Humility: A Personal History (Part Five)

 More re: Basketball

And then it was over—and quickly so.

In the fall of 1962 I headed off for Hiram College expecting I would have a basketball career there.

I didn't.

I did make the freshman team, though I was already realizing that I was not up to the level of some of my teammates.

The coach put me in an early game, and I confidently headed out to the court when, within minutes, a guard from the other team had twice stripped me of the ball and headed downcourt for an easy lay-up.

Time out.

Danny to the bench.

Where I pretty much stayed, moving farther and farther down it until I was at the end, and, as I've written elsewhere, I became a transitional figure: both fan and player—and neither.

Soon, I quit. A dream deferred—no, dead.

I did play some intramural ball, Played in a couple of alumni games back at Hiram High. Coached the 7th grade team in my first year at Aurora Middle School (1966-67). Played in a teacher league.

Then—that was over, and I next played with our young son out in our driveway at 114 Forest Drive in Kent, using a fine hoop a kind neighbor had put on the garage roof for us. I still remember son Steve making his first basket: It was as if he'd sunk the winning shot in the NBA championship—to him, to me.

We would play off and on until he got into school and found himself on teams where he did fine. But then he, too, gave it up.

Next ... our grandsons, Logan and Carson. Down at their home in Green, Ohio, they had a hoop, and I remember one day that we were all just shooting around when I suddenly got on a hot streak. I stood about key-high and sank shot after shot.

Logan was shaking his head.

I said, "What's up?"

He said, "Old guys aren't supposed to be any good."

And I wasn't. Not really.

As far as I can remember, that is the last time I shot baskets—and I won't be shooting any more of them. My advancing dizziness and imbalance have ended all of that.

But there were moments—back then—when a play I made, a game I had—when I'd convinced myself that I was really headed for the NBA.

TO BE CONTINUED ...