Bird had her No. 10 retired by the Huskies on Sunday afternoon, speaking for nearly four minutes on the court before the game.
The University of Connecticut women's basketball team rolled over visiting DePaul 102-35 on Sunday afternoon, moving to 9-0 on the young season.
Given the nature of the blowout victory, the most exciting part of the day likely came before the game when the program retired Sue Bird's No. 10.
Bird, who was just inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., won two national championships at UConn and won the national Player of the Year award in 2002. She scored more than 1,700 points and was the No. 1 pick in the 2002 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm. She won five Olympic gold medals and four WNBA titles.
Speaking on Sunday, head coach Geno Auriemma called her the greatest point guard who ever lived, man or woman.
After those comments, Bird took the microphone and delivered the following words:
The full transcript
"You've never said that before. In front of me. He's never said that before in front of me. Hi everybody. So incredibly honored to be here for today. This is home. This is where it started. So to see, well, about to see my number up in the rafters, up in the rafters next to these other legends. Like I said, just an incredible, incredible honor. Hard to put into words.
Yesterday I actually asked my 12 year-old niece, I said, 'hey, like, what are you more excited for tomorrow?' 'Seeing my jersey getting retired or seeing Azzi Fudd?' And she said, 'do you really want me to answer that?' 'And I said, good point, good point.'
But the truth is that's actually so meaningful to me because that wasn't my reality. I couldn't watch, you know, I couldn't just turn the TV on whenever and watch my favorite team. So I love that that's your answer, even though I low-key hate it. But like I said, the truth is, it means so much. I didn't have that opportunity. I did have family, I did have friends who always supported me. Some are here today. Love you guys for all of those years of support, but there weren't women on TV all the time.
So how lucky am I that I got to come to a university that supported women's basketball? (applause) Oh I'm not even done. That valued women's basketball. And I got to feel that. I got to play in front of fans that believed in women's basketball. That was my experience.
So we talk about all the things we're doing now, in my generation, I learned that here, and then I got to play with teammates who had the same dreams as I did. I got to learn what it means to be a part of something bigger, like a family. Because of the way the alumni embraced us and watching them try to achieve their dreams, I knew what was possible. And I hope you guys watch the alumni in that way now.
But I also got to play for coaches that believed in me, coaches that taught me what excellence was, what it meant to compete, what it meant to be a leader, what it meant to win, what it meant to be great, what it meant to be great. I learned that from you guys. And all the accomplishments, all the trademarks of my career, my game, everything I went on to achieve after playing here — it started here and the fingerprints are all over that. I took all of that with me and for that I am so thankful.
We're retiring my number, which is crazy. Nika Muhl (current UConn No. 10) got in at the right time. Because now it's a done deal. But even though nobody else will wear it, I feel like when I come in here, hopefully when you all come in here and you see that number, now it's all of ours. So we can all share in it, and that's what this all means to me.
So thank you so much to — I mean, I don't want to name names, obviously, but everybody here, so much love, so much gratitude. Thank you."
Also on campus
The UConn men's basketball team will be back in action on Tuesday night against Florida. It's a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament second-round, which was won by the Gators.
The football team will play in the Fenway Bowl on Dec. 27. The 9-3 Huskies will take on Army, who is 6-5.
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