University Of Arkansas

Down in the southwestern town of El Paso, a man came along wearing polka dots and cowboy boots. He got his diploma from Texas Western, and that was an unforgettable moment in his life. A few months later, in another part of Texas, someone shot the President of the United States. That, too, was a moment Nolan Richardson would never forget. There would be more. There would be a day in 1966 when his old coach and alma mater would take college basketball's national championship.

Nolan Richardson coached Arkansas to the 1994 NCAA men's basketball title and helped pave the way for a generation of African American coaches, but his long career at the school ended Friday when Arkansas bought out his contract in the wake of Richardson's complaints he is treated differently because he is black.

Corey Beck, the point guard Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson swears he wouldn't trade for anybody else in the country--not Tyus Edney, not Randolph Childress, not Travis Best--doesn't even average double figures in scoring. In fact, in the recent Midwest Regional semifinals and final, Richardson's hero had more fouls than assists, more fouls than field goals. On most teams that gets you a lovely bench seat somewhere between the student manager and the 5-foot-3 walk-on power forward from Provo.

The fight began with 3:23 remaining before halftime. You might have missed it when the quake coverage pre-empted the Arkansas-Georgetown basketball coverage. Anyway, until the melee, it had been a close and excellent contest, with Arkansas ahead on the judges' cards by a point. After that, well, it was not much of a contest at all. A nasty little altercation interrupted Sunday's NCAA Midwest Regional nightcap, with players from both sides being ejected for leaving the bench to participate.

Bill Clinton, Razorback-in-chief, once gave a big sloppy hug inside the White House (relax, this is nothing scandalous) not to the basketball coach from his down-home University of Arkansas but instead to towering John Thompson, the coach from his undergraduate alma mater, Washington D.C.'s very own Georgetown. Then he turned to the First Lady of the United States of America to introduce her to the gentleman he was squeezing with the words, "This is my coach."

So, maybe you should know about Alex Dillard, student-athlete, University of Arkansas. Al is old. He is 25. That is old for a college junior, believe me. For a college basketball player, it is Medicare age. Al is older than Shaquille O'Neal, older than Chris Webber, older than Shawn Kemp. Older by several years, in fact. He says his teammates call him names like Father Time, Grandfather Time, Antique.

Who's the most successful coach in NCAA history? John Wooden and his 10 NCAA basketball championships at UCLA? Not even close. Rod Dedeaux and his 11 College World Series baseball titles for USC? Forget it. Dean Cromwell and his 12 track championships in the 1930s and '40s at USC? Nope. The NCAA track and field championships begin Wednesday at Buffalo, N.Y.

For many Texans, Southwest Conference football isn't merely another slice of cable television life. It is part of their heritage. It is an echo of the past, a reminder of a time before professional sports had arrived and the attention and passion of a region were focused on the likes of Davey O'Brien and Sammy Baugh, Doak Walker and Bobby Layne. It is, as SWC Commissioner Fred Jacoby points out, "76 years of history and tradition," and it could be history in the not-too-distant future.

When Scotty Thurman was 6, he used to wad up a few pairs of socks, bend a hanger into a circle and fire the socks into the handmade hoop while he lay on the sofa in the living room of his home in Ruston, La. Levell Thurman didn't mind if his son shot socks, but when Scotty's mother, Roma, came home, he had to pack up the living room basketball game before she got a look at it.