1981 NCAA Tournament had twists, detours

For all practical purposes, it seemed like the game was over.

It was March 14, 1981, in Texas’ basketball arena known as The Drum. The defending national champions from Louisville had taken a 73-72 lead over the University of Arkansas with seconds remaining in a second-round game.

The Cardinals were heavy favorites to advance to New Orleans to face No. 4 LSU.

Louisville had defended 6-10 Scott Hastings brilliantly, limiting him to 2 of 8 from the field. He did make all eight of his free throws.

Darrell Walker led the way for the Razorbacks with 23 points, but it appeared to be in vain.

The ball was inbounded to freshman U.S. Reed of Pine Bluff. He was double-teamed, but for whatever reason the Cardinals’ defenders allowed him to drive right. At half court, he launched himself and the ball as hard as he could.

All net.

Reed, who is now a fundraiser for the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, calmly walked over to press row, shook a reporter’s hand and walked off the court as if it had been a called play. He finished with 19 points.

The late, great sportswriter David McCollum, photographer Clay Carson and yours truly filed stories and pictures, then made plans to drive to the Big Easy for the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.

Clay volunteered my new Buick as the car we would take. It had less than 5,000 miles on it.

It didn’t matter to me. It was my first NCAA Tournament, and I had fallen in love with the event.

The Tigers were as good as advertised. They led the Hogs 34-18 at the half and came away with a 72-56 victory.

It was pretty late after the stories and pictures were filed, and the decision was made to get an early start the next morning.

David went to dinner with some friends from Texas, and Clay and yours truly were on our own. On the way to our rooms, we placed a breakfast order for about four and hung it on David’s door.

We thought that was hilarious.

The next morning just before Lake Providence, La., Clay asked David whether he had time for breakfast.

He said the hotel had delivered breakfast to him at 6 a.m. He wasn’t awake until the knock on the door.

He said it was great, best breakfast he ever had. When he checked out, he explained he hadn’t ordered it so they took it off of his bill.

Just as we cleared Lake Providence, my car died. It just shut down, and we coasted to the shoulder.

We were standing there when a man in a pickup stopped and offered to go by the only tow company/garage/ used car lot in town.

About 20 minutes later, a guy pulled up, hooked us up and took us to the place where he worked.

After fiddling around under the hood, he declared it was probably the electronic ignition.

“That’s covered under warranty,” he said, “at a Buick dealership, and the closest one of them is 60 miles and I’m not towing you that far.”

He added: “A car like this ran into the creek last night. It might have an electronic ignition.”

He was gone 30 minutes and came back with what looked like a brand-new part.

“There won’t be no warranty on this if it works,” he said seriously.

No problem, he was told. He hooked it up, and the engine turned over. We all smiled.

“That’s $35 for the tow, $20 for the part and $20 for labor,” he said. “I don’t take credit cards, so that’ll be $45 in cash.”

My first NCAA Tournament had a half-court winning shot, a short trip to New Orleans and a lesson in new math.

I didn’t miss another NCAA Tournament, complete with the Final Four, until 2011. From time to time in the next few weeks, those Big Dances will be alive and well in this column.