” Richardson said. “I always put him in the category of a Columbo guy. He had all the answers, but he asked them anyway just to find out if you knew the answers. And if you didn’t and were close, he would find a way to get you to say something that he might have wanted you to say but you didn’t. … That’s why he had to ask different questions over and over again so that the quote came out correctly.

“I thought he was the smartest of all the reporters I’ve been around in all my years, and that goes for those in New York, no matter where.”

Richardson said Holt has a way of putting coaches at ease.

“To me, he wasn’t the kind of guy who would go after someone,” Richardson said. “He did the job he did well. He wasn’t confrontational. The way he presented himself made it much easier for the man trying to answer the questions.”

Houston Nutt, who was head coach of the Razorbacks football team from 1998 to 2007, said Holt was always good-natured and “so professional.”

“I always appreciated his hard work,” Nutt said. “Bob and I had a great relationship and he had such a unique style. His style was so phenomenal, so good. All the coaches were enthusiastic about Bob.”

Nutt said he would “flop on the couch” in his office and Holt would sit in a chair nearby.

“We would just have a great conversation,” Nutt said. “He was so funny and always said, ‘Is there anything else you’d like to say on this topic?’ Is there anything else you would like to talk about?’ I mean, he was so good.”

Greg Sankey, a Southeastern Conference commissioner, said Holt will be missed.

“Bob Holt was a legend in the Southeastern Conference media corps and a friend to all,” Sankey said early Thursday morning. “He played a starring role at our annual Football Media Days and I will miss hearing him challenge our coaches with both insightful questions and witty retorts. He will be missed in the press boxes and press rows of the SEC. We extend our condolences to Bob’s family, his colleagues at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and his many friends.”

Matt Jones, editor in chief of WholeHogSports.com, said he has known Holt for 19 years and worked with him for 14 years.

“He’s kind of like a big brother. He’s like family to me.”

Jones said he and Murphy sent a message to Holt’s family while he was in a Columbia hospital.

“We wanted it to be expressed to his family. No matter what condition Bob is in, just read to him out loud in his hospital room how much we love him, hoping he can hear it and he knows it,” Jones said. “Hopefully we treated him the way he treated us, which always shows us that he loves us and cares about us. …

“If the world was full of Bob Holts, it would be a much better world, a much kinder world, a much more peaceful world. It would be a world that laughs a lot more. And it would be a much, much better place.”

Michael Casagrande wrote an article for AL.com in 2014 titled “Meet Bob Holt, SEC Media Days’ most curious reporter and reluctant cult hero.”

“Bob was fearless with the microphone and (hesitantly) built a following with his folksy Midwestern charm and aggressive interview methods,” Casagrande wrote. “ESPNU’s live coverage of Media Days has given this Arkansas Democrat-Gazette beat writer a new level of fame as Twitter lights up when the microphone relays his instruction.”

“People kind of make fun of me because, I don’t know, I wear people down,” Holt told Casagrande. “I don’t compare myself at all to (late CBS journalist) Mike Wallace, but if you ask someone enough questions… I just have a natural curiosity that I think every reporter should have. I just like to ask questions.”

Holt’s death was also felt on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

“Bob was the consummate journalist who spent four decades helping to tell the stories of Razorback student-athletes, coaches and fans to millions of readers across our state and beyond,” said Hunter Yurachek, the university’s vice chancellor and director of athletics. “His indefatigable curiosity was genuine and afforded him a curiosity that enabled him to get to the heart of any subject. Bob will be missed by many in our Razorback family, throughout the Southeastern Conference and in collegiate athletics. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family and everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.”

“Bob was unique in that he was a great reporter and a great journalist, but most of all he had the ability to talk to people,” said Kevin Trainor, the university’s senior associate athletic director. “And he was curious, but in a way that you just felt like you were having a conversation, and I think that came from a genuine place.”

Hall, who started as a sports columnist at the Arkansas Democrat in 1979, said he and Holt worked together for more than 40 years.

“I loved him like a brother,” Hall said. “I think I counted it, and we covered Razorback football and basketball, tournaments and everything, in 35 different states.

“After all these years, I didn’t think we could do anything new together.”

But there was.

Hall said he and Holt happened to show up early for the Ole Miss football game in Fayetteville on Nov. 2, but the press box wasn’t open yet. So they pulled two lawn chairs out of Hall’s Jeep Grand Cherokee, sat behind it in the parking lot and talked for half an hour.

Then Holt said, “Well, I guess the press box is open. You know, this is the first time I’ve been able to keep up.”

“And it was my first time,” Hall said.

Hall said Holt’s death broke his heart.

“He probably had the best reputation of any reporter in the Southeastern Conference for his diligence and hard work,” Hall said. “He was always the first to arrive at a game and the last to leave. …

“Three or four years ago, Nick Saban walked in at SEC football media days and gave his opening statement. He said, “I guess we’ll answer questions now and then go straight to Bob.”

“He was already on his feet.”

The final question Holt asked Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman during a press conference after Saturday’s Missouri game was about his hip surgery, which was scheduled and took place on Tuesday.

“Hopefully it will ease your pain and make you feel better,” Holt told Pittman.

“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone who had what I had for 150 days,” Pittman said.

“That was Bob,” Murphy said. He was worried that the trainer was in pain. Really worried.

“The next step for this person was that they would be pain free,” Murphy said. “He connected with people in a way that always made them feel comfortable and made them his friends.”

Information for this report was contributed by Matt Jones of WholeHogSports.com.