It’s been 30 years since Corliss Williamson and Dwight Stewart helped make college basketball history at the University of Arkansas, but neither has to have his memory jogged about it.
However, it’ll likely feel like old times when they link up with a few of their former Razorback teammates Saturday during the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s 12th annual All-Arkansas Preps Awards Banquet at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
The event is set to begin at 6 p.m., and a huge crowd is expected.
Williamson, a Russellville native, and Stewart, a Memphis native, will be joined by their old collegiate teammates Scotty Thurman, Clint McDaniel, Alex Dillard and Corey Beck as panelists during the celebration, which will honor several top high school student-athletes and coaches in 12 sports for their performances over the past year.
For the six Arkansas basketball alums, the occasion will not only give them a chance to reunite, but it’ll also afford those in attendance the opportunity to hear from a group that has their names etched in national record books.
And it’s a pretty safe bet they’ll share what it was like to be a part of a unit that delivered the university its first basketball national championship three decades ago.
“It feels great just to know that we were a part of history,” said Williamson, who spent some time as an assistant coach at Little Rock Christian before re-assuming his role as an NBA assistant coach last year with a Minnesota Timberwolves team that reached the Western Conference finals in May. “We as a team, the state, the school … it’s something that we all will remember. You know as you get older, you have more appreciation for how hard it was and how rare it is for athletes to win an NCAA championship.
“So the older I get, the more I appreciate it.”
It’s extremely plausible that Razorback fans also appreciated what the team accomplished under then-head coach Nolan Richardson on April 4, 1994, in Charlotte, N.C., against Duke in the national championship game.
After the teams battled back and forth for 39 minutes, Thurman, who’s about to enter his sixth season as the boys head coach at Little Rock Parkview, snapped a 70-70 tie when he drilled a go-ahead three-pointer with 50 seconds left to push Arkansas to a 76-72 victory.
Williamson, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of that tournament, and the other five players who’ll be at the banquet accounted for 70 points and all 15 of the team’s assists.
“That time was really special,” said Stewart, who transferred into the Razorback program in 1991 from South Plains (Texas) Junior College. “For me, getting to Arkansas and just being there as a young kid, just seeing how strong and supportive the fanbase was, it was amazing. They were supportive from Day 1, and when we made that run, we had so much support. And when we won that national championship, it took it to another level.
“We all saw something bigger then, and I was so excited about it. To be able to bring that title back to all the Arkansas fans, they deserved that.”
All of the former players who will attend Saturday night’s event returned for the 1995-95 season, helping lead the Hogs back to national championship game, where they fell to UCLA.
Williamson entered the NBA Draft after his junior season and was taken by Sacramento with 13th overall pick. He spent 12 seasons in the NBA with four teams, winning an NBA title in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons. He was also named with NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2002 with the Pistons.
Stewart completed his eligibility at Arkansas after the 1994-95 season. He was not drafted but played in the CBA before going overseas and spending time playing in pro leagues in Iceland, Macedonia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Spain, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Both Williamson and Stewart said they’re looking forward to seeing their friends Saturday, especially since they don’t get a chance to communicate with each as often as they’d like.
“Scotty and I, if we don’t talk every day, we talk every other day,” Williamson said. “Me and the other guys, we touch base every now and then, too. A lot times, I hear about them and how well they’re doing through Scotty. But after the amount of time that we spent together in Fayetteville and winning that championship, you kind of pick back up where you left off every time you see each other.”
Stewart said he also believes it’ll be “just like old times” when he connects with the others in downtown Little Rock.
“It’s actually great when I get a chance to see my brothers,” he said. “We had something special, especially the bond we had. Me and Scotty were actually together last weekend when he came to (Memphis), and I went and checked out his (Parkview) team over at Bartlett. But it’s always a beautiful thing when we see each other.
“It’s like we pick up from back in the day, and it’s always good to be able to do that. A lot of guys that I know, whom I played overseas with and still communicate with, say all the time how they hadn’t talked or seen some of their old teammates in 15 years. I’m like, ‘Man, that’s crazy.’ But we find a way to keep in touch because that bond (as Razorbacks) was so strong.”
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