Razorback Conspiracy: Greatest Imposter Job in History of College Sports

Arkansas football players once secretly dressed fan out as part of team during important SWC game in 1980s

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Ken Hatfield talks to quarterback Quinn Grovey during an upset bid against Jimmy Johnson's No. 1 Miami Hurricanes in Coral Gables on national television. / RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

[Note: Quotes for the following story come from interviews conducted by KATV in 2013. Video of these interviews can be seen at the bottom of the page.]

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – This past weekend, the greatest Razorback player to not actually be a player died unexpectedly.

Laddy Diebold (pronounced DEE-bold) is the lead in perhaps the greatest college football story never put to a Hollywood script. He was just a typical small town kid from Wynne who made his way to the University of Arkansas with dreams of using much of his time there watching his beloved Razorbacks in person when he eventually found himself part of one of the most unthinkable plots in school history.

During his four years there, Diebold became fast friends with several members of the Arkansas football team. The relationships he built were so deep that not only did David Bazzel, one of the most prominent players on the team at the time, write about his passing on social media this week, but he shared a story that was first made public about 10 years ago of how numerous Razorbacks football players conspired with Diebold to pull off a plan akin to "Oceans 11."

In 1985, not long after he graduated, Diebold planned to settle in among the 51,000 fans attending the game against SMU to watch the final home game for Bazzel and a Razorbacks team that was six points away from possibly entering that game as the No. 1 team in the nation. However, a casual passing conversation with another senior who would play his final game, Brother Alexander, altered his path.

"He'd asked me what it felt like to run through the A," Brother told KATV in a 2013 interview featuring several of the conspirators. "And, of course, I said 'You know, it's an awesome, awesome feeling. I'm sure every young kid growing up, always dreamed of running through the A.'"

Diebold told Brother he would have given anything as a high school football player having grown up in Arkansas to have the moment to run through the A formed by the band as the team runs onto the field at the beginning of each game just one time.

"And he kinda looked at me real funny and he said 'You would?'" Diebold said. "And I said, 'Well, I don't have much, but I'm sure have a good time with it.'"

Brother thought about it for a second and then let Diebold know he and select members of the team might be able to make that happen if he was willing to go through with it. It didn't take long for Diebold to agree, but he had one condition if he was going to join them in taking the risk. The jersey had to be No. 56 because that's the only number he had ever worn while growing up.

So, Brother began assembling a crew of Razorbacks he could trust to help pull off the scheme while keeping things quiet from head coach Ken Hatfield and his staff that had recently taken over for the recently fired Lou Holtz. First order of buisness was to get his hands on the jersey.

If he had the jersey, it would not only show he was serious about making this happen, it would secure a commitment from Diebold that he would go through with it as well.

"Well, he came over the next day and threw a 56 Jersey at me and he said 'We're gon' do it,'" Diebold said.

Throughout the week Brother collected parts of the equipment needed from various redshirts, freshmen and injured players. He then had the gear stashed away in an upstairs locker and hatched a plot of how to get Diebold into the locker room without being noticed.

"[Future NFL 2nd round draft pick] Freddie Childress, Donny Centers, those guys were looking out for me and they said 'Hey, come on, get in line with us. We got ya,' Diebold said. "And we walked down the middle of the field into the Broyles Complex."

Brother arranged for Greg Wingfield and Al Thomas to take his stowaway upstairs to get dressed. There everything was laid out in his locker down to the shoes and they even took time to tape Diebold's wrists.

The first test was to get him through the Hogs' pregame team prayer. That went off without a hitch and Diebold shuffled his way to a closed doorway that separated the locker room entrance from Razorback Stadium.

Finally, the metal gate went up, light from a sunny fall Saturday afternoon poured through, and so did the sound of screaming Arkansas fans losing their minds as the band fell into formation. In front of him was a moment Diebold wasn't qualified to experience.

To make things more special, Brother arranged for one of their friends, Claude Cousins, to receive a sideline pass as a photographer to document the whole affair. For Cousins, it was an opportunity he couldn't pass up because of how absurd and surreal the whole scheme was.

"In retrospect, it's one of the silliest things I've ever heard come out of the university," Cousins said. "You always hear all kinds of crazy stories, but who in the world would think to have somebody sneak in the north end zone and run through the A and be a part of the team when he never played a down in football or no member the coaching staff had ever heard of him."

When the moment finally came, Brother realized there was one thing he hadn't mentioned to Diebold that was pretty important. There was a decision that needed to be made before he took his first step onto the field, so he scanned the scene and spotted his wide-eyed friend.

"He looked just fired up and excited and I said 'Well Laddy, you got two ways you can go,'" Brother said. "'You can go the long way or the short way.'"

There was no hesitation in Diebold. After all the risk everyone had taken, he wanted to get his money's worth.

"I said 'Brother, this is my only chance,'" Diebold said. "'I'm going the long way baby!'"

Centers was nearby and once he knew Diebold wanted to go the long way, he decided he would run behind him to provide cover. Then it was time and Cousins couldn't believe what he was witnessing as he scrambled to take photos.

"Oh my God," Cousin said. "Here comes Laddy through the A. He actually did it. We're all going to the NCAA jail."

It was an ironic thought because that was the year the NCAA began uncovering SMU's own scheme of buying players through not so covert means that eventually caused the football program to be shut down by the death penalty. Sneaking a fan onto the field was small potatoes in comparison.

That pass through the A was a euphoric moment Diebold always remembered in crystal clear detail from the moment his foot first hit the stadium turf.

"The turf felt so spongy, and I was feeling so high I felt like my knees were gonna hit my chin," Diebold said. "That was the feeling that I had at the time. I'll never forget that feeling. Just, I couldn't run any faster or any higher. It was just unbelievable."

But that's as far as the actual plan went. The goal had been to run through the A, but once that happened, Diebold was on the sideline with the team with an actual SWC game playing out feet away.

There were plenty of moments taking photos with the players, including Brother. It seems like something that would have blown their cover, but his friend advised him that so long as Diebold didn't make eye contact with the coaches things would be fine.

That didn't keep him from pressing his luck. Before long, he was pushing up just behind the Razorbacks coaching staff watching the game and some began to take note of this apparent stranger.

"The coaches were scared to look at him because they were they didn't recognize him," Cousins said. "So they'd take a sneak peek at him and turn around and wouldn't give him any more attention at all because they didn't know who the heck he was."

Knowing the risk had become too great and hoping to avoid becoming a potential major disruption to a tight game, Diebold slipped up to his locker at halftime and began discreetly transitioning out of his gear from Arkansas football player back into Razorbacks fans. However, as he made his way into the stands with his wrists still taped, he kept his jersey on and was greeted with a hero's welcome by his friends.

"Everyone was glad to see me and it was high fives all over," Diebold said. "It was a great day of celebration, mainly because we won the game too. That was the important part. I mean, no one wanted to be a distraction and lose a game. And the fact that we pulled it off went to bowl after that, that was great."

In Brother's mind, no one else could have executed the plan to such perfection. From his connections with the team, his look, daring and confidence, no one else at Arkansas at the time could have fit the role so well.

"He made himself a part of the team that day," Diebold said. "He really, he gelled into the sidelines, and he was the biggest cheerleader on the sideline."

Services for Diebold will be held Friday, May 3 at 2 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in Fayetteville.

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