STOCKTON – With his former high-school coaches, his current Minnesota Timberwolves teammates, friends, family and a star-struck crowd on hand, 2008 Weston Ranch graduate James Nunnally returned to his alma mater Tuesday night to see his jersey No. 21 retired, the first athlete to have earned such an honor at Weston Ranch High.
“This feels great,” Nunnally said. “I am glad that everyone came out and supported it.
“As much as it was about me, I want it to be about the kids and the future generation to see that they can make it out of Stockton.”
If there is a typical path to the NBA, Nunnally did not follow it. Since his graduation from UC Santa Barbara in 2012, Nunnally has been playing basketball non-stop, around the world. From NBA summer leagues to European leagues and a few short stints in the NBA, Nunnally never lost sight of his goal which was recently realized with a two-year contract with the Timberwolves.
Current Manteca athletic director Bill Slikker was Nunnally’s coach at Weston Ranch, and Slikker shared some fond memories with the crowd.
“Going to watch him a few weeks ago at the Kings game was a real proud moment but today is probably even a bigger proud moment,” Slikker said. “Because this is where it started for him and back 10 or 11 years ago here he was a heck of a player. He deserves everything he has achieved. He has worked his butt off to get here and the trials and tribulations he has gone through to get to this point makes this super special.
“And I am just proud to be a part of this to announce him tonight. And it is great that he was able to bring some of his Timberwolves teammates here to celebrate with him. Everyone here is a little star struck but that is awesome.”
Accompanying Nunnally were Timberwolves teammates Derrick Rose, Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Tolliver, Taj Gibson, Luol Deng and Jeff Teague.
“I feel like James is family now that he is part of the team,” Rose said. “We love having him. He is a great spirit, a great guy and a great teammate.
“Having a professional guy like that around does nothing but help the environment.”
Towns was happy he could be on hand.
“We always want to support each other,” Towns said. “It is a great honor for me to be invited to come here and be with James in a special moment in his life and his career.
“I am so happy to see his name go down in history here.”
Although Nunnally has seen glory far beyond his days as a Cougar, he let his fans know that his time at Weston Ranch was special to him.
“The good times you have in high school will be the times you remember forever,” Nunnally said. “Be a good person and good things will happen.”
