Brittney Griner, two-time AP national player of the year, has had her No. 42 jersey retired by Baylor University. For the first time since her senior year eleven years ago, Griner went to a Bears home game, and she pulled off a surprise slam dunk.
Griner’s jersey was lifted to the rafters in the new Foster Pavilion, where Baylor began playing last month. The tribute before a game versus Texas Tech included video highlights of her career. Although Griner did not address the crowd, she was clearly moved by the response from the Baylor supporters, waving at them and stroking her heart.
“Just full of emotion. As soon as [the jersey] started to go up, that’s when I started to break,” Griner said during an in-game interview on ESPN.
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Griner said it meant everything to be honored and appreciated by the institution where she gave so much of her time. According to ESPN, the outstanding player was a junior on Baylor’s 40-0 national championship team in 2011-12, when she won her first of two consecutive AP Player of the Year titles.
Her final home games were when the Bears won in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament at the Ferrell Center on campus in March 2013, including three dunks in her last game there. Griner earned her Baylor degree in 2019.
After taking over as Baylor’s head coach three years ago, Nicki Collen expressed her desire to retire the No. 42 jersey. That was postponed when Griner was captured and imprisoned in Russia for 11 months in 2022 before returning to the United States in a high-profile prisoner exchange.
Collen said she advocated for that before Sunday’s game because she thought it was appropriate for Griner and the program.
During her four seasons at Baylor, Griner averaged 22.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 5.1 blocked shots in 148 games. With 3,283 points overall, the 6-foot-8 center ranks fifth on the NCAA career list and sets a Big 12 record. Her 748 blocks remain an NCAA record for male or female players.
The moments she shared with teammates and supporters were the things she recalled most from her time at Baylor.
“When you look back at it, you start to forget about the stats. You just remember the wins, and you remember all the other things,” Griner said.
Griner has been a six-time All-Star with the Phoenix Mercury, the team that selected her first overall in the 2013 WNBA draft. She has two Olympic gold medals.
Griner was given a nine-year prison sentence in August 2022 for narcotics smuggling charges after it was said that she had hash oil in her suitcase.
Griner rejoined the Mercury two months after her release, on December 8, 2022. For the first time since her arrest in Russia, the WNBA player made her way back to Texas to play last year. In her comeback game against the Dallas Wings, Griner recorded 24 points and four rebounds.
