Good News for Smith

Kevin McCarthy
 

Mike Montgomery wants the ball in Smith’s hands

May 27 was more than likely just an ordinary day for most of us, not memorable in any particular manner. However, this doesn’t apply for De La Salle’s Brandon Smith -- not by a long shot -- for he will remember the last Wednesday in May of 2009 for the remainder of his life. That’s because California men’s basketball coach Mike Montgomery handed Smith an award yesterday, just like he did back in 2001.

Montgomery contacted the Smith household because he had wonderful news for them. With Bear basketballer Taylor Harrison no longer able to physically compete and now officially on a medical collegiate retirement, the Cal mentor had a 2009-2010 basketball scholarship available to offer and he extended it to Smith.

Smith will be scholarshipped this season

In a sense, it wasn’t a surprise as Montgomery and the Smith family had reached an understanding that Smith would receive the next available basketball scholarship, as soon as it appeared. Montgomery wanted Smith on his roster and Smith had wanted to be a Bear for years but the original thinking when Smith committed was that no rides would be freed up until the Cal senior-to-be class completed its athletic eligibility after next season. So Smith agreed to pay his own school expenses in the coming school year, knowing that no later than a season down the line he would be awarded a full ride. He turned down 15-20 other offers because of his dream to be a Cal Bear.

That scholarship was then fast forwarded due to Harrison’s physical woes.

Now for a moment, let’s go back to the summer of 2001. A very young Brandon Smith, soon to be heading into the fifth grade, appears at Mike Montgomery’s Stanford overnight basketball camp. He’s the youngest person there by at least a couple of years if not more and actually is below the age cutoff for attending. Some who were there wondered who this ‘kid’ was and why he was there.

Smith is a leader nonpariel

They soon found out.

After demonstrating his skills and taking the measure of a number of opponents older, bigger and stronger than he, Smith was awarded the Ball of Champions by Montgomery for being the camp’s outstanding player. Montgomery may not remember this moment due to the hundreds of camps he’s been involved with but Smith has never forgotten and still has the ball.

Here’s Brandon’s father, Sean Smith, on what just happened: "I felt blessed that God smiled on a kid today, one who works so hard and never takes for granted the price tags of opportunities which can go unappreciated by many others. I also was glad that Coach Mike values what B brings to the table."

And from Brandon: "In my heart, I knew I was supposed to go to Cal and today it reminded how right my heart was in believing that was where I was supposed to be. This is like a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to be a Cal Bear."

He is and fully scholarshipped.