April 13, 1981

John Brown III, president of John Brown University in Siloam Springs (Benton County), announced that that year’s baseball season would be its last. The reason behind this decision lay with student dissatisfaction with the team, attributed to behavioral problems that the student body felt were unbecoming to a Christian university. President Brown’s announcement drew criticism, but his replacement of baseball with a soccer team proved positive when the new team won the National Christian College Athletic Association championship two years later.