Friday, June 18thth, 2010, Basketball season over, Coach White’s Disappointment, Coach Vaughn’s Assistance and Minnesota Bound!
Coach Vaughn resigned from Crane and moved his family to Minneapolis, MN. Coach White had made promises of helping us get into colleges. But after basketball season ended he moved on with other things in his life. We were left to take care of college ourselves.
I knew that my life in Chicago was ending. Somehow I was able to get Coach Vaughn’s contact information in Minneapolis. I called him immediately.
“Hi Coach Vaughn, this is Nag calling.”
“Hey Nag, how are you doing?”
“Not so good Coach. Coach White was unable to help us get into college. We had a few local junior colleges express interest but I want to leave Chicago. I was wondering if you could contact some of the colleges in Minnesota and ask if they need any players?”
“Ok Nag, let me make some calls into Coach Bill Mussleman at the University of Minnesota and I will get back to you within a few days.”
He knew Coach Musselman because one of our high school teammates, James Jackson, was recruited and enrolled at the University of MN in 1974.
Coach Vaughn called me back within a week and said that Coach Musselman gave him three names of local colleges; Macalester College, Hamline University and The College of St. Thomas. All three colleges were in St. Paul. Coach Vaughn said he had put calls into all three coaches and had not yet heard from them.
“Once I hear from them I will arrange for a few of you guys to come up and meet the coaches. All three of these schools are strong academically. These are private universities that don’t give out athletic scholarship. You should be able to qualify for some financial aide if accepted.”
“Ok, thanks Coach.”
I prepared to leave my family for the first time in my life. They were very happy for me. I was 18 and was ready for the next exciting phase my life. Amazingly I started feeling calm and could not understand why. I told a few of the players that I had contacted Coach Vaughn and that they were welcome to go to Minnesota with me. The only one showing any interest was Ernest “E-Thang” Williams. E-Thang played forward for our team and was an incredible rebounder.
May 1975. Coach Vaughn called and said that he heard back from the coach at St. Thomas College in St. Paul.“Their coach would like for you to come up and work out with some of his players. When can you come up?”
“Coach I will start working on the funds to take the bus and ask a few other players to see if they have an interest. May we stay with you while we’re there Coach?” “Absolutely you can. I think you will like Minnesota.”
The calmness returned and I finally felt a sense of peace within myself for the first time. I was headed to a place that supported some of my family values; no athletic scholarships, a small private university that emphasizes education, sports was a distant second and no more conversations about playing NBA basketball as goal!
I never revealed my internal conflicts to Aunt Betty but she could tell that I had something going on inside of me. It was our late night conversations, after her kids were in bed that helped me realize that my focus and dedication on our values was the right direction to take. I then realized that basketball would be a stepping-stone for something else but I still had no idea what that would be.
During my senior year at Crane, Aunt Betty, Coach White and Coach Vaughn, my relationship with my friend Ernest, were the catalysts moving me into manhood, the process my grandfather lovingly and firmly started.
I can still hear Coach Vaughn’s affirmation; “Use basketball but don’t let basketball use you.”
I knew my grandparents could not afford to send me to college. So using basketball only as a vehicle to get to college made sense to me. Basketball now took on a whole new and constructive meaning!
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010, Minnesota Bound! E-Thang and I arrive in Minneapolis