While eagerly awaiting the end of the NBA lockout, Josh Harrellson was in St. Charles Wednesday as his alma mater honored him by retiring his No. 55 jersey that night.
St. Charles Mayor Sally Faith and other dignitaries were on hand at Lindenwood University to honor Harrellson, a 2007 St. Charles High School graduate and 2011 New York Knicks draft pick, in between the boys and girls basketball games between the Pirates and St. Charles West during the annual Turkey Tip-Off.
It was the first time St. Charles High retired a jersey number in any sport.
"It's a big honor for me to come back to my high school and say thank you for retiring my jersey," Harrellson said. "That's the icing on the cake because it's before the St. Charles West game tonight and we beat them to go to state my senior year."
Harrellson scored 1,325 points and grabbed 794 rebounds during an all-state career at St. Charles. During his senior year, the Pirates defeated arch-rival St. Charles West in the district final and reached the state semifinals.
St. Charles athletic director Cory Hahn said Harrellson deserved to have his number retired at the school, but given the school's deep history — the Pirates won a state championship in boys basketball in 1957 — a committee might have to be formed to find other deserving athletes.
"Josh is a very deserving person because of his accomplishments at St. Charles High and (the University of Kentucky)," Hahn said. "He's a relevant person right now for the school to look at it. There are some people from the past that are deserving of this honor, too. We'll look into the process and come up with some sort of nomination form, then have a screening process to bring to the committee."
A long and winding road carried Harrellson to the NBA. While still at St. Charles High, Harrellson signed a letter of intent in 2006 to play at Western Illinois University, but his stellar senior season with the Pirates led to better Division I opportunities and he backed out of attending Western Illinois.
Western Illinois wouldn't let Harrellson out of his letter of intent, so he played junior college basketball in 2007-08 for Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville. He joined the University of Kentucky in 2008. His breakout season was 2010-11 when he led the Southeastern Conference in rebounding. During the 2011 NCAA Tournament, Harrellson averaged 14 points as the Wildcats reached the Final Four before losing 56-55 to the University of Connecticut in the semifinals.
Since then, Harrellson has aided tornado victims in Alabama and was featured in a news story when he kept a man who was alledgedly intoxicated from driving away from a Lexington, Ky bar. In June, the Knicks paid the New Orleans Hornets $750,000 for the right to draft Harrellson, who is 6-foot-10, 275 pounds, 45th overall.
The NBA has been under a lockout since July 1. Training camp and the start of the regular season have been delayed, although the most recent reports on ESPN indicate a deal might be brokered soon enough to have an abbreviated season beginning next month.
Harrellson said he's been bouncing around between Florida and Kentucky while he trains for the start of the season. Because he's a rookie and the season has yet to start, he has yet to receive his first professional paycheck. He said he's been earning money playing in exhibition games in Kentucky with former Wildcats teammates.
"We've been blessed," Harrellson said. "The University of Kentucky has the best fan base in all of sports. I've been blessed to play with great players and we've made a little money to get by."
Once the lockout ends, the man who is nicknamed "Jorts" because of his love for wearing cut-off jeans shorts, will get his first taste of the Big Apple and all the distractions that surround pro athletes who play there. Harrellson said playing in the Final Four for Kentucky helped prepare him for the famously harsh New York media who will cover his every move.
"(Media attention) will be 10 times worse, more magnified than it was at (Kentucky)," Harrellson said. "I'll do my best to handle it and go about my business."
Then there's playing home games at Madison Square Garden, one of the cathedrals of pro sports. Celebrities, including famed film director and Knicks fan Spike Lee, often sit in the front row and develop relationships with the players.
"(Lee) was at the Kentucky/Kansas game at the Garden last week. I can't wait to meet him," Harrellson said.
Harrellson said he's made his own logo and wants to start a clothing line named "Jorts." He got the nickname when a photo of him wearing jeans shorts made its rounds on a website popular with students at Kentucky. Harrellson, however, is smart enough to realize fame can be fleeting; he said he wanted to create a memorabilia line of merchandise for his fans while his name is still "hot."
Rising through the ranks from unheralded center his first year at St. Charles, to the Final Four with Kentucky and now poised to play in the country's largest media market, Harrellson is appreciative of how his life has evolved.
"I'm going say thank you to my hometown crowd and do my best to make them proud at the next level," Harrellson said Wednesday, a few hours before the ceremony to retire his number.
