Opinion

Kleine, others pay tribute to Sutton

Former Arkansas basketball coach Eddie Sutton, center, talks with former players Joe Kleine, left, and Darrel Walker, right, during a game between Arkansas and Kentucky on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

During the course of Tuesday's Zoom tribute to former Arkansas basketball coach and new Naismith Hall of Famer Eddie Sutton, former Razorback and 15-year NBA center Joe Kleine dropped some of the best stories.

Kleine, currently getting some time on ESPN's The Last Dance on the 1990s Chicago Bulls, became aware of Arkansas basketball while listening to a Little Rock radio station while growing up in Slater, Mo.

"Back then we only had AM radio and I would click on to KAAY in Little Rock and I would hear these dang people hooting and hollering and calling the Hogs and I didn't know what they were doing," Kleine said.

"So all of a sudden before I was being recruited or even thinking about playing college basketball, I was driving around in Slater, Missouri on certain nights listening to Boothead (Ron Brewer), Marvin (Delph), Coach (Jimmy) Counce and hearing the noise and all the excitement. It was started and built because of Coach Sutton."

Sutton, who would lead teams to three Finals Fours, recruited Kleine, but the 7-footer, raised a devout Catholic, decided to go to Notre Dame to play for Digger Phelps.

Kleine played his freshman season in South Bend and then bolted for Arkansas.

"When he got into the Hall of Fame, they (teammates) all were giving me a hard time about if I had come there out of high school, we would have won a national championship," Klein said. "And he would have got in the Hall of Fame years earlier. They were putting this all on me and I kind of looked at them and I said I grew up Catholic and my dad was taking me to daily mass, saying the Rosary and we were devout Catholics and I chose God over Coach Sutton."

Kleine paused for a bit and then added, "I was wrong and I admit that."

The man nicknamed Smokin' Joe from Slater, Mo., went on to score 1,753 points (sixth in Arkansas history) grab 806 rebounds (fifth) and was on the 1984 Olympic gold-medal winning team along with Michael Jordan and Razorback teammate Alvin Robertson.

Sutton, one of only five coaches to win over 800 college games, will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Aug. 29 in Springfield, Mass.

Kleine gushed at the impact Sutton had on his life and those of his teammates.

"He has meant everything to me," Kleine said to Sutton during the Zoom gathering Tuesday. "I can't put it into words. I can't tell you how much I love you. I can't even begin to tell you how much you have meant in my life."

Other former Razorbacks Sidney Moncrief, Counce, Kleine, Charles Balentine and Houston Nutt and current Arkansas assistant coach and former Oklahoma State player Corey Williams were among those on the call with Sutton, who was at his home in Stillwater, Okla.

Also on hand were managers-turned-coaches Kenneth "Doc" Sadler and Matt Zimmerman, former managers David Horton and myself and Fayetteville boys basketball coach Brad Stamps, a Sutton family friend who organized the Zoom meting for his staff for personal and professional growth during this covid-19 pandemic.

"I think the greatest thing you have done is create an Arkansas family and all of us, whether we played or didn't play, we all feel like brothers and we all feel like you are our father," Kleine said. "You united us and we have stories that we can tell."

Kleine would play 15 years in the NBA alongside greats like Larry Bird, Charles Barkley and Jordan.

Kleine, who resides in Little Rock, sat down for a long interview with makers of the ESPN documentary. He played only one season with the Bulls.

"Who knew the 15th player on the team would get so much air time," Kleine joked.

Sports on 04/23/2020