LSU’s Rudy Macklin talks about getting his jersey retired two weekends ago, what it means to him and why he became overcome with emotion during the ceremony (run time is 7:05; transcript below the jump)
Lost Lettermen: This is Jose Bosch with LostLettermen.com and I’m joined by LSU’s Rudy Macklin, member of the 1981 Final Four team. Rudy thank you for joining us.
You had quite a weekend for yourself having your jersey retired at LSU. Just tell me what were those festivities like?
Rudy Macklin: Oh man it was equivalent to something like the Academy Awards, you know, with the lights going down and the place is jam packed and you had chairs on the floor and the podium and the microphone and my teammates behind me and my coaches.
I mean it was very festive but it was really, really dramatic and a very emotional ceremony.
LL: Looking through all the coverage of it there’s actually a picture of you; you look like the emotion had kind of overtaken you.
What was it like when it finally sunk in that your number was being retired?
RM: Well the first thing I thought about when I saw the flag dropping down was my father. He passed away a number of years ago and this is something that he really wanted to see happen.
He just mentioned it one time but I knew it was on his mind.
And all of the things that I went through to get to that point, starting out at LSU and coming full circle back to Louisiana and the death of my roommate, my teammate, Greg Cook and Duane DeArmond and Mark Alcorn and all those emotions were stirring up at the same time and my family in the audience as well.
So it was something that was a long time coming and I just didn’t think it would really happen but it happened and the emotions got the best of me.
LL: You mentioned the moment when the flag dropped. Would you say that was your favorite moment of the entire weekend?
RM: I don’t know if I had one favorite moment. The whole thing from the beginning to the end; around the city they had billboards up; restaurants had my name on marquees congratulating me.
And they printed 5,000 shirts with my number on it and my name on the back. And those things were really just hyped up the whole ceremony. And my relatives coming in and friends I had from childhood coming in and guys I played against and played with over the years.
All these things happened so there was no one favorite thing. Everything was just so wonderful and the reception party that they gave us afterwards, it was just tremendous from the beginning to the end and something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.
LL: You said that this was a long time coming. Obviously when you’re in the moment, when you’re playing, you obviously want to be the best player as you possibly can.
But at what moment in your life did you think to yourself that you could be considered one of the best LSU players of all time?
RM: Well it had to do with how you lead your team.
I wasn’t hung up on a lot of stats. Anybody can shoot the ball 30 or 40 times and score a lot of points. But that’s not how you win, especially in college basketball.
Those who won national championships from the UCLAs to the North Carolinas and Wake Forest and Tim Duncan and all those guys, they only average 16-17 points a game.
And even during my time it was the same thing. So I wanted to make sure that I made my teammates around me better and so we’d all win.
And we did win. My era we won more games than any other player in the history of LSU basketball. We won 31 games in one season, two SEC championships, an SEC Tournament championship and also went to the Final Four and a Midwest Regional championship.
So it was all about winning first with us and second for me. And it opened the door for other great athletes to come like Shaquille O’Neal, like Chris Jackson, you know Abdul-Rauf and Stanley Robinson and Big Bay and all these athletes that came after me.
Because I took a chance coming to LSU because the bigger schools said it wouldn’t be a good idea to come there because LSU was last in the SEC and it was a football school and nobody was really coming to the games.
So my greatest contribution was when I came to LSU there was like 300 people in the seats and when I left you couldn’t get a ticket.
That was the big deal.
LL: When you got the … how did you get the news that you were going to get your number retired?
RM: Well I was coming from a meeting from the state capitol. My office is within walking distance of the state capitol.
And the athletic director Joe Alleva called me on my cell phone and said, “I got some good news. Are you sitting down?” I said, “No I’m walking. Do I need to sit down?”
So he said, “No, I called to tell you that the Hall of Fame committee unanimously voted to retire your jersey.”
And immediately I just went silent. And all I could think about was “Dad it’s coming true for you. This is what you wanted.”
And he said, “You there?” and I said, “Yeah, I’m here.” And he said, “I’ll give you more details but congratulations and we’ll let you know what’s going to take place.”
And it just overwhelmed me that day. I was just kind of in shock. And I just kept reflecting on if my dad was here. And it came. And I hope he was smiling down on me.
LL: You look at the other names; Pete Maravich, Shaquille O’Neal, Bob Pettit and now Rudy Macklin is going to be there with all the names of jersey that have been retired.
When you see those names and then your name what goes through your head?
RM: It goes through my head that these are some of the best players that have come through LSU basketball and when I see mine up there, statistically, individual statistics they all averaged more points than me.
But I won more games and that’s the most important thing. I led my team to more victories. And I’m the second-leading scorer behind Pete Maravich and all-time leading rebounder.
So those things are something to be proud of but just to be next to them alone. That’s a great accomplishment.
And I’m just proud to be an LSU Tiger that helped to put LSU basketball back on the map.
LL: Last question, now that you have your jersey retired are you going to ask the university for a little bit of a discount any time you get LSU merchandise?
RM: (laughs) No, no. I’m going to do my part as an alumni and pay my alumni dues and buy my season tickets and help speak on behalf of the university like I’ve always done so I’m doing my part as an alumni.
LL: Well Rudy I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day talking to me and congratulations on having your jersey retired.
RM: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
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