- Iowa basketball retired the number of Luka Garza, who broke the scoring record held by Roy Marble.
- Marble is considered the school's all-time best player but does not have his number retired.
- Iowa's athletic director apologized to the Marble family after they expressed anger.
The University of Iowa's decision to retire Luka Garza's number did not go over well with the family of program legend Roy Marble.
Garza recently broke the men's scoring record, held by Marble for 32 years. Garza is one of the front-runners for national player of the year, according to the Associated Press, and is a two-time Big 10 player of the year. Iowa recently announced it would retire his No. 55.
The announcement reportedly upset the Marble family. Roy Marble led Iowa to its only 30-win season and the regional final in 1986-87. He also led them to the Sweet 16 the next season. Before Garza, he was the only Iowa player to score over 2,000 points. His number isn't retired by the school. He died in 2015.
On Monday, Roy's son, Devyn, tweeted that he would never watch an Iowa game because of the "disrespect" the school has shown his family.
-Devyn Marble (@DevMarble) March 9, 2021
Devyn also played at Iowa, scoring over 1,600 points over four years.
On Tuesday, Iowa athletic director Gary Barta apologized for any disrespect toward Marble's family.
"We have learned since Sunday that Roy Marble's family was hurt and feeling disrespected since that day," Barta said. "I just want to take a moment and share that absolutely that disrespect was unintentional and to publicly apologize for that."
However, Barta said that Roy Marble - along with Murray Wier and Chuck Darling, two other Iowa greats - do not meet the requirements to have their jerseys retired. Barta didn't specify the criteria.
Iowa coach Fran McCaffrey told reporters that he has spoken to Devyn Marble, who McCaffery coached, and will remain in contact as they "move forward to honor Roy the way that he should be."