Thirty-eight-year-old Sam Cassell played 30 minutes in the Clippers' 91-89 loss to Washington on Wednesday night, and then hopped aboard a red eye from Los Angeles for a ceremony he wasn't going to miss.
A 15-year NBA veteran, Cassell didn't mind giving up a good night's sleep and his first free day of All-Star weekend for a trip back to Florida State to have his No. 10 jersey retired at halftime of the FSU-Wake Forest game.
"This is the best honor an individual can get, to have his jersey retired at his alma mater," Cassell said Thursday. "That's better to me than winning an NBA championship."
Considering Cassell won NBA titles in his first two seasons in the league with Houston, that's saying something. Cassell helped the Noles to the Elite Eight in 1993 and the Sweet 16 in 1992, a two-year stretch that hasn't been duplicated since. He is only the fourth player in school history to have his jersey retired, joining former teammate Bob Sura, Dave Cowens and Hugh Durham.
One of his fondest memories at FSU came in the Noles' first ACC game after joining the conference: An 86-74 victory at the Dean Dome against heavily favored North Carolina in December 1991.
"When they introduced us, they laughed at us," Cassell said of Carolina fans. "We took that as an insult." Afterward, Cassell famously called the Carolina faithful a "wine-and-cheese crowd," prompting UNC officials to move the student section from the upper bowl to the lower bowl.
"It's good to be back home," Cassell told the crowd at halftime.
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