COMMENTARY

Pair Forever Linked

Ex-Basketball Players Shined

Central Arkansas coach Corliss Williamson gestures during the first half against UNLV in an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Gurzinski)

I couldn’t help but think of Corliss Williamson and the Russellville Cyclones after reading that Jason Kidd had retired last week.

Kidd and Williamson are intricately linked in one of the most memorable high school games in Arkansas history. It was late December in 1990 and the setting was the King Cotton Classic in Pine Bluff. Kidd and Williamson were juniors and already regarded as two of the best high school basketball players in the country.

The King Cotton Classic was a national level high school basketball tournament founded by Travis Creed, a sports promoter and banker in Pine Bluff. State pride was on the line when Williamson and the Cyclones tangled in the championship game with Kidd and his St. Joseph’s team from Alameda, Calif.

Back then, ESPN was noted more for carrying Australian Rules rugby matches than as the dominant entity in sports. But the network took a chance and began covering the King Cotton Classic in 1987.

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Former Arkansas All-American Corliss Williamson was not allowed to play basketball for Russellville High school during his freshman year in 1988-89. The “Corliss Williamson Rule,” as coaches would later call it, is still in effect today and does not allow freshmen to participate at the high school varsity level in certain Class 7A athletics.

ESPN was rewarded with an exciting game in 1990 when Williamson and his Russellville teammates beat Kidd and his California team by one point to win the title of the King Cotton Classic. Williamson preserved the victory when he blocked Kidd’s last-second shot attempt.

Williamson went on to become a legendary sports figure in Arkansas when he led the Razorbacks to the national championship in 1994. He played for 12 years in the NBA and is now the head basketball coach at Central Arkansas. Kidd had a better professional career than Williamson, earning All-Star status 10 times and helping the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA championship in 2011.

Kidd’s 19 years in the NBA was longer than the King Cotton Classic, whose 17-year run ended in 1999 because of poor attendance and lack of sponsorships. Like the Holiday Hoops in Fayetteville that followed, the King Cotton Classic succumbed to fact that people weren’t willing to spend time and money during the Christmas holidays to watch teams of which they were mostly unfamiliar. Before the novelty wore off, the King Cotton Classic was as big as any high school basketball tournament in the country and more than 30 of its participants ended up in the NBA.

Two of those were Williamson and Kidd, who now joins the former Razorback in retirement.

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RICK FIRES IS A SPORTS WRITER FOR NWA MEDIA