Al Horford returned to Grand Ledge High on Friday, two decades after graduating from the Michigan high school for his No. 42 jersey retirement.
The timing came as some surprise with two national championships, an NBA title and one of the league’s longest professional careers reaching its late stages. Horford told CLNS Media/CelticsBlog on Sunday that he and the school long discussed a ceremony, but struggled to find a high school game night that didn’t interfere with the Celtics’ schedule.
“It was really cool. For many years, we’ve been trying to do it. With our schedule, it’s always been tough to get there for a game in-season,” Horford said. “They presented the jersey in front of everybody. The coach, that was one of my former teammates out there, said some words, and they just did it. It was pretty cool. A lot of my family were there.”
Josh Horford, Al’s younger brother, found out about the retirement in the fall when the school announced Al as the headliner of their Hall of Fame class. Grand Ledge hadn’t inducted anyone since 2010, another reason for the delay, but it allowed Al’s son Ean, who turned 10 on Sunday, his two older daughters, his wife Amelia, mother Arelis, cousins, aunts and uncles to attend. Tito Horford, recovering from back surgery, couldn’t make it, but attended Sunday’s Celtics win over the Knicks in good spirits.
Grand Ledge’s head coach Luke Charter spoke at the retirement, showing his appreciation for Horford and thanked him for staying involved in the community through basketball camps. Horford’s siblings and their mother remain in the area, and both Jon and Josh also attended and played basketball at Grand Ledge.
“It was pretty cool,” Josh said. “They had the announcer run through all of Al’s accolades and stuff, which is cool, because he was there when I was there, he did Jon’s games, he did my games. He’s a great guy, great announcer … they did this whole nice little ceremony, brought them out to center court, took some pictures, gave him this high school jersey. His high school coach actually gave his high school jersey that was pretty cool too, coach (Tony) Sweet. They put a spotlight on him and hung up his jersey, then put a spotlight on it. It was really nice.”
Grand Ledge High School basketball alum Al Horford was back at his old stomping grounds tonight to have his jersey retired. The NBA champion was accompanied by his family as no. 42 will never be worn again for the comets. pic.twitter.com/s1Kqke7EdD
— DeSherion McBroom (@DMcBroomTV) February 22, 2025
Horford became the all-time Grand Ledge leading scorer with 1,239 points between 2000-2004 after moving from the Dominican Republic to the US. He wasn’t a top recruit, even locally, which allowed Florida to pull him south and cement back-to-back championships alongside Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer, which would then propel him to #3 in the 2007 NBA Draft. Horford has since made Atlanta and Boston home, with brief stops in Philadelphia and Oklahoma City in between.
Two off days for the Celtics gave him time to reconnect with his Michigan family before the ceremony on Friday before droves of old friends and fans wanted to spend time catching up. Horford saw old teachers, teammates and coaches, many of them reconnecting for the first time since he became an NBA championship last June.
“It was cool, man,” Josh said. “I felt really proud and it was good to see Al back in town just reconnecting with people he hasn’t seen in a while … it was a pretty cool experience. Just felt very proud and very happy that we finally got it done.”
