Many of you know Nate Allen, who has covered the Razorbacks since the early 1970s. His column runs on this site and in the newspaper, and he contributes to our magazine often.
At the request of his wife, Nancy, I wanted to give an update on Nate, who underwent surgery for oral cancer yesterday in Little Rock.
His wife said his surgery went well and Nate is resting. Nancy said “Nate still looks like Nate” despite having pretty lengthy surgery on his mouth and jaw. They are still waiting on some test results that will make this a trying time, but the doctors sound positive.
Nate is a friend to many of us in this field - both reporters and coaches/athletes. Our staff had several coaches, past and present, reach out to us in the past couple of days to check on Nate. Please keep him in your prayers as he has a long road to recovery.
Nate was hired at the Gazette by my dad when he was a young reporter. Nate and I have grown old together, sitting side by side and covering so many things together. He’s a trusted friend and a hard worker. Nate knows that his colleagues are praying for him in this time. He will battle through it just as he has in work and in life. He’s a good reporter. Better than that, he’s a good guy. We kid Nate that he’s sometimes a little grouchy, but he’s earned the right to be that way!
Prayers for Nate. Seems to be a really good guy. If Clay says so, I am even more sure. His work always seems even handed and correct. Look forward to reading him again soon.
Prayers for Nate and Nancy. He is great guy and always Fair in his writing. When I was in Fayetteville, I worked with him a lot in the sports information office. He would travel with the track team to most all of our meets. He was there for many national and conference titles, and we almost considered him a member of the team. He even went out to celebrate with us a few times.
He was very hard on phones and radio shacks back in the days!
I wish Nate a speedy recovery and prayers for his entire family. I’ve always enjoyed his articles and you can tell that he was in OH mode. Great guy and family man.
On occasion, over the years, I have been somewhat critical of Nate’s approach to writing. Like all of US curmudgeons, he can be stubborn to a fault on weaving his “nested” sentences. I plead guilty to similar stubbornness, from time to time.
But I only bring that up so say this - I’ve never once doubted him as a professional journalist - a guy who knows his stuff, does his research and “dots the i’s and crosses the t’s”. He, Clay and I are roughly the same age . . . which means I’ve been reading Nate’s stuff a looooong time! I don’t believe I ever made a post to say that I appreciate Nate’s long-term devotion to providing quality information to me and my fellow Razorback fans . . . and that’s wrong of me.
I wish him the best in his recovery, and hope to read him again very soon.
I am 64 and have read, and enjoyed, most everything Nate has written through the years going back to the Gazette days. I respect his writing and opinions and wish him the very best. I look forward to him being back and writing again very soon. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his wife. Get well soon!
Nate has been covering the Hogs for a long time and his experience shows in all of his reporting. Hog coverage will change in the next decade or so as guys like Nate, Clay and Mike Irwin retire. There’s a wealth of knowledge with people like them (and others I’m sure I’m overlooking). My prayers are with Nate for a quick and full recovery.
When I was living in Oklahoma, the Tulsa World printed Nate’s column a couple of times each week. It was a great way to keep connected. And, IIRC, he spoke to the GTRC (Greater Tulsa RazorbacK Club) on at least one occasion.
Yep, that’s Nate. Good guy. Known him for 39 years now, so long that I recall only the previous spouse, who I believe is named Gayle. My best to him, and condolences to his nurses.
I sat close to Nate at a spring football scrimmage some years ago, and I always see him during TV interviews with a recorder stuck out. I enjoy his take on pretty much everything he writes. Prayers to you tonight Nate.