The University of Central Arkansas and the state of Arkansas lost a coaching legend on Saturday with the passing of Coach Harold Horton.

Horton, a member of the UCA Sports Hall of Fame, the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor, coached the Bears to seven consecutive Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference football championships from 1983-1989, and to two NAIA National Championships in 1984 and 1985.

Horton was a high school coach and then an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Arkansas, for 13 seasons before coming to UCA in 1982. He compiled a remarkable 74-12-5 overall record as the Bears' head coach, and went 45-3-2 in conference play. The Bears won their final 38 regular-season games under Horton's guidance.

He left UCA after the 1989 season as the winningest football coach in school history, and returned to his alma mater in 1990 to serve in several different administrative roles within the football program, the athletic department and as president of the Razorback Foundation.

Horton was born in 1939 in DeWitt, Ark.  In 1956 he was an all-state halfback for the DeWitt Dragons. Horton lettered as a defensive halfback for the Razorbacks in 1960 and 1961 under Coach Frank Broyles and then went into coaching.  He initially coached at Bald Knob and Forrest City compiling a record of 43-15-3.