When Lou Henson decided just a few days ago to return to Champaign, his orange jacket was hanging in the closet waiting for him.

Sure, it hadn’t been worn in eight years, but the jacket, like its owner, had not faded with the passing of time.

For many fans and former players, seeing the retired coach was the highlight of the weekend. For Henson, the positive reception he received capped off an eventful week in which he retired – he was awarded an honorary doctorate and had a street named for him.

“It’s going to feel good because I’ve been in the stands when it wasn’t that way,” Henson said before the game of the ovation he knew was coming. “When you’ve retired they forget about some of those losses, but when you’re coaching they don’t.”

Henson made the decision to return to campus after retiring from coaching at New Mexico State just a few days before the Illinois Basketball Centennial Celebration weekend got underway. Having been ill with viral encephalitis and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the past year, Henson’s health was noticeably suffering, but his constant wide-eyed grin and animated speech showed that his personality was unaffected.

Henson said he has regained much of the strength drained by the encephalitis by attending physical therapy four times a week and working out at home daily.

“In a couple of months I’m going to be walking,” he said.

For the most part Henson uses a wheelchair, but he was able to stand occasionally to shake hands with and hug former players as they were introduced after Saturday’s game.

Henson and his wife Mary plan to spend more time at their home in Champaign now that Henson retired from coaching. But the first visit back was a poignant one.

“You can’t spend 21 years as a coach and 22 here and not have some emotion,” he said.