Kleine to be Inducted into SWC Hall of Fame

Arkansas play-by-play announcer Mike Nail, right, broadcasts alongside former color commentator Joe Kleine during the Razorbacks' game with Maine Nov. 12, 2001, in Bud Walton Arena.

— Former Arkansas and NBA center Joe Kleine has had a lot of honors during and after his career and Wednesday added another one.

Kleine, a 7-foot center who played for Arkansas from 1982-85 and was the sixth overall pick in the 1985 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings, was recently announced as one of nine new members of the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame.

He and the other new members will be formally inducted during a luncheon Sept. 26 at the Fort Worth Downtown Hotel. The Southwest Conference Hall of Fame is located inside the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco.

“It brings back a lot of great memories for sure of playing in the Southwest Conference when there were a lot of great players in the league,” Kleine said of being inducted. “It was a really good league back then, maybe even a bit underrated when you look at all the players that went on to have NBA careers.”

Kleine gave his former Razorback head coach Eddie Sutton a lot of the credit for his success after he transferred to Arkansas. He played his freshman season at Notre Dame.

“I can’t give enough credit to Coach Sutton and how he helped me become a better basketball player and a better man,” Kleine said. “You have to have talent, work hard and a willingness to get better to start with and you combine those things together with a great coach and great teammates and it can lead to the kind of success I was able to have.”

Kleine, a native of Slater, Mo., was the SWC newcomer of the year as a sophomore in 1982-83 and then averaged 18.2 points as a junior when he ranked just behind Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon in league scoring.

Kleine averaged 22.1 points and 8.4 rebounds as a senior and ended his career with 1,753 points at Arkansas.

He led the Razorbacks to the Sweet 16 in 1983, into the top 10 in 1984 and was also a member of the 1984 U.S. team that won the gold medal at the Olympics.

Kleine would later team with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on the Chicago Bulls' 1998 NBA championship team.

He scored 4,661 points and had 3,991 rebounds while shooting 80 percent from the free throw in 15 NBA seasons. He retired in 2000 after playing for eight teams.