One of the Good Guys

This past week, I found out that one of the guys I have coached for the past three years got a full academic scholarship to Duke University.  I don’t want to mention his name publicly, but will refer to him as E.

E is one of those kids that you consider yourself lucky to have intersected with.  He is the oldest child in his family and also the oldest male.  He carries an extremely heavy load both academically and at home.  E’s brother is severely disabled and is confined to a wheelchair.  However, both E and his brother are two of the most positive people you will ever meet.  His brother came to basketball games when he could and I would often go speak with him when he was there.  You could tell that he loves his older brother dearly.  He always has a smile on his face.  I remember when his brother showed up for one game, I saw E run over to him and give him a kiss on the forehead.  How many 18-year-old boys do you know that would do that?

I spent a lot of time on the bus going to away games, and many times I shared a seat with E.  He would spend every minute both going to and from our games studying.  That is not an exaggeration.  I remember this past winter he used the light of his laptop to read a book for one of his classes.  As I looked around the rest of the bus and saw the rest of the boys bumping to their iPods, texting their friends or sleeping, I could not help but smile, knowing the difference in effort and what the results would be.

I never really got to know E’s mom.  She simply did not have the time to be at a lot of his games.  I have no doubt however that she saw something in E very early and was going to do whatever it took to give him every advantage.  I know that putting him in private school was a very difficult sacrifice for the family in time, money and convenience.

E will be studying psychiatry and medicine at Duke.  As far as I know he is the first person in his family to go to college, but I don’t know that for sure. I have a feeling I will hear about him again down the road.  I will miss him as a person and a member of the team.  I am proud of him for changing the trajectory of his family’s future, and for creating and seizing a tremendous opportunity.