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Former UW basketball standout makes local appearance

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

New Jersey Net guard and former University of Wisconsin star Devin Harris has the attention of Carter Herbst, 4, of Janesville, as Harris autographs a basketball at the HHFFRRRGGH re-opening event Thursday night.

Forgive Carter Herbst if he was a little disappointed walking into HHFFRRRGH Inn here Thursday.

The 4-year-old Badger fan was a bit confused. He thought he was going to a University of Wisconsin basketball game.

The mix-up was understandable since his parents are UW season ticket-holders, but any disappointment was quickly forgotten when Carter and his father, Allen, got to meet Devin Harris, the former Badger basketball star and now a member of the New Jersey Nets in the NBA.

Harris spent about an hour meeting fans, posing for pictures and signing autographs at HHFFRRRGGH. The event was part of the restaurant's grand re-opening celebration after a month-long renovation in July, said general manager Darlene Cunningham.

Allen Herbst got a basketball signed as well as a couple of t-shirts and photos. He said he's been a fan of Harris since the 2004 Big Ten Player of the Year was a freshman at Wisconsin.

"He was a quiet player who did his job," Allen said. "And it was great to see him drain those threes."

Mixed in with the Wisconsin memorabilia were Nets and Dallas Mavericks gear. Harris was traded from Dallas in February in a deal that sent Jason Kidd back to the Mavericks.

Harris says the number of Dallas jerseys he is signing has slowly declined as he gets more time with the Nets.

Now focusing on his first full season in New Jersey, Harris said he is glad to have all of the trade talk behind him.

"There was so much going on, so much speculation and so many rumors," he said. "There was a whole month of all that going on before the trade went through.

"I was just like, ‘Hurry up and get it through already.' I was ready to move on to the next step."

One Dallas jersey he signed was on the back of Jared Kindschi, a UW freshman out of Sauk Prairie High School, who got a ride from his mother, Holly, down to Janesville to meet Harris.

But Kindschi said he's not planning to buy a Nets jersey for a while.

"He a poor college student," Holly said.

Harris, a Milwaukee native and all-state star at Wauwatosa East High School, where his jersey was retired in 2007, said he typically spends about half of his time back in Wisconsin meeting with fans and signing autographs.

He says he's happy to make these types of appearances.

"When I was growing up, I used to practice my autograph, hoping that someone might ask me for it some day," Harris said. "But now, I have to figure that some day people are going to stop asking."

But still, more than four years after leaving the UW, Harris is a hot commodity. After all, he's one of three former Badgers playing in the NBA—joined by Michael Finley with the San Antonio Spurs and Alando Tucker with the Phoenix Suns.

Janesville's Amanda Hamilton was left with only a few adjectives to describe meeting Harris on Thursday.

"I saw him play in Wisconsin, and he was amazing," she said. "And I watched him play in Dallas, and he was amazing there, too."

Harris, in fact, played on two Big Ten championship teams and a runner-up, while scoring 1,425 points in his three-year career at Wisconsin.

Dave Marshick, who brought Hamilton and his two children to meet Harris, was impressed with the way the four-year pro approached this event.

"He seemed really nice," said Marshick. "We talked about his team and how he was adjusting."

And now, four years after making the decision to leave school after his junior year, Harris says he still doesn't regret it.

"I try to look forward," he said. "It's so easy to look back and wonder what could have happened, but I think at the time it was the right decision for me.

"If I had stayed, anything could have happened. I could have gotten hurt, or we could have won the national championship, but I try not to look back."