As Thanksgiving nears, many college sports fans across the country get ready for trips to bowl games or a big rivalry football game. But not at Fairfield.
When mid-November rolls around each year it signals the start of another basketball season, the most visible sport on campus. While the soccer, lacrosse, tennis and volleyball programs have led Fairfield to magnitudes of success and a Commissioner’s Cup last year, the basketball programs remain the marquee sport on campus. And it is clear that Athletic Director Gene Doris and his staff want to make sure that basketball reaches the levels of success that the other sports on campus have.
This year the basketball teams are both facing similar issues. The loss of veteran players from last season leaves a void that will have to be filled by promising freshmen. For the men, Chicago natives Derek Needham and Colin Nickerson, along with Albany native Shimeek Johnson, have stepped in already, joining the starting lineup. Needham won the MAAC Rookie of the Week after his first two games at Fairfield and has scored in double digits in all three of his games. Meanwhile on the women’s side, Kaitlyn Linney will need to provide scoring to replace the points of Baendu Lowenthal and Lauren Groom, who graduated last year. Linney scored 18 points in her debut, the most ever by a Fairfield player in her first game and also won the Rookie of the Week award.
But what is more important for both teams this season is not the statistics or what happens on the court. It is the stories of the players and the coaches.
On the men’s side, senior Anthony Johnson is returning from a life-threatening blood clot that could have ended his basketball career. Instead of giving up on the idea of playing again, Johnson worked as hard as he has ever worked in his life to battle back to finish his career at Fairfield. More importantly, Johnson used basketball to escape from a rough life and will graduate from Fairfield in the spring. Head coach Ed Cooley calls Johnson “Fairfield’s Kid” and says that he has watched him grow up at Fairfield over the last four years. Without basketball, Johnson would have never had the opportunities he has had.
Needham, one of the trio of newcomers on the men’s team, also has an important story that needs to be told. Coming from a stable family, Needham was always the leader of his team’s. But his leadership role grew in his final season in high school, when his father died after a battle with diabetes. Needham is an inspiration, a man above his years and a great basketball player.
The women could provide an example of what a team really is with their play this season. After losing five key players over the past two seasons, the Stags are left without a go to player. But that does not faze head coach Joe Frager, one of the nicest coaches on campus and a true, down-to-Earth man, willing to offer a piece of apple pie to a reporter or don a Napoleon costume to get fans to come to games.
So support your fellow classmates and go to the games, they deserve it.
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