Caitlin Clark recently returned to her home arena in Iowa, however, it wasn’t to play a game. Instead, the basketball star was honored at Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena by having her jersey number 22 retired and hung in the rafters.
Caitlin Clark was recently honored at her home arena, Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena. While Clark wasn’t playing a game, she said at a pregame press conference that she still has “butterflies” walking into the arena.
Clark was returning to the Arena to have her number 22 retired in a ceremony that took place after the Hawkeyes’ 76-67 win over USC. This ceremony takes place just one season after she completed her widely successful and publicized college career.
“I feel like I already have those butterflies in your stomach when you walk in here,” Clark said during a pregame press conference, according to AP.
Clark explained that by being around everyone and back in the arena environment that was the home to the sport she loves so much, those butterflies were more out of excitement, and perhaps some nostalgia.
“Not so much for a basketball game now, but obviously just to be around everybody and to enjoy this environment. I don’t have to go and compete for 40 minutes, even though I wish maybe I could. I think it will definitely be a little bit more emotional that I don’t have to compete.”
Clark was joined by her family for the ceremony that took place in center court as her Number 22 jersey rose into the rafters. Clark looked elated throughout the entire ceremony.
Clark had a historic career playing at Iowa, and this jersey retirement ceremony was the perfect way to honor the amazing athleticism and skill she carried throughout each game. She became college basketball’s all-time leading scorer, and led the Hawkeyes to two consecutive appearances in the NCAA national championship the last two seasons.
The crowd was sold out with nearly 15,000 in attendance, including Clark’s former coach at Iowa, Lisa Bluder. Stephanie White, Clark’s current coach with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, was also in attendance.
Clark’s former teammates Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall were also in attendance sitting courtside. Iowa coach Jan Jensen discussed seeing Clark for the first time playing as a freshman in high school. “Our staff, we made a pact that we were going to do everything we could to be the last one standing, and we are so thankful that we were the last one standing. Caitlin, she’s truly generational. She changed the world,” Jensen said.
“The positive image that you’ve brought to this basketball program, this university, this state, and women’s basketball nationally, is unmeasurable,” Bluder said.
“I’ve spent my entire career trying to empower young women. That’s what it’s all about. But you’ve done more than that in the last four years, more than anyone can imagine.”
“The winning came because of the great culture that we had, and for me, I hope that’s the thing that always stays intact, and I know it will, because of the great coaching staff we have and the type of players that they are here. We had players that were selfless,” Clark said.
“We had players that didn’t care how many points you were going to score. They’re going to do whatever they could for your teammates. They were going to hold their teammates accountable. And I think that’s a lost art in college these days, and you don’t always see that.”
“I feel like one of my greatest skills is that I really don’t care,” she said.
“I don’t care — I believe in myself. I’m confident in myself. I’m confident in my teammates. I try to instill that in them. I’m confident in the coaching staff on whatever team I was on, whether that was here, whether that’s with the Fever now, and you just rely on those people.
Nobody gets to step inside of your locker room. Everybody thinks they know everything and have an answer, but that’s just not reality.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
