It was mid-day on Monday, and as the King Cotton Holiday Classic basketball tournament was getting underway, one by one, people with problems started sticking their heads in the door.
"We've got some thirsty people down there," one woman said, referring to the need for bottled water.
A man with a production crew doing the live-streaming for the tournament had been trying to get press passes. "Please, could someone help us out?" he asked.
Samuel Glover, director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department and person in charge of the tournament, handled each issue as it came. Soon, there was water being delivered, and press passes were in the proper hands.
Through it all, Glover couldn't hide the smile on his face, saying he was pleased with the tournament roll-out and that he thought the crowds would come to Pine Bluff, as they did in the old days, to see some of the best high school basketball in the nation being played.
"This is what we talked about," he said. "This is why we wanted to bring King Cotton back. We promised voters in 2017 that we would bring back the tournament. This is our third year back – not counting the covid year last year. We wanted to get back to that national stage, and I think we are back."
Glover was referring to Go Forward Pine Bluff, which outlined a list of items the group would accomplish in exchange for the passage of a sales tax four years ago. The tax passed, and now the tournament -- as well as many other promises -- are a reality.
"We wanted to build back the King Cotton brand and place ourselves on the national scene," Glover said.
The King Cotton tournament ran from 1982 to 1999, then returned to action in 2018.
As evidence that the tournament had reached the high level organizers were hoping for, Glover said that Gus Argenal, an assistant to Razorback basketball coach Eric Musselman, was in the building on Monday morning scouting players, and that Musselman himself was flying down after practice in Fayetteville to be at the games on Monday evening.
As for the minor problems that kept popping up, Glover said it comes with putting on a big event.
"No matter how prepared you are, and we were very prepared, there are always hiccups," Glover said. "But we have a team of problem solvers and when you have people in place who can do that, it's easy to get things done."
Outside Glover's make-shift office, fans streamed into the Convention Center, first going through metal detectors and then having their temperatures checked to guard against covid. On either side of the building, concession stands handled the traffic that was building as lunch approached.
Glover said 210 people had been hired for the tournament with about that many helping out as volunteers.
By evening, the crowds had gotten much larger in anticipation of the games involving Pine Bluff teams. The hubbub was exciting for Joseph McCorvey, executive director of the Pine Bluff Convention Center, who was giving directions to employees as he walked around the arena.
"It's going great so far," he said, adding that he'd like to see attendance grow even more as the tournament continues through Wednesday.
Standing outside the arena was 40-year-old Aaron Thompson of Stuttgart. He coaches youth basketball, but his son is a ninth-grader who plays basketball on the junior team.
Thompson said he remembers coming over to watch the King Cotton when he was younger and also coming to Pine Bluff and staying in the attached hotel with his family when he was in high school to watch the state basketball tournament games held at the Convention Center.
To expose his son and his son's teammates to the excitement of King Cotton, Thompson took a bus used at a duck hunting club and brought over 10 youngsters.
"It's great," he said. "They don't realize the history of it."
Thompson's younger son, Riker, 11, said he was thrilled about being at the games, adding that he would like to play in the tournament some day.
Standing in line to get something to eat was Ralph Love, 67. He said he had come to the King Cotton the same way he has for every year the tournament has been played.
"I played ball myself in Pine Bluff and my son played," he said. "Seeing these young people play is exciting. It takes me back to the days when I played."
Some came to the King Cotton by regular school bus and some by luxury tour bus. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Byron Tate)