Champion players' numbers retired

GAINESVILLE - Two of Gainesville High's most recognized athletes were honored Friday night in a ceremony between basketball games at the school gym.

Stephanie Yarem and Mahagony Hudson, the key figures in the school's first girls state championship team in 1994, saw their numbers retired.

Hudson called it a special night.

"I can't even put it into words, but I give all glory and honor to God for blessing me with the ability to play basketball," she said.

Hudson's No. 15 and Yarem's No. 20 will hang in front of the school.

"A total surprise, a shock," Yarem said.

Neither thought they would be here 10 years later.

"When you're playing, at the the time all you want to do is play and have fun. You don't think about things like this," said Yarem, who now works with fellow Gainesville alum Damon Evans in the University of Georgia Athletic Department.

"It was great to be with all the girls again. It was like we never parted. It was fun," Yarem said.

Hudson, who coaches the 9th-grade girls basketball team in the Buford school system, said it was nice to be honored. She was the first Gainesville girls player to earn a major sports scholarship signing with Florida out of high school.

"It's nice to be remembered. But the whole team made this possible. It wasn't just one or two or us. It was all of us," Hudson said.