Colorado University Athletics
Billups A Homegrown CU Hall Of Famer
November 05, 2015 | Men's Basketball
The eighth of 11 CU Athletic Hall of Fame profiles, leading up to induction ceremonies Thursday night at the Coors Events Center. This year's class will also be honored during the Colorado-Stanford football game on Saturday, Nov. 7. Click here to see the CU Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2015. Click here for induction ceremony information and registration.
BOULDER – He was considered the “golden boy” of Colorado youth basketball, a prodigy who could seemingly do it all in the eyes of the experts.
Nearly everyone has the same response if you ask who is the best basketball player the state had ever seen: “Chauncey Billups.”
Billups, better known these days as “Mr. Big Shot,” will be inducted into the CU Athletics Hall of Fame Thursday night.
His high school career was memorable, as he set a multitude of school and state records while leading George Washington to back-to-back state titles.
He was named Colorado's Mr. Basketball three years in a row and was selected to the McDonald's All-America game. The legend was only being born.
With just about every major college program in the country offering Billups a scholarship, the challenge was going to be keeping Billups in his home state to play college basketball — unless you asked Chauncey.
“I fell in love with the University of Colorado when I was in middle school,” Billups recounted in a recent interview with CUBuffs.com. “It was actually with the football team, and I wasn't even a football player. But watching guys like Eric Bieniemy, Darian Hagan, J.J. Flannigan, Mike Pritchard, Alfred Williams and Kanavis McGhee, I fell in love. My pride for the University of Colorado, that's where it was sparked. That's where it was born.”
Billups envisioned a day where CU basketball could get fans excited in the same way the football teams of the late 1980s and early '90s did.
Now, he joins the same players he once looked up to in the CU Athletics Hall of Fame, including Pritchard, who joins Billups in the 2015 class.
Upon graduating high school, Billups knew he could go anywhere in the country and have a successful basketball career. But, he said, “My pride for this state and this city was much bigger than that. That's why I chose to stay home, because I wanted to bring some joy and bring a great atmosphere and some energy to the University of Colorado in a basketball capacity.”
Billups certainly accomplished those goals. When he arrived at the University of Colorado in 1995, the Buffs had not been to the NCAA Tournament in over two decades. Billups not only led the Buffs to the “big dance” as a sophomore, he produced an upset over perennial power Indiana, coached by Bobby Knight, in the opening round of the 1997 tournament.
“I went to CU to try to put my city and my state on the map as far as basketball is concerned,” Billups said. “I think while I was there, I did a good job and the current staff there has done a fantastic job of using that as a stepping stone and taking it to another level.”
Current CU head coach Tad Boyle still uses the success and story of Billups to help build his program today.
“He's the highest profile recruit to ever stay in the state to play basketball,” Boyle said. “He's a Buff and chose to stay home. We talk about that all the time with our in-state recruits. And then he put Colorado on the national map. He made basketball relevant in Colorado on the national level and he stayed home to do it. Those are two things I think about when I think about Chauncey Billups.”
When Billups thinks of his college days, the most prominent memories come from the 1996-97 season, particularly a game in Lubbock, Texas, against a Texas Tech team that had not lost a game at home in 35 straight contests. With less than a second remaining in regulation and the game tied, Billups hit what he called at the time “the biggest shot of my life,” giving the Buffs an 80-78 victory and letting the rest of the nation know they were for real.
Looking back at it, Billups said, “Winning that game was really the turning point in not only that season, but in Colorado basketball, in my opinion.” A turning point for the basketball program, and one of many “big shots” Billups would go on to make in his basketball career and lead to his eventual nickname.
The list of accomplishments and accolades Billups garnered as a Buff and later in the NBA is lengthy. From first-team All-American recognition to eventual NBA finals MVP, Billups accomplished nearly all there was to accomplish. Yet, what he helped build at CU makes him as proud as anything else on that long list.
“For me to be recognized from the school and the hall of fame is a huge, huge deal,” Billups said. “I would just say thank you to all my Colorado fans here that have really propelled me to stardom. I was a childhood name, a childhood star around here in this town. It's only because of the fans and how they viewed me and how they pushed me and how they encouraged me to continue and keep getting better. I'm forever indebted to the fans here in Colorado for the success that I've had in my career.”
