Foul Trouble

by John Feinstein

  James had his arms in the air and leaped into Terrell’s waiting hug as the building, which was about half full with a crowd of roughly ten thousand, exploded. Stunned but thrilled, Danny joined the celebration along with the rest of the Lexington players. “What happened?” he said when he got to Terrell.

  “I knew James would be wide open,” Terrell said. “I told him to run base-decoy—with me as the decoy—and be ready.” He grinned. “Time to pass the torch, old man. We’re moving on.”

  Danny barely heard the last words because they were surrounded by revelers. He found his dad for a hug.

  “Couldn’t be more proud of all of you,” his dad said. “I’ll never top this season.”

  “You never know, Dad,” Danny said. “But this was fun.”

  “Are you ready to announce where you’re going to college?” his dad asked, surprising him. “Terrell wants to do it right now—in the postgame press conference.”

  “Really?” Danny said.

  “Really,” his father answered.

  “Sure,” Danny said. “I thought we were going to wait. But that’s fine.”

  “You haven’t changed your mind, have you?” his dad said.

  “Absolutely not.”

  “Good. Then let’s go do it.”

  Terrell, James, and Coach Wilcox all had to do postgame TV interviews. So did Jay Swanson, who had scored 47 points in a losing effort. Then the Brickley Cup had to be presented to Lexington as New England basketball champions. As a result, it was a good twenty-five minutes after the game had ended before Terrell, Danny, James, and Coach Wilcox walked onto the podium in the curtained-off area under the stands that had been used as the interview area all weekend.

  Danny noticed the place was packed. He knew that Connecticut had a lot of small and mid-size newspapers that covered high school basketball, but he was surprised by the number of TV cameras in the room. They were everywhere. As if reading his mind, his dad leaned over and said, “Terrell told me before the game he wanted to announce his decision today. I had some of our people from school make calls to the media while the game was going on. I figured they should hear this.”

  That was very unlike his father. He’d never been a publicity seeker. Maybe he thought that was what Terrell would want? To make a really public statement, so there’d be no going back? Terrell hadn’t told Danny what he’d decided, but he assumed it would be Duke—the place Terrell had wanted to go before everything went crazy.

  They were asked some questions about the game and about the last play. James handled it beautifully. “Any one of the four of us out there with Terrell could have made the play,” he said. “Terrell just chose me, I guess, because I’m the tallest. Or the youngest. I’m not sure which, but I’m happy either way. It won’t be easy next year without him and without Danny. I’m going to miss them.”

  “Not as much as I will,” Coach Wilcox said, drawing a laugh.

  He then asked if there were any more questions about the game. There was silence.

  “Okay, then,” he said. “James, thanks. Go get a hot shower.”

  James departed the podium, but instead of leaving, he went and stood in the back of the room. Much to Danny’s surprise, Jay Swanson stepped up and took James’s seat on the podium. He was already in his street clothes for the ride back to Norwalk.

  “Folks, I asked Jay if he’d like to join us because I know there are a lot of people who want to know where all three of these young men are going to college, and they’re all ready to make their decisions public,” Danny’s dad was saying. “Let me just say that I’m really proud of my son, Danny, for becoming the player he’s become, and I’m proud of all three of these guys for being the people that they are. I was lucky to get to coach Danny all his life; Terrell, the last two years; and Jay, last summer. Now, I’ll shut up so the boys can tell you what they’re going to do.… Danny, why don’t you go first?”

  Danny looked at his dad and nodded. He suddenly felt very nervous though he wasn’t sure why. “Dad,” he said. “I want you to know I’ve made this decision because this is where I want to go to college. I’m just very glad it’s also where you want me to go to college. With Coach Amaker’s approval, I’m going to enroll in the fall at Harvard.”

  Applause broke out in the back of the room. Friends and family had apparently been let in, and there was a lot of whooping. Danny could now see all of his teammates were standing in the back along with James Nix. He looked at his dad and saw that he was tearing up a little bit, and his voice was just a tad quavery when he said, “Thank you, Danny.… Jay, your turn.”

  “Thanks, Coach,” Jay said. “And let me say it was an honor to play for you this summer. We all got off to a rocky start, but I’ve learned a lot the last few months about good people and bad people and who your real friends are in life. I’m very fortunate that, because I’m a decent ballplayer and a decent student, I had a lot of choices. I can’t think of anything I’d enjoy more than being Danny’s teammate again. So I’m going to Harvard too.”

  This time the response was applause and gasps. One of those gasping was Danny. He looked down the podium at Swanson. “Are you serious?” he said, leaning back from the mike.

  “As a Terrell Jamerson dunk,” Jay said, grinning.

  “Somewhere Tommy Amaker is picking himself off the floor right now,” Danny’s dad said. He had a bright-as-the-sun smile on his face. So did Jay.

  “Finally,” Coach Wilcox said, “the announcement the entire country has been waiting for all winter…Terrell?”

  Terrell was laughing. “Easiest decision I’ve ever made,” he said.

  Danny could sense a hush fall over the room.

  “I’m not leaving my point guard,” he said. “Harvard.”

  The place exploded. People were shouting questions all at once. Terrell sat back with his arms folded, looking happier than Danny had ever seen him. Danny jumped from his seat and ran to Terrell. “Seriously?” he said. “You’re not joking?”

  “I called Coach Amaker this morning to make sure it was okay and that I could still apply this late. He said it was very okay.”

  “And that’s what you were talking to Jay about before the game?”

  Jay was now standing too. “Yup,” he said. “Didn’t take much convincing to tell you the truth. I mean, Harvard with you two guys? We’ll make history!”

  They answered questions for another fifteen minutes. Terrell explained that after everything he’d gone through in recruiting he knew he wanted to go to college for four years—the NBA and all those pressures could wait. He wanted to stay close to home. He loved the idea of playing with Danny, and adding Jay was a huge bonus. He thought Coach Amaker would be great to play for. Plus, he added with a blush, his girlfriend was going to Harvard.… He didn’t want to let a smart girl like that get away.

  At that, all the photographers turned around and found Valerie in the crowd. Flashguns went off. She wasn’t someone who liked attention, but she looked so thrilled with Terrell’s decision that Danny figured she’d forgive him.

  When they were finally finished, they walked outside the curtains and Mrs. Jamerson, Valerie, and Laurie were all there, laughing and wiping away tears.

  “Terrell,” Mrs. Jamerson said as she hugged her son. “I’m so proud of you. I’m so glad you changed your mind.”

  “Thank Danny and Coach Wilcox,” Terrell said. “It couldn’t have happened without them.”

  “Don’t forget him,” Coach Wilcox said, nodding at Tom Konchalski, who was standing a few feet away.

  “There’s one other person to thank,” Danny said, nodding in the direction of Bobby Kelleher, who was standing a few feet away from everyone else. “I guess you’re going to need to talk to us, aren’t you, Bobby?”

  “At length,” Kelleher said. “But not right now. I’ve worked on this story for eight months. I can wait another day or two to finish it up.”

  “There’s a lot more to tell,” Terrell said. He had called Kell
eher the previous night to say he had some documents that might help him out.

  “So I’ve gathered,” Kelleher said. “We’ll go to Nettie’s. I’ll buy.”

  Terrell laughed. “Yeah, you’d better. I’m just a poor student, you know.”

  Everyone cracked up.

  But as Terrell looked around at the friends—true friends—surrounding him, he knew he had everything he needed…and then some.