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BYU fan Bill Freeze, right, poses with a life-sized poster of Jimmer Fredette during the 2010-11 men's basketball season.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Former BYU basketball star Jimmer Fredette poses with Cosmo the Cougars before the start of an NCAA first round men's basketball game at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Thursday, March 20, 2025.

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Team USA basketball athletes, Mitch Hahn, right, and Jimmer Fredette, talk with people before departing for the Paris Summer Olympic games, on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Atlanta.

Brynn Anderson/AP Photo

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A poster of Jimmer Fredette released by the Daily Herald during the 2010-11 BYU men's basketball season.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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BYU's Jimmer Fredette celebrates after BYU's win over San Diego State at an NCAA college basketball game in Provo, Utah, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011. BYU beat San Diego State 71-58. (AP Photo/George Frey)

Courtesy of AP Photo/George Frey

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The Shanghai Sharks' Jimmer Fredette, left, drives by the Houston Rockets' Clint Cappella, right, in the first half of an NBA exhibition game Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016, in Houston. 

Courtesy of George Bridges, Associated Press

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Shortly before he became simply “Jimmer” to the sports world, Jimmer Fredette walked casually into our old Daily Herald offices on Freedom Boulevard in Provo.

It was October of 2010 and the Cougars had yet to officially begin the season. We put in a request to bring Fredette into the Herald to allow our photographers to take some portraits and BYU obliged us.

Just a few months later, right around the time Fredette hung 47 points on the University of Utah and started to blow up nationally, former Herald sports writer Jason Franchuk and I joked that there was no way we would be able to get Fredette into our building again.

He was simply too big. ESPN, CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, CNN, everyone wanted a piece of Jimmer.

His career took him from Glens Falls, N.Y., to Provo, to several stops in the NBA, to China, to Greece and then to Paris for the inaugural 3×3 competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, where he proudly displayed the “USA” written across his chest.

On Wednesday, Fredette announced in a social media post that he was retiring from playing basketball.

“It’s time to say goodbye to basketball,” Fredette wrote. “I have loved every second of my career through the good and the bad! Thank you all for the support throughout the years. Basketball has made me who I am today. Excited for what is next in my life with my family!”

Responses came quickly.

“Thank you for bringing Jimmermania to 3×3 basketball. We can’t wait to see what’s next!” – USA Basketball 3×3

“Forever a #MarchMadness legend!” – NCAAA March Madness

“Absolute legend. Thank you, Jimmer!” – BYU Men’s Basketball

“Great ball player but an even better person.” – former BYU teammate Jackson Emery

“Class. Grace. Legend.” – former Cougar Danny Angie.

It’s hard to describe the firestorm that Fredette ignited to someone who wasn’t there. Social media was in its infancy in 2010 and the immediate overreaction and response to any significant sporting event just didn’t exist. But after the Utah game, Fredette was everywhere and his name was on everyone’s lips. The Marriott Center was sold out pretty much every home game in January, February and March. They wrote rap songs about him and BYU sold thousands of No. 32 jerseys.

I was introduced to Fredette his freshman season in 2007-08. He came off the bench and made just one start: The second half of BYU’s 67-62 NCAA Tournament loss to Texas A&M. My initial reaction was he was a talented shooter and had nice potential.

When Cougar coach Dave Rose announced Fredette would be his starting point guard the following season, I was kind of surprised. I didn’t realize that was something in Fredette’s skill set. During his sophomore campaign, Fredette had some great moments, including a showdown with future NBA guard Jeff Teague of Wake Forest. Teague scored 30 points in a 94-87 Demon Deacons victory at the Marriott Center but Fredette had 23 and kept the Cougars in the game.

Fredette had some electric performances as a junior in 2009-10, including 49 points at Arizona, 45 against TCU in the Mountain West Conference Tournament and 37 against Florida in leading BYU to a first-round NCAA victory.

Still, no one was prepared for what would happen his senior season, not even Fredette.

Fredette was a little shy and when the world began to notice him, he was a bit overwhelmed by the attention, as anyone would be. BYU did its best to accommodate the enormous interest in Fredette but turned down dozens of interviews and requests in an attempt to let him lead a normal college life.

In previous seasons, BYU had really good basketball players — Travis Hansen, Mekeli Wesley, Lee Cummard, Trent Plaisted, Rafael Araujo and Mark Bigelow come to mind — that seemed to be invisible from the college basketball elite no matter how well they played. Once Fredette burst onto the national scene there was no end to the pride of Cougar fans who were glad that others were taking notice of something special going on in Provo.

He was one of their own, even if he was an upstate New York transplant. Seeing a complimentary tweet from NBA star Kevin Durant, or a glowing comment from the standing president of the United States, Barack Obama, was music to the ears of long-ignored BYU fans.

Fredette’s professional career didn’t go as planned. He was drafted to a mess of an NBA franchise (Sacramento) and bounced around to four other franchises (Chicago, New Orleans, New York, Phoenix) without really finding a home. He was a star in the Chinese Basketball Association for the Shanghai Sharks, once scoring 75 points in a single game. After a short stint in the Euro League, Fredette discovered 3-on-3, which made its debut in last summer’s Olympic Games. He made the US team but unfortunately suffered an injury in the first game of the tournament.

What’s next for Fredette? He’s pretty busy raising three children along with former BYU cheerleader Whitney Wonnacott in Denver. The former introvert has also become comfortable on camera as a basketball analyst for BYUtv. He’s spent some time getting involved in venture capital, aiding tech start-up companies. Heck, maybe Cummard, his former teammate, will convince him to come be an assistant coach for the Cougar women’s basketball team.

There were some advantages of getting Fredette into the Daily Herald offices early his senior year. A couple of times during the season, fans could simply buy three or four consecutive copies of the paper and piece together a large poster. A friend of mine, Bill Freeze, actually created a life-sized cut out of it. If you know a BYU basketball fan, they probably still have one of those posters in their den or basement.

Fredette was an incredible player and ambassador for BYU and he’ll continue to make a positive impact no matter what he does.

His legacy, whether you have one of those old posters or not, is unforgettable.