The mic shook as his hands trembled. Tears, now out of space to keep welling in his ducts, slid down his face. His mouth gaped, but remained silent, his emotions hindering any words.

As Jerel McNeal stood with his wife and daughter at center-court, minutes after a black curtain revealed his gold No. 22 jersey banner 128-feet above him in its new, permanent home in the Fiserv Forum rafters, a litany of feelings overwhelmed him.

He’d made it halfway through his jersey retirement speech without issues, despite having mere minutes to try and sum up four years of record-breaking greatness.

McNeal graduated as the program’s all-time leading scorer and currently sits third (1,985 points). He is No. 1 in steals (287), and top-10 in appearances (130), made field goals (726) and assists (455). Not to mention he was the 2006-07 Big East defensive player of the year — what he said he’s most proud of — a second team All-American as a senior and a four-time all-conference team honoree.

And those are just his personal accolades, forgetting that he spurred Marquette to the NCAA tournament every year he played and set the tone for the school’s reputation in the Big East.

“Truly a two-end of the floor guy. Didn’t take a possession off on either side. He did it the old-fashioned way. He just earned everything he got,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said last Wednesday. “The fact that his jersey will be in the rafters till the end of time is a tribute to him.

“He belongs up there.”

Not highlighting any of those feats, instead dedicating the time to thanking others, McNeal praised the university administration, athletics support team and his wife and daughter.

Then he brought up his parents, and the waterworks began.

“As kids, we want to make our parents proud,” McNeal said through tears to the 15,586 people in Fiserv Forum. “To my mom and dad, thank you for all your sacrifices.”

He waited six seconds for applause to dissipate, before continuing on his appreciation tour, thanking his Marquette coaches and teammates in attendance: Dominic James, Wesley Matthews and Dwight Burke.

The waterworks made an encore.

“You meant more than anything to me,” he continued, choking and sniffling.

McNeal’s feelings-minefield of a speech marked two things.

One, most important, his official start as a Marquette immortal. Two, the end of a five-month trip down memory lane for the unveiling — which started with an Uber ride phone call from Shaka Smart and ended with a week of digging through memorabilia.

It was mid-June when McNeal found out Saturday’s game against Maryland would be more than his former coach Buzz Williams’ return to Milwaukee.

After an early morning flight from the Nike Elite 100 Camp in St. Louis while in the back of his Uber home, at around 7 a.m., he saw Smart’s contact pop up on his phone. McNeal assumed Smart was calling to ask about the camp, something not too uncommon given the pair’s semi-regular communication. How wrong he was.

“He just dropped that bombshell on me,” McNeal said last Friday in a phone call with the Marquette Wire.

He still had 20 minutes until he’d get home. Mentally, he was “walking on a cloud.” Physically, he was sitting in the back of a car.

“I got a little bit emotional,” he said. “Then, I had a good long quiet ride after I got off the whole phone with him.”

After telling his wife and daughter, and allowing himself a day to bask in the afterglow, McNeal went about his busy life as a high school basketball coach, nonprofit president and college basketball color commentator.

Until this week, he stopped thinking about the fact he would soon be in a vaunted group alongside other program deities like Dwyane Wade, Al McGuire and Bo Ellis. The same people he spent his playing days looking up to, literally, would be his equals. Forever.

“When we were here, we saw those jerseys,” McNeal said Saturday before the ceremony. “We knew how much it meant.”

Leading up to the big day, McNeal spent his final moments as just any other Marquette legend searching through his treasure trove of collectibles from his basketball career. Trophies, basketballs, jerseys, shoes, newsclippings documenting his heyday. Echoes of accomplishments to which few others to wear the blue & gold can compare filled his brain.

McNeal spent the present living in the past.

“It’s like going back in the time capsule,” he said. “It’s been good. Brings back a lot of memories.”

Not normally a sucker for memorabilia — McNeal mentioned until a couple years ago he didn’t even have his Marquette jersey to frame, losing it sometime over the last decade — this week was an exception. He let the nostalgia wash over him.

Thoughts of his prized defensive player of the year award. Marquette’s inaugural Big East game his first year, in which the Golden Eagles proved they belong with college basketball’s best by upsetting the 2nd-ranked, pro-laden UConn Huskies 94-79. The countless hours spent with his best friends and teammates, who he made sure would be there when the curtain revealed his name and number.

“What this place has given me as a player, as a man, the relationships that I’ve built,” McNeal said, “I still haven’t quite found the words to grasp the feeling.”

Back on the Al McGuire Court, McNeal regained his composure.

He’d been speaking for nearly six minutes, and spent the entire time talking about everyone but himself: teammates and coaches, university and athletic department staff, family members. Last but not least, standing on Marquette’s crest and looking up to the stands, he gave the crowd their flowers.

“To the greatest fans in the world, y’all have praised me since I was an 18-year-old kid,” he said. “It’s always felt like home. I always consider it home.

“One of the greatest fanbases in the country, in tiny pockets and corners all throughout the nation. We appreciate you. I love you all.”

Then McNeal spoke his final words before walking off the court.

“Go Marquette.”

Six minutes and 32 seconds had transpired. He passed the microphone back, gameday operations staff picked up his framed jersey and he returned to his baseline seats for the second half of the game. When it finished, McNeal left Fiserv.

Unlike his name, which will stay there forever.

This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.