Nathaniel West
Managing Editor
Andrew Nicholson will make his triumphant return to the Reilly Center tomorrow.
The 2012 graduate and current power forward for the NBA’s Orlando Magic will be back on in Bonnie territory to watch as St. Bonaventure retires his number 44 during their game tomorrow against Rhode Island.
“It was a decision made jointly by the Athletics Department, the basketball program and the Athletics Hall of Fame Committee,” Steve Mest, associate athletics director for strategic communications, said.
Nicholson played in more than 100 games for the brown and white. During his career he scored 2,103 points, good enough for second all-time in Bonaventure history. He also finished his college career with 887 rebounds.
In 2012. Nicholson played a large role in helping the Bonnies make it to the NCAA tournament for the first time in more than a decade, when they were eliminated in the opening round by Kentucky in 2000.
“(We made the decision to retire his number) about four months ago, after both the NBA and Atlantic 10 schedules had been set and after our Athletics Hall of Fame Committee had approved the retirement,” Mest said. “Steve Watson contacted Andrew after the decision was made to confirm that Andrew was okay with the idea and to discuss when the Orlando Magic’s schedule and the Bonnies schedule would mesh.”
According to Mest, the sole reason Nicholson’s number is being retired while school is off on break is this was the only game that worked with his schedule.
“We absolutely would have preferred to have it when students are on campus, but it wasn’t possible for that to happen this season,” he said. “We considered waiting, but there is no guarantee that the NBA schedule and the Bonnies’ schedule will mesh next year, or any future years, the way it is this coming weekend.”
Nicholson joins several other Bonaventure greats who have had their numbers retired. Most notable is Bob Lanier, who went on to have a very successful career in the NBA being elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992.
In addition he joins Tom and Sam Stith and Fred Crawford, who was honored earlier this year with a display in the Reilly Center commemorating his legacy.
The ceremony will begin at 3:45 according to Mest and will last no longer than 10 minutes.
Tickets can be bought online by going to gobonnies.sbu.edu and clicking the gold “Tickets” button in the upper right-hand corner or by going to the St. Bonaventure ticket office in the Reilly Center.
westnl11@bonaventure.edu
