Steve East was one of the few who knew about Scottie Pippen before the name carried any sort of meaning -- much less a championship legacy.
East was still a student at the University of Central Arkansas when Pippen, a Hamburg native, showed up on campus in 1983.
Over the next four years -- first as a student, then later as a reporter for the Arkansas Democrat -- East witnessed firsthand Pippen's near-mythical and famous basketball transformation, growing from an undersized and unknown walk-on manager for the Bears into a freakish athlete, a two-time NAIA All-American and eventually the fifth overall pick in the 1987 NBA draft.
"My claim to fame is I played some pickup games with him before we figured out he was good," said East, who's worked as UCA's sports information director since 1994. "And then I didn't want to have anything to do with him because he was really good."
On Sunday evening in front of millions of viewers -- and more than three decades after Pippen's UCA days ended -- East got the momentous chance to shed light on the Pippen he saw in Conway during the premiere of ESPN's much-anticipated documentary series The Last Dance, which pulls back the curtain on the legendary 1997-98 Chicago Bulls and their frontman Michael Jordan.
Pippen became a basketball legend in the 1990s with the Bulls, tag-teaming with Jordan to turn the franchise into a dynasty with six championships in eight seasons, the final one coming during the season that is the focal point of the series. A considerable chunk of the second episode focused on Pippen, including everything from his difficult upbringing in Hamburg to his controversial contract situation leading up to the 1997-98 season.
East was one of more than 100 people interviewed for the series -- but he had no idea what he was in store for on Sunday night.
East recalled producers contacting the school late in 2018 looking to interview people who could expound on Pippen's UCA career, but two key sources were unavailable.
Don Dyer, who was UCA's head coach when Pippen was there, is in poor health and was unable to do an interview, and Dyer's former assistant coach, Arch Jones -- who was close with Pippen -- died in March 2011.
UCA Athletic Director Brad Teague said he suggested the producers talk to East, as well as Ronnie Martin, Pippen's former Hamburg and UCA teammate and close friend who also appeared in the show Sunday.
One early morning in January 2019, Jake Rogal, a producer for The Last Dance, showed up at UCA along with a lighting guy and sound guy to interview East. It was 6:15 a.m., and East and the UCA men's basketball team were supposed to leave for the airport at 8 a.m. to catch a flight for a game.
The interview lasted 30-40 minutes, East said, but he never figured a second of it would make it to the screen.
"I [thought] I'd be on the cutting floor," East said. "I just figured they were wanting background and this and that, which I gave them good background stuff, [but] I had no idea that I'd actually be on the show itself. I was shocked."
But millions saw East's face as he sported a black and dark grey Nike pull-over with UCA's purple bear logo, helping recount the days of when an all-time NBA legend once graced the Farris Center floor in the mid-1980s.
"He came in as a 6-1, 155-pound guard," East said early in Episode 2 of The Last Dance. "I got to watch him play, and I thought, 'Wow, this guy's got a little something if he can fill out.'"
Former president and ex-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton also was shown speaking about the NBA Hall of Famer's UCA days.
Old, grainy highlights from inside the Farris Center rolled as a younger Pippen threw down dunk after dunk. East was thoroughly surprised at how much footage existed of Pippen playing at UCA. He said he didn't know how producers found it, especially considering UCA couldn't provide any when asked. The school doesn't have very many photos of Pippen on file, either, East said.
But East still carries countless memories with him from watching Pippen back then.
East's phone quickly lit up with messages Sunday night following his cameo in the documentary.
"Oh gosh," East said. "I got [Facebook messages] from people I hadn't talked to since high school probably."
Said UCA men's basketball Coach Anthony Boone: "I'll have to get his autograph next time I see him."
An average of 6.1 million viewers tuned in, ESPN announced Monday, making it the network's most-watched documentary ever, with still eight more episodes to be aired over the next four Sundays.
In an instant, it can be argued East became one of the school's most famous alums, while his alma mater was thrust onto the national stage in a way it had never been before.
Normally UCA is used to being second, and often third or even fourth, fiddle to the Division I sports scene within Arkansas. The University of Arkansas typically consumes the state's oxygen.
But for just a few brief minutes Sunday night in front of millions, it was UCA that had everyone's attention -- not just in the state, but across the country.
And it came with a small assist from East.
"The fact that they kept saying 'Central Arkansas' and 'the University of Central Arkansas' and they showed our gym and it said 'Bear Country' -- it was a proud moment for us," Teague said. "It's huge. You can't put a price on it at all."
Sports on 04/22/2020