I Am Legend
A discussion of some of the Arkansas Razorbacks legendary basketball players and a debate as to whether Devo Davis makes the cut
Maybe it’s the basketball season all but being over or watching the baseball team drop an easy game against James Madison on Sunday afternoon or maybe I just really miss college football, but I found myself excited beyond belief when the trailer for the new EA Sports College Football 25 video game was released last week.
I’ve spent countless hours playing games in this series, and this marks the first new title to be released in 10 years. While there’s enough content on this topic for a stand alone article or even a series, the piece of the new game that inspired me the most is the new Ultimate Team mode where you get to play as your favorite team, but the roster is comprised of both current players and legends from multiple generations.
We don’t know which football players will be included in the game, but it made me wonder what Arkansas Razorbacks basketball players would be included in a roster of legends?
It’s pretty easy to start a list of the Hogs greatest players when looking at their subsequent NBA success. Guys like Sidney Moncrief, Ron Brewer, Patrick Beverly, Joe Johnson, Joe Klein, Isaiah Joe, etc. come to mind. You could also look at sheer individual statistical performances and add guys like Marvin Delph, Ronnie Brewer, Alvin Robertson, Bobby Portis, Todd Day, Lee Mayberry, Oliver Miller, Darrell Walker, etc. Or maybe you look for good individuals that hit big shots for successful teams like Scotty Thurman, Moses Moody, U.S. Reed, etc.
But I’m not talking about simply the greatest players; I’m talking about legendary players. Legend means “a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated or an extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field.” The word comes from a latin word that means “to read.” You see, legends are all about the story.
Eleven Madison Park in New York City has 3 Michelin stars and was ranked as the number one restaurant in the world in 2017. To gain such accolades it needed both excellent food, which was prepared by Chef Daniel Humm, and unreasonable hospitality, which was orchestrated by William Guidara.
One night during service, Guidara overheard a table discussing all of the amazing food they had experienced on their trip to New York: Per Se, Le Bernardin, and finally ending their journey at Eleven Madison Park. But one of the guests regretted that despite all of the award-winning food they had eaten, they never stopped to eat a street vendor hot dog that NYC is famous for. So Guidara took action and sent a valet to buy a bunch of hot dogs. They took them to the kitchen and had Chef Humm plate them and whip up homemade ketchup and mustard as accompaniments.
When this surprise, extra course was presented to the table the guests were floored. One gentleman said it was the single best thing he had eaten during their entire trip. He said he couldn’t wait to tell the story to all of his friends because the experience was truly legendary (as a side note, this true story was used as a fictional event in Season 2 of the FX Series The Bear if it sounds familiar).
While Guidara could have written this off as a one-time deal, he instead leaned in. He ended up hiring 2 full-time employees whose sole job was to orchestrate these “legends” experiences. They would research guests (remember this is fine dining and reservations are almost impossible to get when they are released 60 days in advance of service so they had plenty of time to find out more about who was coming to dine with them), and create experiences based around each guests that would be so memorable that a story or legend would be created.
Remember it’s not always the best that gets remembered, it’s the one with the best story.
So how does this idea of a legend play out in sports? I’ll give you an example:
KJ Jefferson may have gone 626-962 passing with 7,911 passing yards, 67 passing touchdowns and 18 interceptions in his career and added 523 rushes for 1,876 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns, which makes him statistically one of the best Razorback football players of all time. But the team record of 25-35 during his tenure and the lack of consistent play, keeps him from being a legend in the opinion of most fans.
Then who would make the Legends of Arkansas Basketball starting five?
Point Guard - Rotnei Clarke - 6’0”; 183 lbs - 2008-2011
I thought about going with Courtney Fortson here. He’s one of only 2 Razorbacks to ever record a triple-double. In an eight-day span during the 2008-2009 season he helped upset #4 Oklahoma (led by Blake Griffin) and #7 Texas. And one legendary game the entire arena dressed liked him for a game.
On January 29, 2009, over 2 inches of ice decimated Northwest Arkansas. Power was out across the region and classes were closed for a week, but the Hogs still had a game to play against Alabama. Because of road conditions and fear that no one would be in attendance, the University of Arkansas opened the doors for anyone who could make it to Bud Walton Arena to attend for free. And all attendees got a souvenir at the game, too: a white Razorbacks headband with dreadlocks flowing out of the top to match Courtney Fortson’s signature look. Almost all of the students who crowded into the lower bowl seats closest to the court wore the headgear, and the Courtney Fortson game was born.
But that’s like a simple bedtime story, we are looking for legends.
Rotnei Clarke grew up in Claremore, Oklahoma. His dad wanted him to have a name that sounded fast, so he named his son after Oklahoma University running back speedster Rotnei Anderson.
His dad was also a coach and pushed him early in sports. Rotnei was reportedly taking over 500 shots per day by the 7th grade. Whether true or not, it helps add to the story and allows a legend to grow. This is similar to the stories of former Arkansas running back Peyton Hillis training by running around Conway with a tow cable connected to his truck while in high school.
Clarke played at Verdigris High School in front of standing room only crowds nearly every game. He set the state of Oklahoma scoring record at 3,758 points and was three-time Tulsa World Metro player of the year, including the first sophomore to win the award in almost 30 years. His junior year he averaged 37 points per game during the regular season and 46 points during the playoffs. Crowds were getting so big at games that they not only had to move locations for several games, but also petitioned the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to have Verdigris added to the Will Rogers Turnpike exit sign so fans could more easily find the town.
He had over 50 scholarship offers and reportedly spent over $400/month on his cell phone bill from talking and texting with coaches. But he chose to play at Arkansas because his grandmother lived in Fayetteville.
While playing for the Hogs, Clarke lived up to the hype. He led the nation in 3 point percentage his freshman year, set the all-time single game scoring record at Arkansas with 51 points his sophomore year, and was an all-SEC performer his junior year. Then as many legends end with questions of “what could have been,” Clarke transferred to Butler for his senior season.
While he was with us for the failed Pelphrey coaching era and never won many games, Rotnei Clarke is certainly a legend for single game performances and recruiting folklore.
Shooting Guard - Al Dillard - 6’1”; 170 lbs - 1993-1995
This article is about legends, but I will start the shooting guard category off with the story of a god. Coach Nolan Richardson was riding high after winning a national championship in 1994 and finishing as runner up to UCLA in 1995 when he first heard about a player from the Boston area that could flat out ball. He had seen all of his stats and knew the kid could shoot, but he finished their first phone conversation and was so impressed with the kids confidence that he knew he wanted to make him the key to his 1996 recruiting class.
When Coach Richardson got Pat Bradley on the phone for the first time he started with a lot of pleasantries about Bradley’s scoring prowess, but then asked, “What position do you play son?” To which Bradley responded, “I’m a god.”
This tickled Richardson so much, but then assistant Coach Mike Anderson had to explain that people with a thick Boston accent pronounce “ar” sounds as “ah”. As the famous idiom dictates, “park your car in Harvard Yard” becomes “pahk yah cah in Hahvud Yahd.” So Bradley wasn’t boasting about his omnipresence or ability to play any position, he was simply saying he plays the guard position.
Another thing Mike Anderson got right was recruiting Al Dillard. Dillard grew up in Bessemer, Alabama, and dropped out of high school in 1988 after his mother lost her job. He spent 3 years flipping burgers, bagging groceries, and busing tables. He was playing pick-up basketball at a local gym when Ron Redford, the coach at Southern Union State Junior College suggested he get his GED and come play college basketball for him.
In the JUCO ranks, Dillard shot lights out, averaging over 30 points per game. “I’m instant offense,” Dillard said.
But it wasn’t the shooting that most impressed Mike Anderson. Birmingham, Alabama had a pretty robust summer league brining in players from all over the country to compete. And in both 1991 and 1992, Al Dillard won the slam dunk contest at the summer league finale. He was basically the Mac McClung of his grade.
With the gap years before starting college, Dillard was much older than his teammates at Arkansas, which earned him the nickname, “Antique.” But he always made sure to out-work his younger teammates to gain their respect. On multiple occasions he got in trouble for being in the gym shooting in the middle of the night which prompted calls to security.
Almost all of his “instant offense” came from behind the three-point line, scoring over 73% of his points off shots from deep. And by deep, I mean really deep. He routinely took shots from the tip of the Hog’s tail, which is painted near center court of Bud Walton Arena and 35 feet from the basket. He also set an SEC record with 12 three-pointers in a 39 point performance against Delaware State in 1993 in only 25 minutes of play.
When President Bill Clinton came to Fayetteville to watch the Hogs, the first player he wanted to meet and shake hands with was Al Dillard. But Nolan Richardson warned Clinton that not everything about Dillard was good: “He screws up our workout. We don’t have the opportunity to work on offensive rebounding.” It was a joke about his accuracy. He shot over 40% from three-point range in his 2 years in Fayetteville. For perspective, Steph Curry shot 41% at Davidson and the NCAA record for three point percentage is 43.5% by Fletcher Magee at Wofford.
Small Forward - Matt Jones - 6’6”; 222 lbs - 2001-2002 & 2003-2004
While Matt Jones is arguably the most exciting football player to ever suit up for the Razorbacks, he gets less press on his basketball skills. What Jones was able to accomplish as a two-sport athlete is truly legendary.
He was dunking a basketball as early as 8th grade but really started making a name for himself in high school. He played high school ball for Van Buren for two seasons before transferring to Fort Smith Northside his senior season. All three seasons he led his team to conference championships and led the conference in scoring his junior and senior seasons including breaking Corliss Williamson’s 5A Conference scoring record.
In one game during his junior season against Russellville, Jones was struggling and had only 6 points and 2 rebounds in the first half. His coach benched him in the third quarter. His team was losing and Jones pleaded to get back in the game. He entered the game at the start of the 4th quarter and proceeded to shoot a perfect 6 of 6 from the field and made 13 of 14 free throws. The 26 points in the 4th quarter were a school record and gave his team a 63-53 win.
At the end of his senior year, in what most believed would be his last time to play basketball, he averaged 24.5 points per game. He then moved 60 miles north to Fayetteville to take over as quarterback for the Arkansas Razorbacks. There were rumblings that Jones and football teammates like Jason Peters and DeCori Birmingham would routinely beat Razorbacks basketball players in pick-up basketball games. And that’s when Nolan Richardson convinced Jones to walk-on with the Hogs basketball team.
He played in 11 games (starting in 2) and averaged 4.2 points per game. He then missed a season of basketball as he nursed a football injury. He returned the next season under Coach Stan Heath and played in 17 games (starting 10) and averaged 5 points per game.
While his stats may not seem impressive, the fact that he started in two sports at the highest level of college athletics is enough for me.
Power Forward - Corliss Williamson - 6’7”; 245 lbs - 1992-1995
Corliss Williamson is one of those Hogs that doesn’t really need an introduction or a backstory to promote him as a legend. He was the Gatorade National Player of the Year and a McDonalds All American his senior year at Russellville High School and then went on to be a two-time All American and two-time SEC player of the year for the Hogs. Leading them to the 1994 and 1995 National Championship games, bringing home the victory in 1994.
He’s also one of only two Razorbacks to ever have their jerseys retired (Sidney Moncrief being the other). And it didn’t hurt his case to have one of the most legendary nicknames in basketball history: “Big Nasty.” He was given the nickname by his AAU coach when he was 13 years old because he was a gentle giant and the coach thought by giving him a tough sounding nickname it would make him play more aggressive. And it worked.
Center - George Kok - 6’11”; weight unknown - 1944-1948
George Kok was a proverbial man among boys when he stepped on the basketball court. In the 1940s and 50s the average basketball player was only 6’4” tall. It was believed that men much taller than that would be too slow and clumsy to play the fast-paced game. This all changed in 1942 when 6’10” George Mikan showed up on DePaul’s campus. He became an unstoppable force inside and launched a recruiting frenzy for other teams to find post players.
Mikan was so dominate that the post player layup drill is named the Mikan Drill and in 1944 “goaltending” had to be added to the rule book. Before Mikan, no one ever conceived the idea that someone would be tall enough or athletic enough to block shots right at the rim on their way into the hoop.
George Kok was Arkansas’s first big man. He stood like Goliath at 6’11”. In his freshman season, he averaged 18.7 points per game and led the team to its first ever Final Four. The only thing stopping Kok and the Hogs from winning a national championship that year was running into Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) and their 7’0” center Bob Kurland. It was such an epic battle that Bob Kurland and this game were mentioned in Kok’s obituary when he passed away October 5, 2013. I guess every good legend has to have an arch nemesis.
Kok became the first Razorback player to ever score 1000 points and ended with 1641 in only 94 games. And he accomplished that in an era before the three-point shot existed. He was twice an All-American, three times all conference, and twice led the Southwest Conference in scoring. He was selected second in the NBA Draft, which makes him the highest selected player in school history. George Kok is a larger than life legend.
But what about the clickbait tag of Devo Davis in the title? Where does he rank?
I honestly didn’t realize how divisive this debate would be. I have friends that think he is one of the best Hogs to ever play and others who were sad to seem him rejoin the team after quitting for 3 games earlier this season.
On paper, Devo is good. He’s just the 9th Razorback to reach 900+ points, 400+ rebounds, 200+ assists, and 100+ steals in his Arkansas career. He’s one of only 45 players to ever score more than 1000 points as a Razorback and should finish in the top 25 in all-time scoring.
But it’s the story of the teams he has played on and his effort in big games that make some people think of him as a legend. He’s the only player to be a part of all three of Eric Musselman’s tournament runs (Elite 8, Elite 8, Sweet 16). And in the post-season his stats have been outstanding. In his career during regular season games he’s averaged 8.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. In the NCAA Tournament, those numbers jump to 12 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. And that includes the epic 25 point game in the upset of Kansas last season to send the Hogs to their third straight Sweet 16.
But does any of that mean I think he’s a legend?
For me, Devo Davis is just another Hog. He’s had a long career of ups and downs, but played for some really successful teams, but for others, he’s a legend. And that’s the beauty of legends. They are ranked and their stories retold based on the eye of the beholder. As Henry David Thoreau said, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Stories resonate differently with different people. Just as one man’s trash in another man’s treasure, so too are my Legends of Razorbacks Basketball rankings.
Let me know your Razorback legends in the comments below.
I consider Devo a legend! He has battled through many problems that most of us have no clue about, but has always been the heart of this Razorback team!
Love the article.
Agree with most of your choices, but Rotnei transferring left a bad taste in many Hog fans’ mouths.
I’d have found a way to include the Big O on the list. His epic battles with Shaquille O’Neal in the early nineties as the Razorbacks had newly joined the SEC were also stuff of legend. His full court baseball passes were often accurate and always exciting!