Lee finding redemption with basketball
Only a few people know the whole back story. But the journey Jamaal Lee is creating on the basketball court and in the classroom is still as dramatic as any you may have heard.
Raised in the hard-scrabble environs of Long Beach and South Central Los Angeles, Lee’s penchant for hustling wasn’t limited to his ability to seize loose balls.
Academics and logistics prevented him from playing high school basketball, and an inability to remain eligible cut short his initial attempt to compete for the College of the Canyons in 2002.
His subsequent bid to play at New Mexico Highlands University met a more unforgiving obstacle: prison.
Now 33, the Orange Coast College sophomore has secured a scholarship to continue his basketball career at Vanguard University, where he plans to obtain a bachelor’s degree that will allow him to be a teacher and a coach.
OCC Coach Steve Spencer is among those with whom Lee has come completely clean about his past. Vanguard Coach Rhett Soliday is another. Both said they are gratified to be part of the reclamation project that Lee has become.
“You get these phone calls,” Spencer said of the random spring day that Lee, then a freshman basketball coach at Marina High, first contacted him about playing for the Pirates. “But I had never gotten one from somebody that old before. I asked him when he graduated from high school, but I couldn’t even do the math [to calculate his age]. I wasn’t very good in math. But we talked and he told me his story. We’ve been lucky to have him around ever since.”
Part of Spencer’s good fortune involves basketball talent. Lee, who is averaging 17.1 points and a state-best 12.7 rebounds, is a 6-foot-3 statistics machine, whose impact goes well beyond his ample production. Spencer said Lee has played every position but shooting guard for the Pirates and the first game in which Spencer started him at point guard, he recorded a triple-double with 17 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a Nov. 28 tournament loss to San Diego. He had 22 rebounds against East Los Angeles, has twice scored 29 points and is averaging 4.6 assists and 2.1 steals per game.
“He’s a very unique player,” Spencer said. “He’s our best scorer, rebounder, passer and leader, and not just because he is older, but because of how he is and how he plays. He handles himself in a classy, dignified mature way and there is no BS. With our players, he is kind of like an uncle, big brother, captain, teammate, friend and assistant coach, all wrapped into one. It’s not easy to wear all those hats at once and leadership is not easy for anyone at any age. But that’s his role and, all things considered, he really is doing a great job.”
Soliday, who said he conducted due diligence before electing to bring Lee into his program, has no qualms about providing Lee the opportunity to better his life through education.
“You always have to ask questions any time you are interested in signing a guy who doesn’t take the traditional path to get here,” Soliday said. “But the more I got to know Jamaal and spend time with him, the more I believe not only is he the right fit for the special community that Vanguard is, he’s going to add a ton to it. He is going to be a refreshing and energizing presence in our community and I couldn’t be more excited to have him.”
Part of Soliday’s excitement involves Lee’s unique skills as a player.
“No. 1, Jamaal is one of the smartest players I’ve seen in junior college,” Soliday said. “He has a feel for the game and his intelligence on the court is second to none with anybody we’ve ever recruited from the junior-college level. the other thing is, and you can’t teach this, is his nose for the ball. If there is a play to be made, to secure a rebound, to get a loose ball, or to be in position to help [on defense] or take a charge, nobody does it better than Jamaal. And when you have a guy who makes plays like that at a high level, it flat-out leads to winning. And, like Coach Spencer said, I believe his best days are ahead of him, because he is going to continue to improve.”
Improving himself, Lee said, was the ultimate motivation to pursue a college degree.
When I realized I wanted to further my coaching experience and my resume wasn’t strong enough to do what I knew I wanted to do, school became an option,” Lee said. “And I thought basketball could be part of that too. I knew I could still play.”
Lee said his basketball prowess had always allowed him to excel in recreation leagues and on the playground.
“I was a men’s league legend,” he said. “I have dropped 60 points in a men’s league game. I’d do stuff like that and guys would always ask, ‘Who did you used to play for?’ I got tired of hearing that for so many years. I’d always doubted myself because of education, but for the first time, I decided to own it and give myself a full-fledged chance at getting my education. My mom will tell you that all I ever cared about was basketball. She’d always tell me I needed a Plan B. But I never saw past Plan A, which was basketball. I wanted to play in the NBA. But I was finally sane enough to appreciate what education could do for me. And once I saw that, I’ve been going hard after that degree. I’d always gotten respect as a player from other grown men, but I wanted to get respect on a real level, where stats mean something.”
His return to school was anything but an easy transition.
Already separated from his wife, with whom he had two daughters (ages 6 and 3), Lee said his choice to forsake a 9-to-5 job to take classes and play basketball accelerated the divorce process. Eligibility issues also required him to sit out the 2014-15 season at OCC, where the stipulations to become eligible required him to attain a 4.0 grade-point average while taking 19 units in the 2015 spring semester.
“I appreciated his perseverance, because there were a lot of people telling him this was not what he was supposed to be doing,” Spencer said. “A lot of people were trying to slam doors on him, but I give him credit, this is what he decided to do.”
Spencer required Lee, whose formerly chunky physique had always prompted comparisons to Charles Barkley, to get in shape. Lee, 253 pounds when he came to OCC, pared his physique to a lean 207.
Lee acknowledges the mistakes that led to his incarceration, a situation that he vaguely alluded to as being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I was incarcerated for a few years,” Lee said. “It was something I had to go through and I did. I don’t feel it was a turning point in my life, just a phase in my life. It didn’t change anything, though it did hinder some things. It’s part of my life journey, but being on the path I’m on now is something I just feel is my destiny. I don’t know how to explain it, but I’m supposed to be here.”
Lee’s mother, Mavis McKnight, regularly attends OCC games and was on hand Friday, when he signed his letter of intent with Vanguard.
“I’m just so proud of him,” McKnight said. “I’m proud of the man he has turned out to be, and the fact that he pushed through and didn’t give up. He’s had this dream and he is on this journey to make that dream come true. When we’re young, we don’t always get it. We have to grow into stuff. I’d say he is working Plan B now and things are coming together for him.”
Lee, whose hands quivered while signing his letter of intent Friday, said he is anxious to continue his journey.
“This is a huge opportunity, because I know it’s not just about basketball,” Lee said of his Vanguard scholarship. “Basketball is just a trigger for me to have success in life and this is another stepping stone in that direction. “I’ve come a long way to be in this situation and I’m just very fortunate and blessed. [Vanguard] is the place for me; tailor-made for me. And I can’t wait to get going.”
Spencer said he looks forward to Lee join his profession.
“I think he would be a great coach,” Spencer said. “He has leadership qualities, he loves the game and he wants to help people. And I think, going through what he has in his life, he would be a great role model for all kids. I think people can point to him as somebody who is overcoming adversity to do great things with their life.”
