The Atlantic 10 Conference will be honoring the 2017 A-10 Legends class this morning at a brunch at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. Mason will be represented by Erik Herring, a sharp-shooting guard, who played for the Patriots around the turn of the century (1997-2001) in the Colonial Athletic Conference. He is among the top 5 in Mason history in 3-point field goal percentage (.394) and among the top 20 in scoring (1,315 points).
The Chicago, native left Mason with many accolades, including CAA All-Conference Player honors in 2000 (second) and 2001 and helped lead the Patriots to two CAA Championships and NCAA tournament berths (1999 and 2001) during his tenure. The 6-5 guard was named MVP in the 2001 CAA tournament.
GoMason.com sat down with Herring in Pittsburgh for a Q&A.
Q: What have you been doing since graduating from George Mason?
After graduating I played some basketball professionally overseas, but I've been working many years in the IT world in Atlanta since retiring. I also coach basketball at Drew Charter Senior Academy, and we just finished our best year in my four seasons.
Q: How does it feels to represent George Mason as the A-10 Legend?
It's special to be honored 15 or 16 years later for the work that I did back when I played for George Mason and to see that tradition carried on with these kids. They are working hard and It's amazing to be back here to see that, it means so much to me.
Q: A native of Chicago, how did you decide to go to Mason?
I picked Mason because of Coach Jim Larranaga. He was instrumental when he was recruiting me, he was always there. He would tell me that we are going to work hard, play hard and get a great education. He was genuine and it went a long way with my parents and grandmother. When I saw the campus and met the people It seemed like family. An amazing place outside of DC, very diverse. It's a great school academically and I have zero regrets, just a great time.
Q: What's a memory you have from playing at Mason?
I have a lot of great memories playing, but when we beat Old Dominion in the CAA Championship in 1999, it was special. It was an amazing experience to go to the NCAAs and I was fortunate to go twice. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago.
Q: Where did you get the nickname "The Wiz"?
My grandmother made me breakfast on game days when I was in high school. She made me a great breakfast the morning we were playing our biggest rival. I had one of my best games ever and score like 36 or 37 points and the newspaper's headline for the story said that I was doing some magical things on the court so people started calling me the Wizard. I ended up getting a tattoo of a Wizard and everyone just started calling me the 'Wiz' and it just stuck.
