Pippen's Number to be Retired by Central Arkansas

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jan 20, 2010 3:00PM

Scottie Pippen has already seen his number 33 hoisted to the rafters of the United Center, but his NBA accolades apparently hadn't been sufficient to get his number retired at his alma mater until now. Pippen will finally see his jersey retired at the University of Central Arkansas in a ceremony tonight.

What took 'em so long? As Michael Jordan's sidekick, he was a perennial All-Star, won six NBA titles and was named one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players in 1996. Afterall, it's Central Arkansas, for goodness sake! Maybe we'd understand this oversight if he'd played at North Carolina or Kansas -- but Central Arkansas? Pippen let the news of this honor out on the blog he writes for Bulls.com, where he mentioned, "It’s long overdue as they’ve reached out to get me back several times prior to this, but either I was still playing or it didn’t work out for whatever reason." Pip graduated from the school in 1987 and retired from the NBA in 2004. But that certainly doesn't take away from Pippen's feelings for tonight's ceremony, "It’s going to be a tough night for me emotionally. It’s really where it all started. When I grew up, I was just another kid who wasn’t going to college...I just wanted to be in a positive environment and have a situation where I could lead a good life. Basketball ultimately gave me that."