Nice JOb SOn
August of 06 you called me from Vegas BIG TIME Tourney after losing to Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose in the semi fianls and said "I'm going to Ohio". YOu were the 3rd kid in Indiana to commit that year. You said " I want to go somewhere I can play right away and leave a mark." I tried to talk you into waiting as several school were expressing interest after the July you had but you knew Coach Rhodes had been on you for some time and you had a love for the University that came when we memorialized your Gramps at the Willed Body Service in 04. After hours of talk I said well then I guess it's Ohio as you were truly sold...even without meeting the head coach....we Drove down the Next Weekend despite the assts saying "Coach is still out east so you can't meet him" and we ran in to the Ox ROast with Big John showin us and another guy named KVK wh ohad just landed that day around the campus and introducing us to many Cat fans. GOt to meet a lot of people that day who remain friends to this day.
YOu have made me proud. When you weren't getting run your freshman year you got in the gym at midnight and worked and worked till the man who did not have an acquired taste for your game had to play you. Every year presented you new challenges and you stood tall whether it meant guarding Samardo Samuels or competing with talented players the new staff brought in who had been recruited to move you off your spot. Never flinching, never wavering and swallowing your individual pride for good of the team more times than I care to remember. You played through injuries like bruised ribs, broken fingers on your shooting hand, broken nose and a foot stress fracture as well as a bicep torn off the attachement, and you did it silently without complaint. You kept good friends and treated COurt Street with respect, rarely missed class even after games getting home at 3 am and visibly showed up and supported all the other sports with Ohio pride.
You and teh volleyball girls you came in with have been great examples for all to follow both on and off the court. YOu did not get all the goals you wanted, 4 years of post season play and similar goals eluded you but you did what I ask of every kid I taught the game of basketball. Every time you stepped inside those lines you put your best effort and all your heart into it for the duration of that moment, you competed every play , every possession and made the most of every minute in practice and games. YOu have learned the game far beyond what I could have taught you and far more completely than most of those standing onthe same court. SO many plays I have seen you do amazing things that go unoticed. Taking a way a back door cut, standing in and taking a charge while your team mate got hung on a pick up top, Keeping your arms straight up while
bodying up a player and avoiding the foul to disrupt the shot. That is textbook and what every coach tries to teach when they yell "dont drop your arms as every ref looks for that arm to come forward and call the foul......SO many things you do on the court that go unnoticed by all but the most astute of students of the game of basketball. I appreciate your effort to learn the game inside and out and execute, anticipate and know what your assignement and that of everyone around you is to be. As told to me by a long time fan you have become his favorite Bobcat because of the adversity you "faced on and off the court being recruited by a coach who did not like your game to being recruited over by the new staff...he just hung on to that starting spot and did everything he could each game to will us to win", . I love talking to
Charlie Coles and Geno and hear about the hell you wreaked on their defenses and see the total respect they have for your game and the mark you have left on those guys who know. I watched the respect last weekend at Black Expo as guys from all level of basketball sought you out to hug up and recount a moment they had seen you play. I enjoyed listening to Evan Turner recount his memories of you scorching them and taking charges THat so many guys want you on their team is a testament that you earned your way to respect. That you backed that up with another Black Expo championship and trophy is becoming legendary in Indiana. The funniest moments of my life come when someone outside basketball asks "are you good?" and your stock answer comes out .."I'm allright". Humble and as you have so often told players on the court "shut up and birng it bitch, let your game do the talking". A great philosophy you have developed that I have talked to many young players about in this age of ESPN highlights and all talk, little action.
The best part of what you have done for me as a parent or caoch is that you have contantly loved and repsected the game. In return it has loved and given to you many opportunities. NOt all players get that concept and constantly struggle and tweet about the grind and how it is such a dialy death march and pray to heaven for assistance...... Easy to tell the guys who just love the GAME and let the game come to them as players coaches or similar. YOu have a place in Indiana history amking the state 4a title game twice, you still hold the top 2 spots for charges taken in a season and the game is providing you a chance to go overseas and play. Respect it, Enjoy it and embrace it....it has the power to reward or reject. Teach the love and respect for the game as you pass through. Pass on that which your great gramps gave my dad, he gave to me and I gave to you. Cherish it. Those who get it see playing as a gift not a grind. You are an inspiration for many, impart that wisdom.
When your mom died you dedicated your season to her, she would be proud of that year. Some of those records may stand awhile. You have found friends in SEO that will be with you for liife, as have I. You have supported yourself and never asked for anything, collecting aluminum cans and living off the money generated by thousands of beer swilling Ohio students littering lawns you built your own little enterprise. YOu learned the hard way about the world and you have owned up to your parking tickets paying them with your own money.YOu even paid for "that white peice of shit" you drive with your own money, not accepting much help along the way and laughing in the face of the man who targeted your vehicle. Parking services may target the athletes and laugh about MOm and Dad paying for it but the reality is that you owned your mistakes. Shame on them. Taking care of your own mistakes goes straight to character and will benefit you greatly inthe years to come. That you have learned that sets me a apart from the parents who fund their kids bad behaviour. Thanks boy. With your trifectaoutdoors.com website and your beer can enterprise you impress me with your spirit and inner drive. I will never forget that basement over on Palmer that had several hundred sacks of cans waiting for the priceof aluminum to come back up or driving a pick up truck full and a trailer loaded with cans around 270 in Cols because the price was higher in IN and you had no more room in that basement. The collection of Coke reward points gleaned from looking in dumpsters and tearing them off empty cases and subsequent bundling and selling on Ebay is american ingenuity at its best. NIce work white boy. I have complete faith in your abiity to survive.
I watch you after games and at the camps you work and with tears in my eyes remember when you were that kid at Ball State and UK asking Petey, Bonzi, Magliore or the player coach you raved most about , Marvin Stone for their autograph. I am so very happy that you take the time to pay it back the way the players before you did for you. That you take a moment extra and look in a kids eyes and encourage him maybe the moment that spurs him on to greater things. Keep that up, you are truly one of those guys who can and does inspire. Looks like you will be getting a chance to take your act overseas and impress a whole new crowd. Hopefully that works well and when are done and no longer have the desire to PLAY the game you return and if you still want to coach you can teach the game as well and as fundaemental as you play it. Youcan count on me being in the gym when have your own team. (Duh!)
YOu have an Ohio degree and all the tools you need to go into this world and kick a big dent in your corner. I will always be there for you. I am proud of you man. As I look at all the great men I have met in my life, and you know who they are from Grampa Freeman to Cliff Barker and all those great men I have pointed out to you along the way, explaining who they are and poointing out their deeds, making you shake hands and talk to them teaching you who the truly heroic figures are in this world are, I am proud to say you have, in my eyes, joined that list through your actions, inspiration and deed and have forever become one of my own personal heroes. Way to leave a mark. YOu were right all along,,,,"they don't hang jerseys for Glue Guys, Pops". It does not matter because no one around here will ever forget you and where your place in Ohio Athletics is ..... I love you, little man. Congrats.