Sept. 29 2006

He was the greatest player to ever don the blue and gold. And this was the day he was immortalized.

It was announced that Dwyane Wade, the current Miami Heat superstar who led the Golden Eagles to the the Final Four in 2003 and won an NBA championship in 2006, would have his No. 3 jersey retired by the university.

It seemed fitting that the retiring of Wade’s number would break some of the rules. It had been Marquette precedent that only players who actually graduated would be eligible to have their number retired, but obviously Wade was a special circumstance. He had just come off, arguably, one of the greatest NBA Finals performance of all-time, averaging 34.7 points and 7.8 rebounds a game, while earning the Finals MVP award.

His dominance since coming into the league thrust Marquette into the national spotlight and helped push the basketball program into elite territory. So if history was to be rewritten for any player, it was going to be Wade.

His jersey was retired on Feb. 3, during a home game against Providence. And now his legendary No. 3 dangles from the rafters for all the world to see.