Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Arkansas to retire jersey No. 42 in honor of Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

whitehouse.gov

The 2014 NCAA Tournament marks the 20 year anniversary for Arkansas’ NCAA Championship team in 1994.

Later this season, as part of celebrating that championship team under coach Nolan Richardson, Arkansas will retire just the second jersey in program history. Ironically enough, it won’t even be a former player’s jersey. Sidney Moncrief, who is the school’s second leading scorer and leading rebounder, is currently the only player to have his jersey retired.

Bill Clinton was in his first term as the 42nd President of the University States, and is an Arkansas alum. He was then, and is still now a stark supporter of the program. As such, he will have jersey No. 42 retired in his honor.

“Well, they’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of Arkansas winning the national championship when I was President,” Clinton told an ESPN reporter. “So they said that I was their sixth man and they wanted to put a No. 42 jersey because I was the 42nd President, which I thought was really nice.”

Current Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson was an assistant on the 1993-94 championship team, and remembers Clinton’s support well.

“The last time I saw him in the building was probably after the national championship,” Anderson said. “During the national championship year and after the national championship year. When you talk about an alumnus, former president, a Hog fan, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

A date has not been officially set for the No. 42 jersey to be retired, but with four home games remaining this season -- Feb. 15 vs. LSU, Feb. 19 vs. South Carolina, March 1 vs. Georgia, and March 5 vs. Mississippi -- it is safe to assume the ceremony will take place on one of these four dates.

Follow @KLDoyle11