Honor for NBA rookie Chris Clemons: Millbrook High School retires his No. 3 jersey
On a night Millbrook High welcomed home Chris Clemons, the Houston Rockets’ 5-foot-9 rookie who finished his college career third in NCAA Division I career scoring, the Wildcats of this season put on a dunk-fest.
And anyone thinking that a dunk-fest was ironic on a sub-6-footer’s special night, well, they never saw Clemons play. From Millbrook to Campbell University, he was known as much for his 44-inch soaring dunks that raised people from their seats as for his NBA three-point shooting range.
The memory was so ingrained at Millbrook the school retired his No. 3 jersey before a packed house at Wildcat Gymnasium. Clemons and his former Millbrook teammates watched from seats behind the north basket before the halftime ceremony as the Wildcats went to an 87-39 victory Friday over Broughton.
As the ceremony began, veteran Millbrook coach Christopher Davis took the microphone at half court to introduce Clemons. He told the audience he recalled watching Clemons taking long-range shots as an eighth-grader. He asked his middle school coach why he let him shoot from so far out.
“You’ll see when you get him,” Davis said he was told.
Clemons scored 1,230 points in his three-year varsity career.
The crowd, with Houston Rockets jerseys sprinkled through the gym, roared when the No. 3 CATS jersey was unveiled in the rafters. They cheered more when he was presented with a framed jersey that he hoisted.
“Ever since I started playing basketball, you have all been here for me,” Clemons told the crowd. “It’s a truly an honor to be here tonight and be presented with this. My teammates were very unselfish to allow me to be successful. Thank you for coming out tonight.”
Millbrook turned out to be the first stop on a “retired jersey” weekend tour for Clemons with the NBA on its All-Star Game break in Chicago. Clemons returns to Campbell University in Buies Creek to have his No. 3 Campbell University retired during Saturday’s Big South Conference game against Hampton.
Clemons attended Campbell when he was lightly recruited out of high school for his lack of height. By the time he was done hitting three-pointers and dunking, he led Campbell to a Big South title while leading the nation in scoring his senior season in 2018-19 with 30.1 points a game.
He finished his four-year career with 3,225 points, finishing third to only Pete Maravich, an LSU and NBA legend out of Broughton High with 3,776, and Freeman Williams an NBA veteran out of Portland State with 3,249.
Just as ACC coaches overlooked Clemons, he went undrafted in the NBA Draft. But the Rockets signed him on June 21 to an NBA Summer League contract. He played well enough to earn two-way contract with the G-League.
He made his NBA debut on Nov. 3, scoring 16 points against the Miami Heat. On Dec. 27, Clemons signed a three-year contract to play alongside teammates James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
“This was always something I was shooting for,” Clemons said. “I didn’t listen to people that don’t matter, people that doubted me. It was all about me putting in the work to get what I wanted in life. These guys (Millbrook community) were a huge part of my success.”
But his teammates aren’t the only NBA players he joined.
In Clemons’ senior year at Millbrook, the 2014-15 season, he stole the show the first night of the prestigious Holiday Invitational at Broughton. His dunks and long-range shooting overshadowed a list of highly touted recruits and future NBA first-round picks also in the Holiday Invitational:
▪ Brandon Ingram (Kinston/Duke/New Orleans Pelicans), second pick overall, 2016.
▪ Jamal Murray (Canada’s Orangeville Prep/Kentucky/Denver Nuggets), seventh pick, 2016.
▪ Dennis Smith (Fayetteville Trinity Christian/N.C. State/New York Knicks), ninth pick, 2017.
▪ Thon Maker (Canada’s Orangeville Prep/Detroit Pistons), 10th pick, 2017.
▪ Harry Giles (High Point Wesleyan Christian Academy/Duke/Sacramento Kings), 20th pick, 2017.
▪ Jerome Robinson (Broughton/Boston College/Los Angeles Clippers), 13th pick, 2018.
“It’s fun seeing all those guys in the league,” Clemons said. “We have a North Carolina bond. Anytime see a North Carolina guy in the NBA, you show your respect. We understand how hard it is to get here.”
One thing Clemons has on those stars, though, from his mid-level college career is he is mentioned prominently in bestselling author John Feinstein’s upcoming book, “The Back Roads To March.” The book’s subtitle is “The Unsung, Unheralded, and Unknown Heroes of a College Basketball Season.”
Although many fans wore Houston Rockets jerseys, there also black T-shirts with Clemons’ “C/C” logo on the front and “INSPIRE” on the back. Clemons had them made up, and his father and mother, Carlyton and Wendy Clemons, set up a table in the lobby to hand out 275 free T-shirts. They’ll do the same Saturday at Campbell.
“We are so unbelievably proud of him,” Carlyton said. “He overcame the odds. The biggest thing to us is he has remained humble. He wanted to do this (the T-shirts) to show his appreciation of his high school.”
The next Clemons gathering in North Carolina is March 7 when the Rockets play at the Charlotte Hornets.“We’ve already got a block of 125 seats for family and friends,” said Carlyton.
MILLBROOK BEATS BROUGHTON
In Millbrook’s win, Eric van der Heijden and Parker Swisher led the Wildcats (22-2, 11-1 Cap 7 4A) with 16 points each. Will Felton scored 12 and Adam Carey added 11. For Broughton (2-21, 1-11), Garrett Bizyak scored 11 points.
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Honor for NBA rookie Chris Clemons: Millbrook High School retires his No. 3 jersey."
