Former Hog Daniel Gafford has jersey retired among many awards for contributions as an El Dorado Wildcat

EL DORADO, (Ark.)— Former Arkansas Razorback Basketball great, Daniel Gafford, was in El Dorado, (Ark.) on Monday for a special program where his jersey was retired.

The former Wildcat started playing basketball late with the majority of his junior high career dedicated to being a drummer. His size and natural ability to be a basketball star was seen by former head coach, Gary Simmons.

West Johnson

Gafford helped lead the Wildcats to a 28-5 record and an appearance in the state championship game his senior year. He faced off with future Razorback teammate Desi Sills from Jonesboro. The windmill dunker averaged 17.4 points, 16 rebounds, 7.7 blocks, 2.5 steals and 1.4 assists per game as a senior. He also recorded 11 triple-doubles and 18 double-doubles in his final season at El Dorado. The phenom had 10-plus blocks in 11 games. Pulled down 10-plus rebounds in 31 games, including seven games of 20 or more boards and one 30-rebound performance.

In 90 career high school games, the current Washington Wizards star scored 1354 points, dished out 868 assists, pulled in 1337 rebounds and 586 blocks.

West Johnson

For all Gafford’s contributions to the Wildcat program he was given quite a bit in return which included his jersey retired, city street named after him, a key to the city and May 2nd being “Daniel Gafford Day” in the town.

Coming out of El Dorado High School, Gafford was the 11th ranked power forward in the nation, according to 247sports rankings. He was a consensus top 50 player in all recruiting rankings.

After leaving Arkansas to enter the 2019 NBA Draft as a sophomore, Gafford was drafted with the 38th overall pick to Chicago. He was traded after a season and a half to Washington where he now stars as one of the Wizards best post players.