By Chris Cook

Longwood University

The hardwood in Willett Hall at Longwood University will soon be known by the name of one of the school’s most high-profile athletes to ever run across it — Jerome Kersey.

When the former Longwood All-American passed away on Feb. 19, 2015, national media outlets were quick to laud him as a legend. That title was anything but hyperbole for an athletic, gritty forward who rose from a little-known Division II school in central Virginia to become one of the most beloved players in Portland Trail Blazers’ history.

Across 17 seasons in the NBA, Kersey played in more than 1,100 games, 831 of which were on some of the best teams in Portland Trail Blazers history. He won an NBA Championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999 and took part in two NBA Dunk Contests, finishing as runner-up in the 1987 edition to the great Michael Jordan.

But before the Clarksville native became the charismatic, high-flying, “No Mercy” Kersey of NBA fame, he was  first a Lancer, and one of the most famous in the school’s 177 years of existence.

In the latest chapter of the legend of Jerome Kersey, Longwood University will immortalize its most prominent athletics alumnus by making him the namesake of Longwood basketball’s playing surface, to be ordained “Jerome Kersey Court” on Saturday. The dedication will take place in a formal pregame ceremony prior to the men’s basketball team’s 5 p.m. showdown against Virginia rival James Madison University in Willett Hall.

“There is no person more deserving of having his name emblazoned on our court than Jerome,” said Longwood Athletics Director Troy Austin. “For decades, Jerome was an ambassador not just for Longwood basketball, but Longwood University. He gained his initial fame for his spectacular play on the court, but more importantly, he used his platform as an athlete to affect his community in an exceptional manner.”

Throughout his 11 seasons in Portland, Kersey became not only a fan favorite, but a pillar of the community. He was involved in numerous Portland charities during his playing career and continued that involvement long after his retirement in 2001 when he returned to serve as a Trail Blazers community ambassador.

His service ranged from work with the Children’s Cancer Association to the Boys and Girls Club, and a piece of his legacy remains in the Jerome Kersey Foundation, which aims to provide affordable dental care and education to underprivileged children in the Portland community.

When Kersey died in 2015 at 52 because of a pulmonary embolism, it set off an outpouring of sympathy and remembrance from his teammates, family and peers in the Portland community and beyond.

“We visited Portland to meet with the Trail Blazers, and I was blown away by how they admire Jerome just as much there as we do here in Farmville,” Austin said. “That’s a direct result of the person Jerome was and the commitment he had to bettering the world around him. He is a shining example of the impact we strive for athletics to have on our athletes and community here at Longwood.”

Even after making millions of dollars playing for six different NBA franchises from 1984-2001 and earning a spot in Longwood’s inaugural Athletics Hall of Fame class in 2005, Kersey returned to his alma mater in 2006 to complete the degree requirements that he fell just shy of meeting when Portland drafted him with the 46th overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft.

“He appreciated and worked hard for every moment of his career, starting with his college days at Longwood,” said Kiara Kersey, Jerome’s daughter, at a tribute in Portland after his passing. “Some people would say he got lucky, but luck is where preparedness meets opportunity. You know my dad was always prepared.”

Jerome came back as the keynote speaker at Longwood’s 2009 commencement, sharing with that crop of Longwood graduates a message of hard work, listening and adapting and relying on family and friends along the way. He credited his grandparents for instilling in him the work ethic that allowed him to succeed in life and the NBA.

“Jerome was the best teammate you could ask for,” said Terry Porter, who played with Kersey in Portland and San Antonio and later hired him as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks. “He played with enormous energy and passion that was contagious to all of us. His peers respected how hard he played and competed, and when he strapped it up and stepped between those lines, they knew they’d better be ready for 48 minutes or they were going to lose that battle that night.”

That message still resonates today, and it’s one that Longwood’s basketball players will forever be reminded of when they step foot on the court that Kersey once dominated and upon which his name will now rest.