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Illinois basketball dedicates practice court to Jerry Colangelo, Mannie Jackson

Feb. 11, 2023
Illinois basketball dedicates practice court to Jerry Colangelo, Mannie Jackson

Colangelo and Jackson are both members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Illinois basketball held a re-dedication ceremony Friday for the Ubben Basketball Complex, which underwent a $40 million renovation in the last several years. The Ubben Complex originally opened in 1998. 

Jackson attended Friday's event in Champaign. 

Colangelo enrolled at Illinois in 1958, and he played varsity basketball at Illinois from 1959-62. Jackson enrolled at Illinois in 1956, and he played varsity basketball at Illinois from 1957-60. 

"Mannie Jackson and Jerry Colangelo have established themselves as two of the most iconic figures in the history of Fighting Illini Basketball," Illinois athletics director Josh Whitman said in a statement. "From the time they were teammates on the Illinois campus, they have walked separate, but remarkably similar, paths that have shaped the game of basketball, not only in this country, but around the world. ... Through it all, they have enjoyed a decades-long friendship that started with their time in the Orange and Blue."

Following his Illinois basketball career, Jackson played for the Harlem Globetrotters. He purchased and ran the Globetrotters beginning in 1993. Jackson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.

Colangelo is a former owner of the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury and Arizona Diamondbacks. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004. Colangelo became director of USA Basketball in 2005, and he led the U.S. Men's Basketball National Team to Olympic Gold Medals in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020. 

"They are two of the most respected names in the game of basketball, and we are beyond proud that they are Fighting Illini," Whitman said in his statement. "I can think of no better way to celebrate their contributions to the University of Illinois, Fighting Illini Athletics, and the game of basketball than by naming the men's court in the renovated Ubben facility in their honor, so that players past, present, and future will learn of their storied legacies."

Erik Hall is the digital sports editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. You can find him on Twitter @HallErik. 


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