Very few even noticed. After 10-plus years in the NBA, Fred Hoiberg announced yesterday he has played his final game. I knew it had to happen eventually, but it was still difficult to hear. It is the end of an era. A quiet exit to an exceptional Cyclone. Fred wasn’t an ordinary basketball player to Cyclone fans. He was the player. He was the “Mayor.”

Hoiberg will go down as one of the greatest Cyclones of all time. He came to Iowa State as a local product from Ames High School. He was a Story County cult hero, after being awarded both the Gatorade basketball and football player of the year in Iowa. Tom Osborne wanted him to play quarterback at Nebraska. He could have been running the option with Lawrence Phillips and winning national championships. Instead he opted to stay home on the hardwood.

Right away Hoiberg made his mark. The floppy-haired freshman came in and helped the Cyclones to their first NCAA tournament in three years. He and fellow newcomers Loren Meyer and Julius Michalik formed the trio that returned the magic to Hilton Coliseum. Year two marked another NCAA tournament and also one of the coolest moments of my life.

In the week prior to that NCAA tournament, I was lucky enough to attend an ISU practice to get autographs. The practice concluded and 8-year-old Blum and two of his friends went into the Cyclone locker room. (Yes, I referred to my 8-year-old self in third person. Deal with it.)

We got to see all of the players. Meyer was bench pressing; Justus Thigpen was jamming out to MC Hammer on an eight track and Michalik was combing what little hair he had left.

Keep in mind these guys were like gods to me. But Freddie was above them all. We approached the Mayor while he was applying his Speed Stick – I distinctly remember it was Speed Stick. He asked us about school and told us to come to Iowa State when we were old enough. I explained to Fred how I scored 27 points and dished out eight assists in a third-grade game two days prior. He was impressed. My day was made. Heck, my life was made. It was like meeting the man upstairs himself.

As we were leaving the locker room, we were treated to the not-so-glorious sight of Johnny Orr towel-less. “Hiya kids!” he yelled. Yes, I have seen all of 75-year-old Johnny Orr.

That will always be one of my most memorable life experiences, ranking up there with beating Dedric Willoughby in a game of knockout.

Fred led Iowa State to one more NCAA tournament as a senior. He would finish his career as the third-leading scorer in Cyclone history. Still nobody gave him a chance to make the NBA. All he did was stick around for 10 years, becoming one of the best three-point shooters in the league’s history.

I made up my mind the day I met Fred that I would always be a Cyclone. Granted, I thought I would be draining threes instead of writing about them, but nonetheless it had an impact. And I’m guessing I’m one of many who feel this way. The Mayor may be done on the hardwood, but he will be forever cemented in Cyclone lore.

– Brent Blum is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Urbandale.