It’s a lot Cooler with a Scar

Sharing your story with a limp

When it comes easy, when there’s no scars to be shown, when it arrives next day delivery… there’s not much of a story to tell.

But when it’s taken months or even years, when you barely make it, when you come out of it with a limp… well, there’s a lot to share.

And when you tell your story, it’s a lot cooler to tell it with a scar.

As a kid, growing up in the cornfields and basketball hoops of Indiana, I dreamed of one day playing and working in the NBA. 25 years later, I am 13 years into my dream job in the NBA!

Cool story, right? Nah, not really. I mean cool, but, whatever.

As a kid, growing up in the cornfields and basketball hoops of Indiana, I dreamed of one day playing and working in the NBA.

I was the only Freshman to make the Varsity team and I couldn’t wait for hoops season to get started so I decided to run Cross Country to get a head-start on conditioning and physical training. But, in the middle of a Cross Country meet, I started breathing heavily and soon collapsed. I couldn’t breathe. I was blacking out. I went to the doctor and there weren’t really any answers.

This cycle continued for nearly 4 years.

Run. Blackout. Go to doctor. Repeat.

I missed over 100 days of high school and my basketball dreams were derailed.

As a ‘star’ basketball player at my high school, rumors started swirling of what was happening to me. “I heard he’s allergic to Yellow 5.” Even my family thought I might be faking it until I actually missed my Freshman year of basketball season.

I decided to give up my hoop dreams completely and I attended a Leadership Academy in Texas. It was like a spiritual greenhouse. We had prayer and fasting retreats and focused on mission and vision for our lives.

I came out with a renewed dream of one day working in the NBA.

I attended college and majored in Sports Management thinking that was the route to take to get me to the NBA. But soon, I realized, it was more the route to take if you wanted to do the other college athlete’s homework for them.

And I didn’t. I wanted to learn. So I switched my major to Business Management.

I graduated college and before I knew it… my dreams had… well, I was on the phones each day as a University Admissions Counselor.

It was cool for a minute. By a minute, I mean, like 6 months. And then I hated it. What was I doing with my life? Do I really want to just answer phones? Short answer, no.

I googled NBA jobs and found some tips and things I could do to better prepare myself to get an opportunity in basketball.

I applied for and was rejected 18 times before getting a ‘yes.’

The ‘yes’ came from Portland, Oregon. Meanwhile, I was living and working in Lynchburg, Virginia.

The ‘yes’ came in the form of an unpaid internship.

The ‘yes’ came with an expectation of working 7 days a week with no holidays.

I took it. And packed my bags and started driving across the country the next day.

So about those scars…

Well, a few months in, I totaled my car.

A year later, I had to have an emergency back surgery.

And a year after that, I was hired full-time.

As a kid, growing up in the cornfields and basketball hoops of Indiana, I dreamed of one day playing and working in the NBA.

I’ve made it in the NBA for 13 years with a handful of scars.

On my back, on my hand, eye surgery, facial surgery, my mental health, and so on. But without those scars, I don’t think my story would be this cool.