BATON ROUGE -- LSU women's basketball legend Seimone Augustus addressed members of the media at a press luncheon on Wednesday at Walk-On's Bistreaux. Augustus, a former two-time National Player of the Year, spoke about the significance of becoming the first female athlete in LSU Athletics history to have her jersey retired.
Augustus was joined by LSU Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva and LSU women's basketball head coach Van Chancellor. The Baton Rouge native becomes the ninth individual to have his/her jersey retired in the 117-year history of LSU Athletics.
Augustus' senior season was 2006, but the LSU Athletic Council unanimously waived the five-year waiting period a student-athlete must normally have to be nominated after completing intercollegiate competition.
The official jersey retirement will take place prior to the LSU-Tennessee game on Sunday in the Maravich Center. Augustus' jersey will forever hang from the rafters in the Maravich Center, joining the likes of legends Pete Maravich, Shaquille O'Neal and Bob Pettit. The ceremony begins at 4:30 p.m. CST. No. 18 LSU takes on No. 3 Tennessee at 5 p.m. CST Sunday live on ESPNU.
Fans are encouraged to wear gold for the game. The first 2,000 fans in attendance will receive a free Seimone Augustus mini banner, similar to the one that will hang in the rafters of the Maravich Center. Halftime entertainment includes a performance from the popular Quickchange. For more information, visit www.costumechange.com.
Tickets are on sale and cost $10 for lower and prime middle seating, $8 for middle seating, $6 for upper reserved seating and $3 for youth reserved tickets. Admission for LSU students is free.
Tickets can be purchased at LSUsports.net, by phone at 225-578-2184 or 800-960-TKTS or in person at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office located on the first floor of the Athletics Administration Building.
Several mini-ticket plans are on sale. The "Three-Point Play" starts at $24 and offers reserved seats to premier Southeastern Conference games against Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. The "Friends & Family Four Pack" allows families four tickets, four hot dogs and four fountain drinks starting at $30. Group tickets start at $2.
Augustus, now a WNBA All-Star with the Minnesota Lynx, was the only player in school history to earn State Farm Coaches Association All-America honors three times, doing so in 2004, 2005 and 2006. She was the unanimous National Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006.
Below is a complete transcript from today's press conference:
Seimone Augustus Jersey Retirement Press Conference
January 20, 2010
LSU VICE CHANCELLOR AND DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS JOE ALLEVA
"Today is a great day for Seimone (Augustus) and her family. It's a great day for all the little girls in the country that play basketball or aspire to be athletes. It's great where we can recognize a female athlete, the first one ever at LSU, and arguably maybe the best one ever at LSU, and one of the best basketball players ever in the country, not just at this great institution. What she's done here speaks for itself athletically. She graduated. She's a tremendous role model, and an inspiration for all young ladies in the country, not just in the state of Louisiana. It's a great honor for me to be able to retire her jersey. I'll just tell you a small story: At LSU we have a requirement that you're supposed to wait five years after your eligibility is done before you can be considered for retirement of your jersey. We went to the athletic council to ask for permission to waive that five-year waiting period, and it was unanimously approved to do that. That just speaks of the respect that everyone in this community has for Seimone and how well deserving she is of this great honor. With that, I just want to congratulate you, Seimone. It's a no-brainer. It's an honor for me to be able to do this, and congratulations."
LSU HEAD COACH VAN CHANCELLOR
"There's no doubt in my mind that I think (associate head coach) Bob Starkey ought to be the one up here. I didn't coach her. He tells me that he really developed her as a player. He taught her all the things that she knows and how to do it. Bob, I want to congratulate you on turning a pretty good player into a great player. Now, I want to say this in all sincerity: What an honor for LSU to honor a great person and a great player. Let's not ever forget the fact that she did graduate. Not only is she an outstanding player, but an outstanding person - a person that went to class and did what she was supposed to do. When I was the Ole Miss coach in the days before Seimone Augustus, there was anywhere from 600-1,000 people at games. Then, after she signed here, attendance, interest, exposure, Final Fours, all the things that a program wants to have, she was able to help LSU produce. Now, the retirement of her jersey, I think that's a tremendous honor.
"Seimone, I want you and your mom and your dad to know that not only did you help LSU win a lot of games, but you helped LSU in so much with awareness of women's basketball here. After I got the LSU job in 2007, I went to speak at all these TAF groups. So many guys that I would see at these meetings would say, 'You know, coach, I never followed LSU women's basketball until Seimone Augustus went to LSU, but she played like I thought I played. I thought that was ironic, and I just loved to watch her play.' I thought that created a lot of interest. I want to congratulate your mom and dad, and I want to congratulate you."
FORMER LSU BASKETBALL PLAYER SEIMONE AUGUSTUS
Opening statement...
"It's just an overwhelming experience. I never thought in a million years from when I came here through my four years at LSU that my jersey would be retired. We always walk in the gym and we see Pete Maravich, Shaquille O'Neal, and Bob Petitt's jerseys up there. You just kind of look at it and admire it because of all the things that they've done, but you never would think that one day your jersey would be hanging up there. It's just a great experience. It's a great feeling to know that my jersey will be up there. It's great for my family, my fans, and everyone who supported me throughout my time here, and just for the Lady Tigers. It gives them a goal, and it gives them a dream to one day have their jersey hung up there. Just for other female athletes here at LSU, it shows that it's a possibility, it's an opportunity that one day your jersey could be hanging up there as well."
On finding out that her jersey would be retired...
"Coach (Bob) Starkey mentioned it to me. He just told me that they were in the process of trying to get the council to vote it in, but it wasn't a definite at that point. My mom told me about it and she said 'It's a possibility that your jersey could get retired.' At the moment, it hadn't sunk in. It was still kind of in the air, floating around. Once I knew it was a definite, it was an exciting feeling. I got goose bumps and chills knowing that it was going to happen."
On the signature moments of her collegiate career...
"My high point was coming here, just making the decision not to go to Tennessee and coming here and staying home. Being able to play for a respected coach like Coach (Sue) Gunter and to be able to play with some of the girls that I grew up playing against like Temeka Johnson, Roneeka and Doneeka Hodges, and DeTrina White, we all kind of grew up together and just to be able to have that opportunity to play with them for four years was a great feeling to me. To come here and able to make my hometown proud, to be able to make this state proud, to be able to make my family proud was also a big point. Once I got here, the way everything blew up, I just didn't expect it. I just wanted to come here, make a positive impact, and take a program that was on the brink of elite status and help them become one of the top teams in the country as far as basketball is concerned. It blew up way further than I expected. The Final Four appearances, the SEC Tournament titles, the SEC regular season titles, and just to be able to have that rivalry with Tennessee, that was the biggest things for us, to beat the Lady Vols. It's so many things. I don't think I could single out one experience as being over the others. That first Final Four was the biggest because it started the momentum for us to continue to reach many more Final Fours, but my experience here was a great one. It was a great ride."
On what her emotions will be during the ceremony...
"I really don't know. I'm trying to hold myself together right now just thinking about it. Just to know that you've done so much for a community and for your state, and that it's being paid back with the highest regards, to have your jersey hung, it means a lot. Just to think about it, it makes you want to cry. A lot of my supporters have been calling and want tickets to the game. They're going to be there. I'm more excited for them because they put forth a lot of effort to help me from when I was five years old to right now, just to help me get through college and giving me motivation and being my backbone and being my supporters."
On the retirement ceremony being held before the Tennessee game...
"It's just coincidental. I know people are going to bring it up and say 'Oh, it's the team and school you decided not to go to,' but it just happened that way. I respect Coach (Pat) Summitt and what she's done for her program, but it just happened to fall on that day. Hopefully she doesn't try to fire her team up about it happening on this day."
On how her career can impact future basketball players...
"I just hope it inspired them to want to do better than I did. Everybody says it's a tough act to follow, but it's not impossible. Somebody can come along with the right work ethic and the right mindset, and they could come through and possibly do bigger things than I did. I didn't get a national championship while I was here, so that's a feat that some of the other young ladies that will follow behind me can attain."
