‘Bigger Than Any Championship’
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Photos by Conor Titsworth, Michigan Commons
Jalen Rose, HLHD’26, grew up hearing his mom’s dream for him.
“My mom’s dream was for me to go to Michigan, ‘The Ivy League school of the Midwest.’ She’d always say that: ‘It’s the Ivy League school of the Midwest. You got to be great at everything,’” he remembers.
More than three decades later, Rose’s legacy is cemented in University of Michigan history. He was a member of the Fab Five, an iconic Michigan basketball team that went to two NCAA Finals games in 1992 and 1993, finishing as national runners-up both times. This spring, Rose returned to campus to deliver the Spring Commencement speech in Michigan Stadium.
“I’m really grateful. I’m thankful to everybody that had any fingertips on presenting this opportunity for me,” Rose says. “As somebody that’s a Detroit kid that just loves Michigan through and through, just to be standing on that stage in the Big House in front of 70,000 people is awesome.”
In 1993, Rose left U-M after three years and was drafted into the NBA. He later finished his undergraduate degree, but the honorary doctorate he received at this year’s ceremony was his first from U-M. Rose says the latest honor is his “‘momma, I made it’ moment.”
“This honorary doctorate is a crowning achievement in my life,” Rose said during his commencement speech. “This is bigger than any score of the game, it’s bigger than any championship.”
Life Lessons
In his remarks, Rose drew on personal experiences, recalling those who doubted his academic ability to succeed, despite being on the dean’s list at U-M.
“Having strangers shower me with low expectations, people always underestimated me … but it taught me perseverance,” he said in his speech.
Adversity shaped Rose, he shared, but the lesson is what he wanted graduates to take from his stories.
“If I had to use one word that I want you to take from today, it’s ‘resilience,’” he said.
Rose hopes graduates can embrace an uncertain future equipped with the knowledge that challenges are part of the journey.
“There’s no perfect route to your goals, your dreams, or to success,” he says. “Your dream job doesn’t happen overnight. And so what are you going to do between now and then — or if it never happens?”
The values and life lessons Rose included in his commencement speech mirror what scholars are learning at the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy (JRLA) — Rose’s open-enrollment charter high school in Detroit that just completed its 15th year. At the academy, scholars wear uniforms and both students and teachers check their cell phones at the front door. Teachers’ bios and credentials (complete with their high school GPA and standardized testing scores) are on the wall outside the class-rooms. Inside, teachers don’t have desks, to encourage active engagement between them and the scholars.
“Everything is intentional,” Rose said in an interview at the school before commencement.
That includes the maize and blue school colors, which he wore at his Detroit high school, the University of Michigan, and with the Indiana Pacers.
“Having carpet, having the place clean, not having graffiti on the walls, not having metal detectors — there’s so many things that are very intentional about what we do.”
The spirit of service extends beyond the school. Every Wednesday, JRLA partners with Forgotten Harvest, a local food rescue nonprofit, to feed families in the surrounding community — a practice that has now run for nearly two years, with 150 to 175 cars lining up around the block each week.
“Giving back, for me, is everything. My hometown and this University has shaped all 360 degrees of me,” Rose said in his remarks. “My labor of love is to continue to give back.”
This year, Rose launched Same Page Entertainment with billionaire businessman Tom Gores, a multimedia production company that will focus on developing stories about and working with talent located in Michigan, with a “by Detroit, for the world” mentality. It’s the natural next chapter of a media career Rose has been building since he majored in radio, TV, and film while at U-M.
An Indelible Legacy
Since walking off the court in 1993, the Fab Five — Rose, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson, and Jimmy King — had only been in the same place three times in more than 30 years. But the group reunited at the 2026 NCAA Final Four — to the warm welcome of tens of thousands of U-M students, fans, and alumni. Rose says the U-M community’s reception was “incred-ible” and the group fell easily into old rhythms.
“It reminded us of just being in a dorm room again,” Rose says. “We just reminisced about so many stories that took place when we played together. … It was awesome to embody something that’s very special, that’s more important than basketball.”
Rose sees nods to the Fab Five’s legacy in the black socks and black shoes around the court (as the team wore in the 1990s) and in the number of young people named Jalen — a name largely considered popularized by Rose’s influence — even at his own school. He says the Fab Five’s legacy is “for the public to decide,” but its impact is indelible.
“It was genuine and authentic. We weren’t considering the impact that it had on the world,” Rose says. “I think our legacy is something that we can’t ignore. It’s two words: Fab Five.”
As for the 2026 men’s basketball team’s national championship run, Rose never doubted the outcome.
“I wasn’t surprised that they won it, to be honest, because I felt like we were the best team all year,” he says.
Of all the values Rose imparted in his commencement speech — integrity, perseverance, resiliency, and discipline — he left graduates with a supportive final message.
“Success is in front of you. Happiness is in front of you. Love is in front of you,” Rose said. “Your goals and dreams are going to happen, but you have to continue to pursue them and endure.”
Katherine Fiorillo is the senior editor of Michigan Alum.
