Counce honored at men's basketball game

FAYETTEVILLE — Former Razorback four-year letterman and Academic All-America selection Jim Counce was honored in a halftime ceremony at Wednesday night’s Arkansas-South Carolina men’s basketball game at Bud Walton Arena.

Counce is the University of Arkansas’ 2010 Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Legend and will be formally honored next month in Nashville at the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament. On Wednesday night, Counce was introduced to a crowd of 13,175 and presented a commemorative basketball by Arkansas vice chancellor and director of athletics Jeff Long.

A member of Eddie Sutton’s first recruiting class, Counce was a four-year letterman from 1975-78. He was a starter in 1977 and 1978 and was usually designated to guard the opposing team’s best offensive player. Counce played in one of the most successful eras in Razorback basketball. The 1977 team went 26-2, including 16-0 in the Southwest Conference winning the SWC regular season title and the SWC Tournament title. In 1978, the Razorbacks posted a 32-4 record, repeating as SWC champions on the way to the NCAA Final Four.

Counce later returned to the Arkansas bench as an assistant coach under Sutton in 1981 and 1982. During his coaching tenure, the Razorbacks won two SWC crowns and earned consecutive berths to the NCAA Tournament. Counce earned his BA in chemistry from Arkansas in 1979 before earning his MD from the University of Medical Sciences in 1986. He currently resides in Northwest Arkansas and is a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon.