George at the mic

The Razorbacks and their fans heard a familiar voice in Bridgestone Arena.

John George, who has been the public address announcer for Arkansas’ men’s games since the 1980-81 season, is handling the same duties at the SEC Tournament for the 18th consecutive year.

“It’s great to be back,” George said. “It feels like riding a bicycle.”

George’s seat on the scorer’s table is at mid-court.

“For me, this is like going to my Super Bowl,” George said. “You get to see a lot of great basketball and you sit between the two coaches, and the two benches and the referees.

“You can hear and see everything. You feel like you’re a part of the game.”

Since becoming the SEC Tournament’s public address announcer in 2007, George has missed only two games. His first year the SEC had another announcer call the second two of four games on the opening night after George worked the first two.

George was eating dinner at his hotel when he got a call from an SEC official. It turned out the other guy was making announcements during free throws and when officials were trying to communicate with the scorer’s table.

“Somebody from the SEC asked, ‘Can you work the rest of the games this week?’ ” George said. “I said, ‘Sure.’ ”

George said the plan is for him to be on the public address system for all 13 games this week.

At 67, George said he feels great physically and hopes to continue to work at Arkansas and SEC Tournament games for several more years.

George said that by his count, he’s worked 853 Arkansas games.

“I want to try to get to 1,000 games for the Razorbacks,” he said. “Hitting that number would mean a lot.”