North Little Rock Mayor Terry Hartwick will have an event at 4 :30 p.m. on Monday, April 19 to honor the state basketball championship won by coach Johnny Rice and his team in March.

The event will be held at the plaza downtown and it was one for the thumb as it was the fifth state title in six tries won by Rice in his nine-year tenure as head coach at the school.

Titles won

• 2021 - North Little Rock

• 2018 – North Little Rock

• 2015 – North Little Rock

• 2014 – North Little Rock

• 2013 – North Little Rock

Rice, a North Little Rock lifer, is the latest part of a storied basketball tradition at the school and that dates back to the school’s first title in 1943. 

This year’s title was the 15th basketball championship won by North Little Rock. That includes the four-peat claimed by Scipio A. Jones in 1956 through 1959. Those were won when Black high schools were not allowed to play in the Arkansas Athletic Association.

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