HOOVER, Alabama -- Invite 1,200 media members to a few hotel ballrooms and SEC Media Days can get a little silly.
Yet, there's Bob Holt in the third row, second chair from the aisle. And from his seat in the well-refrigerated Hyatt Regency writers' room, the event's honorary captain goes to work.
You might not know his face, but his voice is uniquely familiar.
Fearless with the microphone, Bob's (reluctantly) developed a following with his folksy midwest charm and aggressive interviewing methods. Live ESPNU coverage of media days took this Arkansas Democrat-Gazette beat writer to another level of notoriety as Twitter lights up when the microphone is passed his direction.
"With national television showing it, he becomes a cult hero on national TV," said Kevin Trainor, the moderator at SEC Media Days for the past four years and a long-time Arkansas sports information staffer.
Even Gus Malzahn cracked his stone face as Bob took his first of several turns Monday afternoon.
"People kind of make fun of me for, I don't know, wearing people down," said Bob, a Missouri graduate who grew up in the state. "I'm not comparing myself to [late CBS newsman] Mike Wallace at all, 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."
He's not kidding.
Bob produced seven of the 27 questions Malzahn faced Monday despite the fact his colleague was writing the Auburn story. But Bob said there's always a notebook to fill down the road. And Malzahn, who came up through the high school fields of Arkansas, calls himself "a big Bob Holt fan."
"He always has a way of making things light and fun," Malzahn said later. "He has a gift. He's very good at what he does."
Ron Higgins, another SEC veteran reporter now with NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune, calls him the king of the follow-up.
"And if it's not what he wanted, he'll ask it three or four different ways," said Higgins.
Thorough with his research, Bob comes to every media event loaded with questions. He's been to 23 straight SEC Media Days -- each since Arkansas left the Southwest Conference. That's the thing about Bob, he's becoming a rare iron man in this changing profession. His 33-year run with the Little Rock paper started 10 years before the Democrat and Gazette merged.
Bob Holt asks a question of Auburn football coach Gus Malzhan at SEC Media Days on Monday.
"He's knowledgeable. He's a gentleman," SEC commissioner Mike Slive said. "It's somebody that, when I met him, I've never forgotten who he was. It was easy to remember who he was."
But he's not one to back down and Bob won't apologize for his methods. Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin gave him the business Tuesday for questions about his former quarterback.
"What's it like not coaching Johnny Manziel?" Bob asked. "Do you miss him?"
Twitter responded with its typical shade of snarky analysis after Sumlin repeated the question with a puzzled face. ESPN's talking heads were also critical, but Bob didn't care.
"I wasn't embarrassed," he said with a shrug. "And I thought he gave a great answer ... I guess I was asking what's it like not to have him on your team. What's it like to lose a star? He clearly doesn't want to talk about Manziel anymore, but I thought it was a legitimate question. After he went over all the rigmarole, he gave a good answer."
It's all in the game, Bob said.
"I never take that stuff personally," he said. "My thing is if a coach will give me access, then I don't mean he can kick me in the face or anything, but if I have access, I don't mind a coach unloading on me. As long as there's a give and take to it. As a matter of fact, a lot of time it can be pretty healthy."
Bob laughs about the time former LSU basketball coach John Brady angrily hung up following a question on the SEC media teleconference. He points to a postgame question about Arkansas' uniforms following a 38-7 whipping in the 2008 Cotton Bowl as a low point.
But coaches enjoy a round or two with Bob. Malzahn laughed through his 2013 SEC Media Days debut as Bob dominated as one of the few prepared with questions. Most brought Malzahn back to every connection he could make with the Auburn roster and the state of Arkansas.
"I don't work for the Wall Street Journal," Bob said. "I don't work for the New York Times. You know, I don't work for the USA Today. I work for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and like Bill Clinton says, 'It's a small, wonderful state,' but to me, you always have to go for the local angle. I mean, you always have to. ... I've gotten jokes about that. So-and-so flew over Arkansas, so you're going to do a story on them."
Former Razorback basketball coach Nolan Richardson, not known as a media ally, makes the long list of coaches Bob's enjoyed covering over the years. Houston Nutt, Eddie Sutton and Mark Richt also make the cut, but Bob can remember those first few years as a young beat writer in Fayetteville. The year was 1981 and Lou Holtz was in charge.
"I remember going into his office and basically being scared," Bob said. "Not scared, but really nervous. I felt like I was going to see the Pope or something."
Any such apprehension washed away long ago. Now, at 54, Bob is making the adjustment to the modern age of journalism. He claims 5,100-plus Twitter followers (@BobHoltADG) since joining the social medium in 2009, but his name is synonymous with events like SEC Media Days.
"With Twitter, I guess you can have some increased celeb ... not celebrity, that's a bad word," Bob said. "Increased exposure, I don't know. I never felt like that. I've just been doing this all these years. If you hang around long enough, you get to know a lot of people."
And he isn't going anywhere.
"I really couldn't imagine doing anything different," Bob said. "Sometimes you get tired or burned out like anyone else does, but I really can't imagine doing anything different."