FAYETTEVILLE — Forty-five years ago today, Sports Illustrated hit the newsstands with one of its most iconic covers.
The image of Arkansas great Sidney Moncrief flying through the air during a game against Texas remains one of the magazine's best remembered.
Manny Millan snapped the photo during No. 2 Arkansas' 75-71 victory over No. 12 Texas at Barnhill Arena on Feb. 1, 1978 — a payback game for the Razorbacks' only loss during a 25-1 start to the season that ended in the Final Four.
The Razorbacks had played — and won — three more games by the time the magazine printed on Monday, Feb. 13, 1978. That same day Arkansas was ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 Poll for the first time, and the Razorbacks defeated Baylor 82-56 that night at Barnhill.
One of the things that makes the Moncrief cover unique was that he struggled somewhat in the Texas game. He averaged 17.8 points per game going into the contest, but was held to only eight points by the Longhorns.
Millan's lens caught one of his only three field goals that night.
"I was afraid I had shot too early," Millan said in a 1987 Sports Illustrated article.
In a 2010 survey, three Sports Illustrated reporters ranked the Moncrief cover their favorite in the history of the magazine. One of them was Alexander Wolff, a long-time basketball writer for the publication.
"I've asked Manny Millan over the years how he got the shot, and he's always replied with a delphic shrug— one of those it-was-just-one-of-those-things" looks, Wolff said in 2010 article in the magazine. "I love the pre-explosion energy of the pose and the look in Moncrief's eyes."
At the time, Moncrief was the second Arkansas player to make the cover of the magazine. Football player Harry Jones was the first in 1965.
After Moncrief, it was another 16 years before Arkansas basketball was featured on the cover of the magazine again. The Razorbacks were indirectly featured during a 1979 cover documenting Indiana State's win over Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament.
The Razorbacks were a popular cover in 1994 and 1995. President Bill Clinton wore a Razorback basketball windsuit for a March 1994 cover and Corliss Williamson made the cover following Arkansas' 76-72 victory over Duke in the 1994 NCAA Tournament championship game.
Corey Beck was on the cover in 1995 when the Razorbacks made a return trip to the Final Four.
Moncrief made the cover of the magazine one more time while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, but it is his Arkansas cover that people still talk about years later. Charles P. Pierce, a Sports Illustrated reporter, referenced the cover in 2017 when making the case for Moncrief to make the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
"(Moncrief) was shown rising from the floor with a look on his face that made you wonder if he were about to dunk a basket or kill a vampire," Pierce wrote.
Moncrief was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. During the broadcast announcing that year's honorees, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas referenced Moncrief's photo from four decades earlier.
"At that time, I had your Sports Illustrated cover of you going in with the ball cocked behind your head going in for a dunk," Bilas told Moncrief. "That was up on my wall."
This article was adapted from a previous story about the Moncrief cover.