Wyoming athletics honors former Poke, Fennis Dembo, by retiring his jersey

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LARAMIE, Wyo (Wyoming News Now)- The University of Wyoming athletic department honored former Cowboy basketball player, Fennis Dembo, as his jersey was retired at today's game where Wyoming hosted New Mexico.

Fennis Dembo embraces the crowd as his jersey goes up in the rafters.

"Very emotional seeing something like this," Dembo said. "Never envisioned something like this on this day."

He played at UW from 1983-1988. Dembo was a three-time All-Western Athletic Conference (WAC) All-American, winning the 1987 WAC player of the year. He still remains Wyoming's all-time leading scorer with 2,311 career points, and third in rebounds with 954. Dembo is still the only Cowboy basketball player to be featured on a Sports Illustrated magazine. He held the highest scoring average in the 1987 NCAA Championship tournament, averaging 27.8 ppg.

After his tenure with Wyoming, Dembo was drafted to the Detroit Pistons, where they won the 1989 NBA Championship. At the jersey retirement ceremony, he gave the school his championship ring, mentioning that he wanted to give them something special, since he didn't win a national championship at Wyoming.

"It's a great honor," Dembo said. "I started off here as an 18 year old kid and for people to still remember me 30 something years later? It's great, it's home, this is where it all started."

Dembo was inducted into the Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993. Today, he spent time with signing autographs, and taking pictures with families.