JG3 returns to Glens Falls to watch his #11 get retired

GLENS FALLS - In 2019, Joseph Girard III launched a game-winning bucket that clinched his team the first NYSPHSAA Boys Basketball State Championship in school history. Two games later, he cemented his career with the Federation Tournament title in his home city.

His high school complete, scoring over 4,700 points, more than anyone ever has in New York State. A storied career, that began before he was even a student in the school that housed the court he played on.

The very same court that he stood on Friday Night with his family and his girlfriend on hand.

This time, it was to unwrap what stood on the easel at center court. A frame, containing his #11 jersey.

There it is. Number 11 is retired. pic.twitter.com/PPOANfXefZ

— Adirondack Sports (@SportsAdk) February 15, 2025

No other Glens Falls Boys Basketball player will wear his #11, becoming the second Glens Falls High School athlete to have their jersey retired.  The first being Jimmer Fredette, who set records in Section 2 for most points scored at the time with 2,404.

Those numbers would first be toppled by the likes of Lake George's Joel Wincowski, but then blown out of the water by Joseph Girard III.

And on the pursuit of that, additional records would fall at the hands of #11.

Points scored in a single season? JG3 broke Tony Traver's record that stood for 35 years in the 2016-17 season, then eclipsed that set record with a new mark in his junior year, and beat that mark one more time in 2018-19 with 1,457 points.

That's 591 more points than Tony Traver's mark playing for Greenwich during the 1979-80 season.

Points in a single game? There's the 69 that JG3 put up for Glens Falls in a Foothills Council match against Schuylerville that topped Rich Campoli's record of 67 for most in Section 2.  

That record stood for 55 years at the time of topping.

And there's the state championship mentioned at the start. Jimmer Fredette got Glens Falls into the State Final Four. 

A decade later, Joseph Girard III continued that chapter. While that State Championship was 3 hours away in Binghamton, coming back to Glens Falls for the Federation Tournament was, as he puts it, a "storybook ending".

That "storybook ending" was fully complete on a Valentine's Night in Upstate New York.  Or, as Glens Falls Mayor Bill Collins denoted during the ceremony ... not Valentine's Day, but Joe Girard III day. Joseph Girard III stood before faculty, alum, staff and coaches, and thanked them for helping him get to where he is. Then to the roar of fans from Glens Falls and beyond, the cover was taken off the framed jersey, holding it up over his head for both sides of the gymnasium to see.

Then kids inspired by what JG3 started a decade ago took that same court, wrapping a perfect 20-0 season with a win over South Glens Falls. Next up for them, Section 2's Class A Sectionals.

Next up for JG3 ... a return to Lithuania where he's playing basketball professionally.