When Derrick Rose joined the Chicago Bulls in 2008, he was 20 years old and facing some very high expectations. Nearly two decades later, he is still playing a role in his home city.

Last month, the Bulls held an official ceremony retiring Rose’s jersey number, making him the fifth Bulls player in history to have his number hung high in the United Center’s rafters. 

As the city and team gave Rose his figurative flowers, he gave the city their literal ones. It was a nod to the city that raised him, plus a play on words in the leadup to Valentine’s Day.

Outside the Jan. 18 ceremony and online throughout January, Rose ran a roses-only pop-up flower shop in collaboration with his family and Chicago-based florists Planks & Pistils.

Bouquets of roses have been available online and at four pop-up events, including Rose’s jersey retirement night at the United Center in January.

Briana Mathew, who grew up a Bulls fan in Chicago, received Rose’s roses as a surprise all the way in New York City.

“When it got shipped to me, I was shocked,” she said. “My brain was just super confused, but I also was so excited.”

Mathew said the roses were a great surprise from her childhood city, and that the mystery sender added to the game.

“I was like, ‘If it’s a man and they’re single, we’re getting married,’” she said. “It turned out to be a close friend who sent the roses, which lasted more than two weeks. It was very sweet and dear to my heart.”

Mathew, who has lived in New York City for almost 15 years, said that growing up in Chicago in the 90s made her a fan of the city for life.

“I am a Chicago girl. … It hasn’t really ever left me,” Mathew said. She said of Rose, “He’s a Chicago kid, making it big in Chicago, and I just always had so much love for him.”

Rose’s seven seasons with the team earned him a place in Bulls history, including in 2011 as the 22-year-old youngest MVP in NBA history — and in many other Chicagoans’ hearts too.

“I grew up watching Derrick Rose,” said James Marchi, a DePaul senior and sports business major. “He was just such a fun player to watch, so explosive. … He was so humble and he was a great role model for kids growing up watching him.”

When Rose was drafted first overall by the Bulls, the team was still riding the heels of the Michael Jordan era. Rose had huge shoes to fill. But with dedication and a humble stoicism that earned him the nickname the “Windy City Assassin,” the Englewood native stepped in and stepped up.

Jarely Ruiz, a junior sports communication major, grew up in Chicago and started playing basketball in grade school. The first jersey number she wore was No. 1, after Derrick Rose.

“I tried to model my game after him,” said Ruiz, who would watch many Bulls games on TV and then head to the basketball court to try out the moves she observed.  

“I vividly remember my dad saying, ‘Yeah, play like that guy.’ And it was Derrick Rose.”

Ruiz said that as she got older, she began to understand Rose as “so much more than a basketball player.”

Ruiz emphasized Rose’s importance as a role model, referencing not only his sports success story, but also as his active role as an “upstanding member of the community.”

Since his retirement, Rose has remained involved in the community that raised him, engaging with Englewood’s Growing Home, where he plans to add a pollination and mental-health centered garden to the urban farm in his home neighborhood.

“It just kind of transcends the sport of it all,” Ruiz said.

Beyond roses, fans of Rose said it means a lot to see a Chicago native sticking by the city.

“Even though he was a great basketball player, even though that was for a short time, … he became a legend to so many kids and so many people in this area,” Marchi said. “I’m so glad to see him sticking around in Chicago.”

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