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Kris and Keegan Murray come back home for special ceremony at Cedar Rapids Prairie
The NBA players returned late Thursday afternoon to their alma mater for a special ceremony honoring their accomplishments
Jun. 21, 2024 1:07 pm, Updated: Jun. 21, 2024 1:31 pm
CEDAR RAPIDS — Welcome to the NBA.
Every rookie has one of those moments. Where they realize they are indeed playing in the best professional basketball league in the world against the best players in the world.
Against legends like LeBron James.
“For me, it was probably playing the Lakers,” Kris Murray said. “LeBron came down full steam ahead down the lane, and I kind of saw my life flash before my eyes. I took a foul. I wasn’t going to let him dunk on me there. I fouled him pretty hard.”
Murray fairly recently completed his first NBA season, with the Portland Trail Blazers. Twin brother Keegan fairly recently completed his second NBA season, with the Sacramento Kings.
Late Thursday afternoon was about celebrating the accomplishments of the former Iowa Hawkeyes players and Cedar Rapids’ own. And remembering their past.
Cedar Rapids Prairie conducted a ceremony to reveal a Murray brothers wall display outside of the school’s main gymnasium. The display includes encased autographed NBA jerseys of the two.
The school also announced it has retired the Prairie jerseys of Kris and Keegan, which will hang below the main scoreboard in the gym. Not the numbers (Kris wore No. 4 in high school, Keegan wore No. 3), but their jerseys.
“To be able to walk into the gym and see that is obviously special,” Keegan Murray said. “I haven’t been back in a year, so it’s good to be back here, to see a lot of family and friends. Obviously this is a big moment for me, to be back in this gym.”
Keegan Murray averaged 15.2 points per game in his second NBA season, an increase of three points from his rookie season. Kris averaged 6.1 points.
The twins played against each other for the first time in early November, matched up head to head.
“This season was a learning experience,” Kris said. “I got to guard some of the best guys in the NBA, and that pressures you to play to the best of your ability. I took all the momentum into the offseason and am just building off of that.”
“It’s a long season,” Keegan said. “The number of games, I’ve gotten accustomed to it. My main thing is to keep my same mentality for each game, the same mindset. No matter what happens, you’re going to have another game in that you are going to have to come back ... You just have to be yourself, and I think that’s why I’ve been successful so far.”
The brothers spoke briefly Thursday to a gathering of 300 or so people at Prairie, at the end of a ceremony that also saw their father, Kenyon, their former prep basketball coach Jeremy Rickertsen and retiring Prairie Activities Director Rocky Bennett also speak.
There also were two tribute videos played, one showing highlights of the boys’ careers and the other featuring congratulatory comments from mother, Michelle, sister, McKenna, the boys’ girlfriends, former Prairie teammates and Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery.
“You both are genuine, you both are humble,” Bennett said. “I don’t know what happens when you get onto the court, but you turn into fierce competitors. But what is most important, what is the ultimate compliment, is that you are even better people.”
The Murrays signed autographs following the ceremony for anyone who wanted one. Other signed memorabilia, such as game-worn sneakers, was part of a silent auction to benefit the Prairie boys’ basketball program.
“It’s super cool, to just be from here, to end up being pretty successful,” Keegan Murray said. “My NBA career so far is a blessing. I hear a lot of stories about people wearing purple (Kings) jerseys and things like that here in Cedar Rapids. It’s cool that I’m kind of able to help the next generation out and kind of be a role model for them.”
“This place is special to me, special to my heart,” Kris Murray said. “Just coming back here, every time I come back to Iowa, it means a lot. Now to have my jersey retired and have it displayed in the hallway, it just goes to show how appreciate this community is. All these people mean a lot to me. Just having them show their appreciation means the world to me. I guess we’re kind of forever in the history books here at Prairie, and it’s kind of surreal.”
Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com
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