FAYETTEVILLE -- Nolan Richardson's hair color was the subject of several good-natured barbs at the Northwest Arkansas Tip-Off Club Luncheon on Wednesday.

Club founder Wayne Stehlik, pointing to a newspaper photo of Richardson, said, "Have y'all seen this picture of coach Richardson? He hasn't had black hair for years!"

Richardson, who has gray hair now, was in the audience for the second time in as many NWA Tip-Off Club meetings.

Former Razorbacks player Blake Eddins, when his turn came to speak, said, "I would like to take credit for coach Richardson's gray hair. Our (14-15) team his last year had a lot to do with that."

Richardson did not attend the Missouri-Arkansas basketball game on Wednesday night, but he did enjoy a reunion with Mizzou coach Mike Anderson, who dropped by for part of the luncheon.

"I better watch what I say -- my boss just walked in," said Tigers assistant Matt Zimmerman, the main speaker.

Stehlik had asked Eddins to talk awhile about "Great Moments in Razorback History," but Eddins confessed, "I was not the purveyor of too many of those."

Eddins' brother played football at Auburn, however, so the luncheon group perked up when Eddins mentioned Auburn football coach Tom Tuberville.

"Coach Tuberville called me just as I was walking in here today," Eddins joked, "but I was told I had to stick to basketball topics, so I can't tell you what he said."

Eddins did say, "Coach Tuberville has a pretty long last name, and I understand they charge by the letter on those (airplane) banners, so that would be an expensive venture for the dark-siders, or whatever they call them."

Stehlik, in introducing Zimmerman, said, "Matt was always a grinder. He's the kind of guy who works 25 hours a day, eight days a week."

During Arkansas' national championship season of 1993-94, when President Clinton attended a game in Bud Walton Arena, Stehlik said Zimmerman somehow got himself in a picture with the President and the Hogs basketball team.

"People were having to give Social Security numbers and six generations of family information just to get in our locker room," Stehlik recalled. "Ed Beshara, Nolan's close friend, couldn't even get in. Bob Carver, who gets in everywhere, couldn't get in. But there was Zimmerman in the picture."

Stehlik helped Zimmerman get a job on Anderson's Alabama-Birmingham staff, after Matt had had success at Dardanelle High.

"I never lost a game at Dardanelle -- my guys lost a few," Zimmerman joked.

Zimmerman's main claim to fame as an Arkansas basketball manager came when he walked with Richardson to the dressing room one afternoon in 1990 at Austin, Texas, after Richardson became upset with officials, then sprinted to retrieve Richardson after Arkansas sophomore guard Lee Mayberry's long 3-point bank shot sent the game into overtime.

The Razorbacks won the game 103-96 in overtime, to the everlasting consternation of then-Texas coach Tom Penders.

"Texas had a 90 percent free throw shooter who kept missing free throws at the end," Zimmerman recalled. "Normally he could shoot the ball through a swinging thimble. So Lee's shot tied it. I went to get coach Richardson, and all the fans in the Super Drum were calling him every name in the book when he came back out."

Singer Willie Nelson was sitting behind Arkansas' bench, Zimmerman said.

"We beat Texas like a yard dog in overtime," Zimmerman said. "Ernie Murry of Wabbaseka went on a 2-on-3 fast break, threw a behind-the-back pass to Lenzie Howell and Howell dunked on two Texas guys."

That Arkansas team reached the Final Four in Denver, where Zimmerman fully expected a national championship. Alas, the Hogs lost 97-83 to Duke in the semifinals, as the Blue Devils broke the game open late.

"I remember crying in the shower in McNichols Arena," Zimmerman said.

These days, Zimmerman said he's hoping for a Missouri national title, just as Arkansas fans covet another national crown under John Pelphrey.

Stehlik took some time Wednesday to publicize three upcoming high school basketball tournaments -- one this week and two next week.

The Lady Bulldogs tournament begins tonight at Fayetteville High, featuring games between North Little Rock and Springdale Har-Ber, and Watson Chapel-Mountain Home. FHS girls coach Bobby Smith said Jeff Koenig started the tournament six or seven years ago as a way of promoting girls hoops in the region.

Holiday Hoops chairman Larry Bittle, whose tournament runs next Thursday-Saturday in Walton Arena, reminded fans that this year's event requires no admission fee, other than non-perishable food cans (to be matched by meat products from Tyson Foods), slated for the Ozark Food Bank.

Two five-star athletes and a four-star player are scheduled to play next week. Headliners include 6-foot-9, 273-pound junior Daniel Orton of Oklahoma City Bishop McGuinness, who is uncommitted to a college; top senior point guard Willie Warren of North Crowley, Texas, who is also uncommitted; and 6-6 freshman Cameron Clear of Memphis Hamilton.

Former Fayetteville High guard Allyn Donaubauer touted the 11th annual Tournament of Champions in Fort Smith, set for next weekend at Arkansas-Fort Smith.

"We've had three girls who have gone on to the WNBA, 72 Division I players and more than 100 Division II players over the years," Donaubauer said.

Top prospect Yvonne Anderson, Mike's daughter from Columbia, Mo., will play in this year's event.

Former Kansas coach Ted Owens will speak at the next Tip-Off Club meeting, Dec. 11. Owens' teams reached the Final Four in 1970 and 1974.

GRANT HALL IS A MORNING NEWS FREELANCE WRITER. HIS COLUMN APPEARS EACH MONDAY AND THURSDAY.
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