07-15-2002, 03:07 PM
From ASO, (http://www.arkansassportsonline.com) an interview with the most beloved player to wear a Razorback hoops jersey, Final Four MVP, 2-time all-American, 2-time SEC player of the year, from Russellville, AR...the Big Nasty, #34, Corliss Williamson.
Corliss Williamson Interview
According to his mom, Corliss Williamson was your typical kid, always laying around, playing video games, forgetting to take out the trash, leaving his room messy, and playing pranks on people. But Corliss Williamson shattered a backboard on a dunk when he was in junior high school. A few years later, after his Russellville Cyclone team lost their state championship game to Little Rock Parkview, Corliss Williamson, who was awarded a medal for being named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, put that medal around the neck of an opposing player. Two years later, he was the MVP of another tournament after leading the University of Arkansas to their first ever national championship in basketball. Today, Corliss is 28 years old. He and his wife, Michelle, just celebrated their second anniversary. His son, Chasen, will be seven years old next month. He is an NBA star with the Detroit Pistons and is the current NBA's 6th Man of the Year. This weekend he put on an All-Star Basketball game to raise money for charity. His wife says he still does all of those things his mom accuses him of. Corliss says he's still just a big kid. But he's anything but typical.
You started receiving media attention when you were in junior high school. I remember one of the stations ran a special on you dunking a basketball. Is that too early to start hyping a kid, and did that put undo pressure on you? Is that fair to a kid?
It depends on the individual, the kid, and the parents. I think parents should play a big role in monitoring how people recruit their kid. I think it's fine for a coach to possibly send a letter because sometimes, that sparks a kid's interest in that certain sport or it may lead him to excel and do better in school so he'll have a chance to possibly be a Razorback. I remember meeting Coach Richardson when I was like twelve years old. He invited me to his camp and sent me letters from that point on. I don't think it put any undo pressure on me. In fact he encouraged me to just keep playing ball and have fun. I think the coaches who are recruiting these kids should let them know that you still need to go out and enjoy basketball and enjoy life as a kid and don't worry about us recruiting you that we just basically want to stay in contact with you. It's kind of hard to put an age on when you should start recruiting a kid because some kids mature earlier than others.
What about the Nike and Adidas camps and companies that use these events to start going after these kids?
You know when I was growing up, I attended the Nike camp one year. I kind of felt funny about some of the things that we did there. You know they were checking your body fat, and they have you doing all of these drills. I think the shoe companies are making money and exploiting kids at that age, but I think at the same time, they are providing kids with an opportunity to play against some of the better competition in the United States and giving them a chance to measure themselves. It's kind of a touchy situation. I wish that there were a way where you wouldn't have all of these different camps like Nike or Adidas. It would be better to have a camp that wasn't really affiliated with a certain shoe company. I think that tends to put pressure on kids because you see kids coming out with lots of different gear from different shoe companies. You hear that high school teams are being sponsored by certain shoe companies, and I don't think that's right. I think they should still just be enjoying basketball and not the business side of basketball. It opens the door for corruption. I've seen stories on TV, and I've heard several stories from different players that I know about how they received certain gifts from shoe companies while they were in high school. You can tell that with some kids, it does corrupt them. It gives them a false sense of what life is about and what it's supposed to be.
College kids are in a sense being paid to play basketball through scholarships, but should kids be able to make some extra money? Should the NCAA allow kids to make some money while they're playing ball?
I believe so. You get some kids that go to college on an academic scholarship and get their education paid for, but they still have the ability to get a job whereas a college athlete doesn't have that ability from a time standpoint. There needs to be some way for the kids to have a little money. Not everyone has parents who can afford to give them money. I remember years up at Arkansas, and people may not believe this, but I had to borrow money from friends and teammates. And I feel like the universities and the NCAA are making so much money off of these kids that there could be some kind of format where kids could receive some money in order to help them out.
After your Russellville team lost to Parkview in the state championship game, you took the MVP medal and you gave it to Dion Cross. Why did you do that?
Man, you trying to make me cry, man, reminiscing like that? (Laughing) I felt like I had some great years in high school. The tournament was in Russellville. It was my last year, and I felt like I accomplished a lot during that year and during that tournament. But I felt in my heart that a true MVP is a person that carries his team to a championship. Dion Cross did a great job. He carried his team, leading them all the way to the championship, and I felt he was kind of slighted. I didn't feel like it was right that I won the award. I felt that he deserved it. It just didn't feel right for me to have that medal. When I tried to give it to him, he was like, 'no, no, no,' and I told him, 'no man, this is your award. You really deserve it.' I grew up playing basketball in the summers with Dion, but I would have given it to anybody I thought deserved it. I think that he was kind of shocked by it. I remember looking over at the bench, and I remember seeing Coach Rip (Charles Ripley), and he was crying, and I played in his gym a lot too. Just to see how it touched them and how it made me feel, I knew it was the right thing to do.
Why did you choose to go to the University of Arkansas?
Coach Richardson. Before then, I had my heart set on Georgetown. I was a Georgetown Hoya fan. I liked John Thompson and his teams. When Coach Richardson became the head coach at the University of Arkansas and the way he changed their style of basketball, it definitely made an impact on me. Growing up, I was watching him more and more, and I just fell in love with the idea of pressure defense and the style of basketball they played. It didn't take me long to change my mind. I think I told him when I was in the eighth grade that I was going to come up there and play ball for him.
Talk about your relationship with Nolan Richardson and playing for him.
He was like a father away from home. He stressed hard work. He was a man who was going to speak his mind. If he thought you were being lazy, he was going to tell you about it. If he thought there were some wrongs in the world, he was going to try to speak up about it and let people know how he felt about the situation. I've grown to respect Coach Richardson over the years. Maybe playing for him sometimes, you may be angry with him for getting on you or whatever. But that comes with the territory. Over the years, I've grown to respect that and understand what he was trying to accomplish. I think to really understand Coach Richardson, you have to really understand where he came from and the era he grew up in and you would have a better understanding of the type of person Coach Richardson is.
Was Coach Richardson unjustly fired in your opinion?
I don't actually know the ins and outs of the whole situation. We all saw the interview, but we don't know what happened behind closed doors between him and Coach Broyles. To say he was unjustly fired, I really can't comment on that because I really don't know. The only problem I had with the situation was the way that it was handled. I felt like he gave Arkansas a lot of great years and accomplished a lot. I just think there was some way that he could have walked away from this thing without as much bitterness.
How do you hope Arkansas remembers Coach Richardson?
I hope they remember him as a guy who brought in a bunch of hard working guys who turned the program around. It was rough for him early on when he was here. I remember his first few years when I was young, people were ready for him to be fired and get a new coach or whatever. It was a different style of basketball than Arkansas was accustomed to. I think he changed the style of basketball that was played in Arkansas. I think people should remember him for the way he spoke out on certain issues and of course for the national championship. Bringing that title here and going to the national championship in back-to-back years was a great accomplishment.
Talk about your UA playing days, in particular winning the national championship and the tournament runs.
I miss those days. They were a lot of fun. When you're on campus and you arrive at the arena and you see all of those people in red and white and the hog hats and people calling the Hogs I get chills just thinking about it. It was just a lot of fun, especially for me being a home town guy, being from the Northwest Arkansas area, it was just a great feeling knowing that I was able to play in front of people who have watched me grow up from pee wee basketball all the way through college. Just to be able to play basketball in a Razorback uniform was a lot of fun and the tournament runs having the fans follow you to different states and different regions... I mean, you can't beat that. You can only be in college for four years playing basketball and after that, you know you have to move on so you have to cherish those years. I only played three, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
With that being said do you regret coming out a year early?
No. I wouldn't say that. You go to college to get a better job so you'll be in a better position in life. It was just time for me to go. I wouldn't mind playing again or having that feeling of being a college athlete for a while longer, but I knew that realistically in order for me to take advantage of the situation, it was time for me to go on to the next level.
Do you stay in touch with your old teammates?
Well, Scotty (Thurman) and I are attached at the hip. The other guys, we don't talk all of the time, but we keep in touch. But when we see each other, we try to hang out and reminisce about our days together.
What was the game you always got up for?
Alabama and Kentucky. The hype with Kentucky and then Alabama; it was always fun because you knew they were going to be exciting, tightly contested battles.
Other than the NCAA tournament, what was your greatest memory?
I think my freshman year when we beat Kentucky. I don't think I realized at the time why that game was so important, but after winning that game, it was just fun to me. I remember standing on the press table or scoring table waving the Arkansas flag. That was just a lot of fun for me.
What did it mean to you to win the 6th man Award?
It meant a lot. I've been through three teams, six different coaches. I've gone from not playing to coming off the bench to starting to not getting the time I want to not playing again to being traded and traded again to finally finding a home in Detroit with a coaching staff, teammates, and an organization that really accepted me and wanted me to do the things I'm capable of doing. It was just a great feeling to know that. I think that was why we were so successful is the fact that everyone felt at home there. To win the 6th Man award and, I hate to use a clich
Corliss Williamson Interview
According to his mom, Corliss Williamson was your typical kid, always laying around, playing video games, forgetting to take out the trash, leaving his room messy, and playing pranks on people. But Corliss Williamson shattered a backboard on a dunk when he was in junior high school. A few years later, after his Russellville Cyclone team lost their state championship game to Little Rock Parkview, Corliss Williamson, who was awarded a medal for being named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, put that medal around the neck of an opposing player. Two years later, he was the MVP of another tournament after leading the University of Arkansas to their first ever national championship in basketball. Today, Corliss is 28 years old. He and his wife, Michelle, just celebrated their second anniversary. His son, Chasen, will be seven years old next month. He is an NBA star with the Detroit Pistons and is the current NBA's 6th Man of the Year. This weekend he put on an All-Star Basketball game to raise money for charity. His wife says he still does all of those things his mom accuses him of. Corliss says he's still just a big kid. But he's anything but typical.
You started receiving media attention when you were in junior high school. I remember one of the stations ran a special on you dunking a basketball. Is that too early to start hyping a kid, and did that put undo pressure on you? Is that fair to a kid?
It depends on the individual, the kid, and the parents. I think parents should play a big role in monitoring how people recruit their kid. I think it's fine for a coach to possibly send a letter because sometimes, that sparks a kid's interest in that certain sport or it may lead him to excel and do better in school so he'll have a chance to possibly be a Razorback. I remember meeting Coach Richardson when I was like twelve years old. He invited me to his camp and sent me letters from that point on. I don't think it put any undo pressure on me. In fact he encouraged me to just keep playing ball and have fun. I think the coaches who are recruiting these kids should let them know that you still need to go out and enjoy basketball and enjoy life as a kid and don't worry about us recruiting you that we just basically want to stay in contact with you. It's kind of hard to put an age on when you should start recruiting a kid because some kids mature earlier than others.
What about the Nike and Adidas camps and companies that use these events to start going after these kids?
You know when I was growing up, I attended the Nike camp one year. I kind of felt funny about some of the things that we did there. You know they were checking your body fat, and they have you doing all of these drills. I think the shoe companies are making money and exploiting kids at that age, but I think at the same time, they are providing kids with an opportunity to play against some of the better competition in the United States and giving them a chance to measure themselves. It's kind of a touchy situation. I wish that there were a way where you wouldn't have all of these different camps like Nike or Adidas. It would be better to have a camp that wasn't really affiliated with a certain shoe company. I think that tends to put pressure on kids because you see kids coming out with lots of different gear from different shoe companies. You hear that high school teams are being sponsored by certain shoe companies, and I don't think that's right. I think they should still just be enjoying basketball and not the business side of basketball. It opens the door for corruption. I've seen stories on TV, and I've heard several stories from different players that I know about how they received certain gifts from shoe companies while they were in high school. You can tell that with some kids, it does corrupt them. It gives them a false sense of what life is about and what it's supposed to be.
College kids are in a sense being paid to play basketball through scholarships, but should kids be able to make some extra money? Should the NCAA allow kids to make some money while they're playing ball?
I believe so. You get some kids that go to college on an academic scholarship and get their education paid for, but they still have the ability to get a job whereas a college athlete doesn't have that ability from a time standpoint. There needs to be some way for the kids to have a little money. Not everyone has parents who can afford to give them money. I remember years up at Arkansas, and people may not believe this, but I had to borrow money from friends and teammates. And I feel like the universities and the NCAA are making so much money off of these kids that there could be some kind of format where kids could receive some money in order to help them out.
After your Russellville team lost to Parkview in the state championship game, you took the MVP medal and you gave it to Dion Cross. Why did you do that?
Man, you trying to make me cry, man, reminiscing like that? (Laughing) I felt like I had some great years in high school. The tournament was in Russellville. It was my last year, and I felt like I accomplished a lot during that year and during that tournament. But I felt in my heart that a true MVP is a person that carries his team to a championship. Dion Cross did a great job. He carried his team, leading them all the way to the championship, and I felt he was kind of slighted. I didn't feel like it was right that I won the award. I felt that he deserved it. It just didn't feel right for me to have that medal. When I tried to give it to him, he was like, 'no, no, no,' and I told him, 'no man, this is your award. You really deserve it.' I grew up playing basketball in the summers with Dion, but I would have given it to anybody I thought deserved it. I think that he was kind of shocked by it. I remember looking over at the bench, and I remember seeing Coach Rip (Charles Ripley), and he was crying, and I played in his gym a lot too. Just to see how it touched them and how it made me feel, I knew it was the right thing to do.
Why did you choose to go to the University of Arkansas?
Coach Richardson. Before then, I had my heart set on Georgetown. I was a Georgetown Hoya fan. I liked John Thompson and his teams. When Coach Richardson became the head coach at the University of Arkansas and the way he changed their style of basketball, it definitely made an impact on me. Growing up, I was watching him more and more, and I just fell in love with the idea of pressure defense and the style of basketball they played. It didn't take me long to change my mind. I think I told him when I was in the eighth grade that I was going to come up there and play ball for him.
Talk about your relationship with Nolan Richardson and playing for him.
He was like a father away from home. He stressed hard work. He was a man who was going to speak his mind. If he thought you were being lazy, he was going to tell you about it. If he thought there were some wrongs in the world, he was going to try to speak up about it and let people know how he felt about the situation. I've grown to respect Coach Richardson over the years. Maybe playing for him sometimes, you may be angry with him for getting on you or whatever. But that comes with the territory. Over the years, I've grown to respect that and understand what he was trying to accomplish. I think to really understand Coach Richardson, you have to really understand where he came from and the era he grew up in and you would have a better understanding of the type of person Coach Richardson is.
Was Coach Richardson unjustly fired in your opinion?
I don't actually know the ins and outs of the whole situation. We all saw the interview, but we don't know what happened behind closed doors between him and Coach Broyles. To say he was unjustly fired, I really can't comment on that because I really don't know. The only problem I had with the situation was the way that it was handled. I felt like he gave Arkansas a lot of great years and accomplished a lot. I just think there was some way that he could have walked away from this thing without as much bitterness.
How do you hope Arkansas remembers Coach Richardson?
I hope they remember him as a guy who brought in a bunch of hard working guys who turned the program around. It was rough for him early on when he was here. I remember his first few years when I was young, people were ready for him to be fired and get a new coach or whatever. It was a different style of basketball than Arkansas was accustomed to. I think he changed the style of basketball that was played in Arkansas. I think people should remember him for the way he spoke out on certain issues and of course for the national championship. Bringing that title here and going to the national championship in back-to-back years was a great accomplishment.
Talk about your UA playing days, in particular winning the national championship and the tournament runs.
I miss those days. They were a lot of fun. When you're on campus and you arrive at the arena and you see all of those people in red and white and the hog hats and people calling the Hogs I get chills just thinking about it. It was just a lot of fun, especially for me being a home town guy, being from the Northwest Arkansas area, it was just a great feeling knowing that I was able to play in front of people who have watched me grow up from pee wee basketball all the way through college. Just to be able to play basketball in a Razorback uniform was a lot of fun and the tournament runs having the fans follow you to different states and different regions... I mean, you can't beat that. You can only be in college for four years playing basketball and after that, you know you have to move on so you have to cherish those years. I only played three, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
With that being said do you regret coming out a year early?
No. I wouldn't say that. You go to college to get a better job so you'll be in a better position in life. It was just time for me to go. I wouldn't mind playing again or having that feeling of being a college athlete for a while longer, but I knew that realistically in order for me to take advantage of the situation, it was time for me to go on to the next level.
Do you stay in touch with your old teammates?
Well, Scotty (Thurman) and I are attached at the hip. The other guys, we don't talk all of the time, but we keep in touch. But when we see each other, we try to hang out and reminisce about our days together.
What was the game you always got up for?
Alabama and Kentucky. The hype with Kentucky and then Alabama; it was always fun because you knew they were going to be exciting, tightly contested battles.
Other than the NCAA tournament, what was your greatest memory?
I think my freshman year when we beat Kentucky. I don't think I realized at the time why that game was so important, but after winning that game, it was just fun to me. I remember standing on the press table or scoring table waving the Arkansas flag. That was just a lot of fun for me.
What did it mean to you to win the 6th man Award?
It meant a lot. I've been through three teams, six different coaches. I've gone from not playing to coming off the bench to starting to not getting the time I want to not playing again to being traded and traded again to finally finding a home in Detroit with a coaching staff, teammates, and an organization that really accepted me and wanted me to do the things I'm capable of doing. It was just a great feeling to know that. I think that was why we were so successful is the fact that everyone felt at home there. To win the 6th Man award and, I hate to use a clich