It is going to be a huge weekend at Arkansas-Little Rock when the latest class of the Little Rock Trojans Hall of Fame is inducted.
Athletic Director George Lee announced the 1986-1987 men's basketball team that made it to New York for the NIT Final Four, basketball player Alicia Cash and golfer Johnny Johnson are the honorees that will celebrated Feb. 17 at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock during a basketball doubleheader, with the women's game at 1 p.m. and the men's at 3:30 p.m.
Festivities begin Friday night with a reception on the Fisher Court.
On the night of March 12, 1987, at Little Rock's Barton Coliseum with no time on the clock, James Dawn was fouled before the final buzzer and made two free throws as the Trojans beat heavily-favored Southwest Conference member Baylor 42-41, punching their ticket for the historical trip to the NIT Final Four.
The Trojans also beat Cal and Stephen F. Austin in the NIT Tournament.
It is open to debate about which UALR team is the best of all time, but that one was one of the toughest and grittiest groups in history.
UALR was in its eighth season on the Division I level and the season before had made the NCAA Tournament and knocked off Notre Dame. But 80% of the scoring and rebounding had graduated.
In his fourth season, Mike Newell led the Trojans to 26 wins and won the TransAmerica Athletic Conference with a 16-2 record.
After starting the season 1-3, Newell changed his starting lineup to include three sophomores: Point guard Juric Brown and forwards Paris McCurdy and Curtis Kidd. Brown led the team in assists, McCurdy in rebounding and Kidd in scoring, but it was a team of role players who never gave up.
Cash was the first player in program history to earn All-Sun Belt Conference honors during the 2003-04 season and finished her career as the program's all-time leading scorer with 1,282 career points and as the second all-time rebounder in program history with 682 boards.
Cash still places in the women's basketball program's top 10 in career points, field goals made, field goals attempted, three-pointers made, three-point field goal percentage, blocks and rebounds.
Johnny Johnson is considered to be the best tennis player at UALR. He won the prestigious Sugar Bowl in 1976 and Cotton Bowl Championship in 1979, the only UALR player to achieve such an honor.
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Ryan White, the Razorback Foundation executive director, has announced that Alisha Curtis is joining his staff and will be the head of the Little Rock office.
Curtis had been with Arvest Bank and before that worked for Governor Asa Hutchinson.
Curtis replaces Mica Strother, who joined Scott Varady when he became Vice Chancellor for UA Advancement. Varady was executive director of the Razorback Foundation prior to his appointment last month.
Varady is a UA graduate with a Georgetown law degree who spent a short time in private practice before going to work for his alma mater.
Curtis is a native of Benton who attended the UA and finished college at UALR.
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It may seem odd that defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City is a 3 1/2-point underdog at Baltimore, but so far the Chiefs have been more defensive than offensive and will be facing one of the most balanced attacks this season in the NFL.
It doesn't seem odd San Francisco is a 7-point favorite over Detroit. But if the Lions are winning, you can bet -- and probably could -- quarterback Jared Goff won't take a knee too early like he did Sunday.