The following story was written by Weber State Media Relations Director Paul Grua for an upcoming book commemorating 50 years of Weber State men’s basketball. The book will be available later this fall through Weber State’s Wildcat Club. Harold Arceneaux was named the Big Sky men’s basketball MVP in 1998-99, and 1999-2000. He averaged 22.6 points per game in his two seasons with the Wildcats, leading them to an upset of North Carolina in the 1999 NCAA Tournament. Arceneaux ranks 25th on the list of the Big Sky Conference’s “50 Greatest Male Athletes.’’
Whether he’s in Ogden, Australia, Argentina, Mexico or anywhere in between, Harold Arceneaux is known by one name: The Show. The Show that started at Weber State and lifted the Wildcats to national prominence has been continuing all over the world.
“People don’t even call me Harold,” he recalled. “The first thing people call me when they meet me is ‘The Show’. That has become my nickname wherever I go. Carl Arky was the first person to call me that and it has stuck with me everywhere I go.”
Since leaving Weber State Arceneaux has played basketball professionally on every continent in the world and at nearly every level. From summer leagues in the NBA to minor professional leagues in the United States and to countries near and far, Arceneaux has continued to play basketball. He has played for professional teams in Australia, France, Portugal, Argentina, South Korea, Philippines, Brazil and Mexico where he spent the 2012-13 season as a player/coach for the Lechugueros De Leon in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico.
Ask many die hard college basketball fans across the nation and they will remember Arceneaux for his incredible weekend in March of 1999 when little known Weber State defeated powerhouse North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and then nearly beat Florida in the second round. Arceneaux scored 68 points in those two games and became a March Madness legend. But his story doesn’t begin with those two games in Seattle. It starts much earlier.
Arceneaux was born April 1, 1977 in the tough streets of New Orleans, Louisiana. His path to playing basketball all over the world took him to Price, Utah where he spent the 1996-97 season as a freshman at CEU and was teamed up for the first time with Eddie Gill. Arceneaux averaged 18.3 points and 6.4 rebounds as a freshman and helped lead Eastern Utah to a 28-5 record.
The following year he transferred to Midland Junior College in Midland, Texas where he averaged 17.6 points and six rebounds a contest. Arceneaux turned down offers from several Division I schools, including UNLV, to enroll at Weber State. Arceneaux would also be reunited with Eddie Gill in Ogden. “I knew about Weber State from the 1995 NCAA Tournament,” he recalled. “I knew they lost at the buzzer to Georgetown and I watched them the next year beat Fresno State in the NIT. I was a big basketball fan and I knew about Weber State but I didn’t know where it was located or what conference it was in.”
Under coach Ron Abegglen’s offensive system, Arceneaux flourished and quickly became a star in the Big Sky. Initially he wasn’t known as a shooter but after the coaching staff discovered he could shoot they ran their offense to fit his skills and got him shots where he could make them. Not knowing he would later become a coach, Arceneaux learned a lot from playing for Coach Abegglen. “He was one of the legends in college basketball. He won with less talent and he overachieved with a little talent. Just being around him and him being a basketball hero was the best thing that could have happened to me. Every time we came to practice, he had a little wrinkle and we tried a few new things. He had so many plays I couldn’t figure them out sometimes. I would just shoot the ball because I forgot the play.”
Arceneaux went on to earn Big Sky Conference MVP honors and All-District honors. As a junior in 1998-99 he scored in double figures in 31 of 32 games and scored 30 or more points six times. He set a Weber State single-season record for points in a season.
He led the Wildcats to the Big Sky title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament where he would have three memorable days in Seattle. The Wildcats were paired up against national powerhouse North Carolina. Not many were giving Weber State a chance. North Carolina hadn’t lost a tournament opener in 19 years and was gunning for its third straight trip to the Final Four.
But Arceneaux and the Wildcats were optimistic heading into the game. It became one of those nights where Arceneaux would be in the zone. His shots started to fall and North Carolina couldn’t stop him. He had 16 points in the first half and kept it going in the second half with 20 more. After he intercepted UNC’s final pass at the buzzer the Wildcats had shocked the Tar Heels and won the game 76-74 behind 36 from Arceneaux who knocked down five three-pointers, the most he made in a game in his Weber State career. He and the Wildcats were one of the darlings of the NCAA Tournament and Arceneaux became known across the country for his performance.
He had countless demands for interviews following the win before the Wildcats prepared to face Florida in the second round. He picked up right where he left off with 21 points in the first half on 8-12 shooting. But he started getting worn down by the Gators. Florida’s entire defense scheme was to stop Arceneaux and he admittedly got tired down the stretch. The ‘Cats nearly won the game in regulation but ultimately fell 81-74 in overtime to Florida. Arceneaux finished with 32 points and nine rebounds. He scored 68 points in the two tournament games. Florida head coach Billy Donovan was extremely complimentary of Arceneaux after the game. “I've got to tell you," Donovan said after the game, "that Harold Arceneaux is one of the best, if not the best, players I've seen this year. He is flat-out ridiculous. We double-teamed him, we triple-teamed him, we based our whole defense on stopping him. And, finally, I think we tired him out. Thank goodness. That young man is going to make a lot of money someday playing basketball."
Florida guard Teddy Dupay was quoted as saying, “Whoever named him ‘The Show’ did a disservice. He’s a lot more than that. “He's the best player I've seen next to (former Florida Gator) Jason Williams. Ever.”
Arceneaux was now known throughout the basketball world. His stock was at an all-time high and talk of him leaving early for the NBA Draft was at the forefront. Plus, with the 1998-99 season ending, Coach Abegglen was leaving as head coach and changes in the Wildcat staffing was another factor for Harold’s decision.
On March 22, 1999, less than two weeks after the season ended, WSU assistant coach Joe Cravens was named the new head coach for the Wildcat program. While Arceneaux and Gill would be back for the 1999-2000 season, the Wildcats lost several key players and leaders from the team that went to the NCAA Tournament.
Arceneaux decided to declare
himself eligible for the 1999 NBA Draft saying he simply wanted to “test the waters”, something several underclassmen did. However, he didn’t hire an agent and despite his high stock, he decided to return for his senior season with the Wildcats. “It was a decision I made to stay,” he recalled. “I came in there with Eddie. Guy (Beach) had decided he was going to stay, although he left for UTEP after school started. I came there with those guys and I wanted to see it through with them so I decided to stay. Everyone said I should enter the draft but I decided to stay. I figured it could only help me.”
The Show was going on at Weber State. With coach Cravens and Eddie Gill by his side Arceneaux returned for another season of really high expectations at Weber State. Playing for a new coach was nothing new for Arceneaux who had not played for the same head coach two years in a row, in high school, junior college or college.
He began the season as a Preseason All-American and a finalist for the John Wooden Award. He was spectacular once again as a senior and repeated as the Big Sky MVP, joining Larry Krystkowiak and Orlando Lightfoot as the only players in conference history to do so.
Arceneaux actually averaged more points in his senior season (23.0) than he did as a junior (22.3). He scored 40 points twice during the season, once at Eastern Washington and once against Montana State. He scored 30 or more points seven times. The Wildcats picked up an impressive win over Utah early in the season and beat Utah State at home as well. In the final home stand of the season Arceneaux had 39 points against Idaho State and 40 against Montana State.
However, the Wildcat team was very different from the previous season and the ‘Cats were not living up to previous expectations. “We lost eight players from the 1999 team and had a lot of freshmen that were trying to figure things out,” Arceneaux recalled. “Eddie and I went from the youngest guys to the oldest guys on the team. We kind of peaked toward the end of the season but we didn’t get the credit we should have. I actually had a better season but if you ask people, they’ll say I wasn’t as good my senior year. It’s funny how memories go.”
The Wildcats finished 18-10 overall and were 10-6 in Big Sky play, finishing in a tie for fourth in the league standings and bowed out in the first round of the conference tournament.
Arceneaux’s two-year career at Weber State was over after scoring 1,357 points in just 60 career games, the best scoring average in school history at the time. He went undrafted in the 2000 NBA Draft and couldn’t hook on with NBA teams, despite tryouts and summer league appearances. He played in minor league teams across the country and then headed overseas.
Arceneaux will always be remembered for what he did during those three days in March of 1999. But those who spent time with him will remember him for much more. “He was so down to earth and easy to talk to,” WSU radio broadcaster Carl Arky recalled. “I remember sitting with him on a flight talking about where he had come from and how fortunate he was to be where he was. Life was tough in New Orleans and he was able to get out of there and play basketball. He was very humble and didn’t see himself as a star that much. I didn’t have to think about that nickname that much because he really was ‘The Show’. He was such an exciting player to watch.”
Coach Cravens recalled Arceneaux as a kid with a happy, go-lucky personality. “Harold was not only a very nice person he had a million dollar smile,” he said. “He was just a wonderful, entertaining personality. He was the type of guy that would have everyone on the team bus laughing at him. He was not the best practice player and I would want to get mad at him in practice. But he could really make you laugh, even in practice. He was very entertaining and never had a bad day. Always smiling and making people around him feel good. People will remember him as a great player but he’s also a terrific person and a wonderful person to be around.”
Arceneaux has continued his show in every corner of the world, now having the opportunity to coach his team in Mexico. “Having the opportunity to travel the world and play basketball has been a blessing. I got hurt and the owner asked me to coach this season to rehab my knee and I plan on playing again next season. Coaching is a totally different world. A lot of the players are different than me and I have to relate my personality to their personalities. It has been a learning experience.”
Without fail, every March since the 1999 NCAA Tournament Harold Arceneaux’s name comes up again as one of the Cinderella stories in the history of the NCAA Tournament. Each spring he will get a call from someone wanting to know where he is and wanting to relive the win over North Carolina. Arceneaux doesn’t mind the attention. He just keeps the Show going all over the world.
