The ceremonial send off of Purdue basketball star Zach Edey started with one autograph
WEST LAFAYETTE — The kid who had the foresight to ask a shaggy-haired teenager for his autograph is laughing at everyone else now.
Zach Edey was on his official Purdue basketball visit during an intersquad scrimmage when he received his first autograph request from a Boilermaker fan.
The youngster had the news broken to him that Edey wasn't on Purdue's team.
But, you know what, that kid asked for Edey's autograph anyway. Just in case.
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"Afterwards, Zach and I looked at each other and we're like, 'he just got a signature from a nobody,' " Julia Edey, Zach's mother, recalled.
To that kid who once got a signature from a perceived nobody, know that on Sunday, a guy who wasn't even a member of the team when you asked for his signature was circling Mackey Arena with fans crammed up against the guardrails several hours after a 78-70 win over Wisconsin.
Like you, they all wanted Edey's autograph.
Zach Edey is not a nobody.
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He's not even a somebody.
He's a college basketball icon who was loved like none other in West Lafayette and hated just the same everywhere else. The best player in the sport for two straight years.
Purdue already put Edey's No. 15 in the rafters, something typically reserved for when after All-Americans leave the program.
'We were fortunate'
If coach Matt Painter had his way, Edey wouldn't have ended up at Purdue.
Funny how things work out.
Painter's staff was actively recruiting two other 7-footers for that class.
Unfortunately then, but fortunately now, Hunter Dickinson and Ryan Kalkbrenner told Painter they were going to play college basketball elsewhere.
Edey eventually re-classed and Purdue had a need for a center. Edey was a project, not a plug in immediately player like Dickinson was at Michigan or Kalkbrenner was at Creighton.
"We were fortunate, right? I didn't know he was two-time national player of the year," Painter said. "I did think he would be good. I just didn't know when he would be good. I thought he had good hands. I thought he had good feet. He just needed repetition and work."
'He really worked at it'
Edey showed up to Purdue with shaggy hair and a rail-thin frame.
He had almost no high school basketball stats to speak of and barely any experience playing the game on top of that.
"When he first came in, he couldn't catch the ball no matter how we threw it to him," Purdue fifth-year senior Mason Gillis said. "Underhand. Bounce. Lob. Whatever it was."
In the rare instances Edey did catch the ball, he lacked the ability to pass it back out.
But Painter told his team to just keep throwing the ball into the post.
Edey got better at catching. Got better at passing. By the end of his sophomore season, Edey was a second-team all-Big Ten player.
By the end of his junior season, Edey was the best player in the game. And now, somehow, Edey is far better than he was a year ago.
"He's really worked at it," Gillis said. "Nobody is perfect by any means. But he really worked at it.
"I think a lot of people don't respect the game and don't respect the people around them like he does. I don't think we could ask for a better national player of the year honestly. He does it the right way and keeps going."
A ceremonial send off
All those people waiting hours after the game for Edey's autograph, that's not just an end-of-the-season thing. It's an every game thing. Even road games. And Edey almost never declines.
That's why Edey is adored by fans, though being really good at basketball helps, too.
It was emotional, even for Edey, who tends to keep his emotions in check.
Why was he so emotional?
"Last game at Mackey," Edey said.
On Sunday, the reality set in that Edey won't play in Mackey Arena again.
Five other seniors were honored after the Boilermakers beat Wisconsin, but no one left after the game. That was because fans wanted one lasting image of Edey.
The band played "O Canada" prior to the game and Edey, a native of Toronto, clutched the Canadian flag sewn on the inside of his jersey. And when Edey took the mic to close senior day ceremonies, he had roughly 15,000 people hanging on his every word.
"We could have never imagined this," Julia Edey said.
None of us could.
Except maybe one.
And that person is somewhere holding on to the first Zach Edey autograph.
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue basketball's Zach Edey gets superstar send off on senior day
