Gordon Hayward’s No. 20 is Brownsburg High School’s first retired number. Photo by Darcy Leber.
DAVID JACOBS | MANAGING EDITOR | drjacobs@butler.edu
For the average basketball fan, Gordon Hayward’s legacy stems from heartbreak for the former Butler star.
Whether it be the infamous buzzer-beating heave he missed by just a few inches in the 2010 National Championship against Duke, or the fractured left tibia he suffered in his first game in a Boston Celtics uniform in 2017, the legacy of Butler’s executive basketball director expands much greater lengths — especially in the Indy area.
“It’s hard to think about the missed shot and the injuries that derailed [my career],” Hayward said. “[I try] to only remember the good.”
On Feb. 5, Brownsburg High School commemorated the best of his career, enshrining Hayward in the rafters of his old high school gym and retiring his No. 20 before a non-conference bout against West Lafayette.
“Brownsburg is a sports town,” Hayward said. “I’m grateful for where I grew up. [Getting my jersey retired] means a lot to me. I tell everyone, I’ve played in a lot of places around the world and there’s nothing like high school basketball … It was the most fun I ever had playing.”
Former Miami University (OH) standout and Brownsburg teammate of Hayward, Julian Mavunga, saw the career unfold first-hand.
“It was special,” Mavunga said. “We’ve got to grow a lot next to each other. He was a lot better than me, especially initially. I learned from him, and after we were done here at Brownsburg, to see how he grew up at Butler and as a pro has been nothing short of special to watch.”
As Mavunga grinded through a professional overseas career of his own, the two stayed connected as Hayward became a household name.
“It was surreal that he was in this parallel universe from me,” Mavunga said. “I played my college ball, I played some professional ball, but the level that he did it all was really special. He shared a lot of insight into those times with me; it’d be like, ‘Oh, this just happened with Kobe [Bryant] today.’ Meanwhile, I just came back from practice with the ball boy, so it wasn’t as cool.”
Before the Brownsburg native became a top-10 NBA draft pick, a 2017 All-Star and earned over $150 million playing basketball, his legacy first began on clay, not on the hardwood.
A growth spurt bolted the skinny tennis prospect up to 6-foot-7, and made the decision to focus on basketball a bit easier.
“I was definitely a better tennis player in high school than I was a basketball player,” Hayward said. “That’s not saying too much because I wasn’t a great high school player. I love tennis, and I think it helped me become the basketball player that I was, both mentally [and] physically.”
Following that added commitment to basketball, Hayward eventually led Brownsburg to its first-ever IHSAA Class 4A state championship in 2008, thanks to a game-winning shot from the eventual all-state forward.
“I believed in Gordon; we believed in each other,” Mavunga said. “ I’ve always had his back since day one. I’ve always been his number one fan.”
While Hayward became the most successful of Butler’s 2008 recruiting class, the Dawgs nabbed commitments from fellow Hoosier natives such as Garrett Butcher, Chase Stigall and Emerson Kampen to round out an elite squad that lost just 11 games in two years, all by single-digits.
“Butler was already there; we took it a step further,” Hayward said. “They had built a tradition before I got there, and we built on what others before us had [laid down]. There were six freshmen in my class, and we bought into the system of doing whatever we could to win the game.”
Selected by the Utah Jazz just a few months following the championship loss to the Blue Devils, Hayward got off to a slow start in his rookie campaign, averaging just over five points per game. However, he would follow that up with 11 consecutive seasons of a double-digit scoring average, highlighted by a 21-point per game campaign in his seventh season to earn his lone all-star nod.
“All glory to God,” Hayward said. “It’s crazy to think that I would be right here if you [had] seen me when I was a little kid with my parents. Basketball has given me so much, and I’m so thankful for it.”
