One late summer afternoon back in 1992, I was at Paradise Valley Athletic Club trying to hustle up a golf game. As a regular, I knew most of the members by name and found some willing participants – Dub and Brett – in no time. While we were standing on the first tee box, and outta nowhere, Nolan Richardson walked up and asked if he could join us.
“Sure Coach,” we chimed.
Since I was riding solo, he threw his bag on the back of my cart.
Brett and Dub and I got our bets straight, and I looked over at coach, shrugged my shoulders and asked, “You want some?”
“I’ll play anybody for $5, Scot,” retorted the man in the wide, straw Razorback hat.
And we were off. Just the two of us riding side-by-side in a golf cart for 18 holes. And while we did not gab it up and down the fairways, we did visit. He explained that golf was really his first love, and he had coached it on the high school level down in the west Texas town of El Paso, early in his career.
The big man could flat play. He drove it straight as a string and had nice touch around the greens, but I was atop of my game back then and beat him handily. His golf swing was so powerful, however, his backswing was the slowest I’ve ever witnessed, by far. And I’ve seen thousands of golf swings from Tiger down, and his distinctly stands out to this day.
We discussed the upcoming NBA draft, and I asked him who, outta the three heralded Hog seniors, he thought would be the most successful pro. Without hesitation and with total conviction he said Lee Mayberry. He went on to opine that Todd Day doesn’t play good enough defense, and Oliver Miller was too overweight to play a full 82+ game schedule. All true talk.
After the round we settled up our bets, and I took $10 from the living legend (more than that from Brett and Dub). He and I faced off one other time, and I got him then, also.
Bottom line – Coach Nolan Richardson is someone I admire and have forever. Dude is one righteous cat. The level of intensity he brought to Arkansas was like nothing I’ve ever witnessed.
He would constantly push his players to the max. His system – 40 Minutes of Hell – was just that and so darn demanding that during the 1994 championship season, Corliss Williamson averaged the most minutes played at 28/game, cuz it was humanly impossible to go any longer.
When the team still played in Barnhill Arena, the heat would be turned noticeably up in the gym on game day. Teams would come in and without fail, begin melting down in the second half. Once they started hanging onto their shorts, I knew we had ‘em.
Attack the body, the mind will eventually weaken, and mistakes will be made was his battle cry.
Nolan’s résumé is like no other, as he is the only basketball coach to lead teams to national titles in the NCAA, Jr. College, and NIT. He also coached Panama’s team in international competition and was named GM and head coach of a WNBA farm team in Tulsa in the mid-2000s.
Currently, he and his wife, Rose, run a summer kids’ camp on their horse farm outside Fayettenam, offering impoverished youth opportunities to have some good ole country fun in the sun. Despite the way he was mistreated and unjustly fired, the man never left Arkansas and has continued to give back more than his share.
“Never judge a man ‘til you’ve walked a mile in his boots,” was a favorite quip I often heard outta him.
A four-part special on Razorback basketball was recently posted on YouTube, and at the end of Part One they ask Nolan to explain the phenomenon that is Razorback basketball. He replies, “Sometimes, it is bigger than life itself.”
Amen, Coach.
WPS!