CRESWELL — Chalk up one more honor for Oregon forward Luke Jackson.
Already a leading candidate for Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year, Jackson had his No. 33 retired by Creswell High School on Wednesday.
“You guys have no idea how much this means to me,” he told a packed gymnasium.
The high school honored him with a short video, presented prior to the varsity game against Junction City. In it were clips from his playing days, including the 3A state championship in 2000 at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis.
Jackson, who also played on the Global Games team while with Creswell and was a teammate of former Duck Luke Ridnour, lettered for four years in baseball and basketball before starting his career with the Ducks.
“It means a lot, especially how much I felt I’ve put into Creswell basketball,” he said of the honor. “It was real nice of them to do this for me.”
Jackson was named the 3A State Player of the Year in 1998 and 2000. In his senior season, he averaged 24.2 points, 12 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game. He finished his
career with 2,095 points, good for fourth all-time in state history.
“He has been an inspiration to our community,” Creswell head coach Ron Lampe said during the presentation. “He has been instrumental in the success of our program.”
Jackson said the decision to raise his jersey number was made about a month ago but that it wasn’t a terribly big surprise.
“People have been talking about it for a long time,” he said. “I think this team being as good as it is this year, that they thought it would be good opportunity for me and the team to be able to do it.”
This season, Jackson has averaged 22.1 points per game for the Ducks, second in the Pac-10. He is one of 30 candidates for the John R. Wooden Award, handed out to the nation’s best player at the conclusion of the season.
He is expected to be a first round pick in the 2004 NBA Draft. NBADraft.net has him going 22nd overall to Memphis.
The thing is, Jackson’s 33 won’t be officially retired just yet. Jackson’s brother, Joey, wears No. 33 and is a 6-foot-4 senior for the Bulldogs.
“He’s going to wear it the rest of the season,” Luke Jackson said. “He was wearing it before so I might as well let him finish it out. Then it will be gone after the season.”

Tidbit
The Ducks lost to Oregon State on Jan. 10, the first time since Jan. 30, 1999, that Oregon fell to the Beavers.
Oregon State visits McArthur Court Saturday and has not won in Eugene since March 6, 1993.
The last time Oregon State swept the season series? That would be the 1992-93 season, when the Beavers also beat the Ducks in Corvallis, 83-75.
Oregon finished that year 10-20 overall and 3-15 in Pacific-10 Conference play. That season was the first of five for Jerry Green, Ernie Kent’s predecessor as head coach.