SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga honored former men's basketball forward Adam Morrison by hanging his jersey in the rafters of the McCarthey Athletic Center on Thursday night.
The jersey hanging began at 5:45 p.m. before the team's game against San Diego.
“I’m just honestly truly blessed to have had the support I’ve had around Spokane. Coming from Mead High School, being a nobody, being a type one diabetic, and making it to where I did basketball wise, I thank all of you," said Morrison to the crowd. "I still get the love from you fans and you people and it’s humbling. I feel like I truly don’t deserve it. I’m just so thankful that I’ve grown up in this community and that I’m stuck in this community and you’ve always had my back.”
Morrison's jersey is the third Zags jersey to go up. The other two belonged to Frank Burgess and John Stockton, whose jerseys are both retired.
Few said having Morrison at the school was, "One of the most amazing things I've been lucky enough to have been a part of."
“Gonzaga was known as a really, really good basketball program that had been to an Elite Eight and been to several Sweet Sixteens and had won a lot," continued Few. "But when Adam came around, he turned us into a national brand and we became a national entity and everybody knew what Gonzaga was.
“What I’m most proud of is the man he’s become now, a parent, and a guy who’s really, really given back to our community. It’s been amazing to watch him from that skinny, floppy haired kid at Mead High School all the way through his Gonzaga years.”
Morrison took the college basketball world by storm in 2006 with his skills on offense. He led the nation in scoring and led the Zags to a 29-4 record overall. Gonzaga finished fifth in the Associated Press Poll that year.
He was selected as an AP All-American, National Association of Basketball Coaches Co-Player of the Year and USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy Co-Player of the Year. He was also named West Coast Conference Player of the Year.