University Laboratory High School honored former basketball star and LSU athlete Wayde Sims on Thursday night, retiring his jersey after the Cubs defeated Tara 77-58.
Sims’ No. 44 jersey now sits in a display case alongside trophies, plaques and photographs commemorating the program’s greatest athletic accomplishments just two months after he was tragically killed during an altercation just miles from where he grew up.
Some of his former teammates, including Skylar Mays and Marshall Graves – who he played with during his high school days and at LSU – as well as LSU freshman forward Emmitt Williams and sophomore guard Tremont Waters were in attendance for both the game and the presentation. Kavell Bigby-Williams and Courtese Cooper were also in attendance, as was LSU head coach Will Wade.
“You kind of feel like you can’t do enough to honor him, so you try to do the best you can,” said U-High head coach Joe Spencer. “The best part is his former teammates, his current teammates, his coaches, his family; everybody getting the chance to get together and honor him is the best part about the whole thing.”
The retired jersey marks the first in U-Lab’s history, and it doesn’t go unearned.
During his time with the Cubs, Sims accrued 3,045 career points (a school record), 1,613 career rebounds, a Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year award as a junior and three LHSAA Class 3A State Championships.
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