Friday, March 12, 2010
Home, Bulldogs heal Stith
The business side of the NBA had soured UVa's all-time leading scorer on basketball.
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RICHMOND -- Bryant Stith hated basketball.
But how could that be?
A VHSL legend ... the University of Virginia's career scoring leader ... a 10-year NBA veteran.
Basketball sure did not hate Bryant Stith.
Nevertheless, four years ago, here was Stith, back in his hometown of Lawrenceville, a one-stoplight community smack in the economic blight called Southside Virginia.
His 6-foot-6 body was broken down from 82-game regular seasons. He was tired of being away from his wife and two sons. He wanted to catch up for all the times games and practices took him away from his parents.
Yes, Stith hated basketball.
And he came home to let everyone know it.
"I got caught on the negative side of the business end of the NBA toward the end of my career," Stith said. "I was very bitter when I left the NBA, didn't want to have anything to do with basketball."
That was until a bunch of hungry high school kids ruined the game plan.
Stith's alma mater, Brunswick High School, needed a boys head coach. The principal called. Stith said no. Six weeks later, the principal called back.
The rest is history.
Stith has been Brunswick's head coach for four seasons. When the Bulldogs face Cave Spring on Saturday in the Group AA Division 3 championship game at VCU's Siegel Center, it will be the fourth straight time he has coached in a state final.
Stith will be wearing his game face. But wait, was that a smile?
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Stith led Brunswick to back-to-back Group AA championships in 1987 and 1988, finishing his high school career with 2,221 points.
He was a third-team All-American as a senior at Virginia, ending his career as the Cavaliers' all-time scoring leader before he was taken with the 13th pick in the 1992 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets.
Stith played eight seasons in Denver, averaging a career-high 14.9 points in 1996-97. He was traded to Boston, starting 73 games for the 2000-01 Celtics. He spent his final year with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Then his career ended. Stith said the reason can be summed up in two words:
LeBron James.
The Cavaliers were more interested in positioning themselves to get the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft than winning games. So in the summer of 2002, Cleveland shipped Stith and Andre Miller to the Los Angeles Clippers. Stith was released in training camp.
Cleveland drafted James with the No. 1 pick in 2003, turning the Cavaliers into an instant NBA contender.
"They did things in order to ensure they got the first pick," Stith said. "It killed my career, but it lifted their organization."
James is still a big presence in Stith's life.
"My kids have his picture on their wall," Stith said. "I said, 'Don't you kids know that guy put your daddy out of a job?' They said, 'You played long enough.' "
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Following 18 years of high school, college and NBA basketball what else would Stith title his charitable foundation in Southside but "SCORE?"
The acronym stands for Setting Children On the Road to Empowerment, words that Stith lives by in the economically distressed Brunswick County area.
"A lot of our main employers are closing," Stith said. "The prison just closed last year and that provided a lot of jobs. It's really sad. The median income is below what it is across the state of Virginia. It's tough everywhere. We can't use that as a crutch. We've reaching out to different agencies for people to see if they can come in and just give these kids hope."
Brunswick gives its Southside basketball rivals little hope. The Bulldogs own three state titles -- including a victory over Cave Spring in the 2003 Group AA final -- and have missed just one regional tournament in the last four decades.
Cave Spring coach Billy Hicks is a big Stith fan.
"He obviously cares about those kids," Hicks said. "He's not big-timing them. He's not just standing over there saying, 'I'm Bryant Stith.'
"Just having him standing over there gives those kids a sense of pride. I think one of the things that makes Brunswick so good year after year is that sense of pride. There's absolutely nothing negative you can say."
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Stith's bond with Brunswick is forged in steel.
His father, Norman, spent three decades as a long-distance truck driver hauling steel up and down the East Coast. Bryant often was traveling out of state playing AAU basketball for the famed Hampton-based Boo Williams club.
So every year during his boyhood Stith would miss the first week of school and ride shotgun in his father's 18-wheeler.
Two years ago Norman Stith suffered a stroke, paralyzing his left side. Now father rides with son.
"I felt the Lord brought me home for a reason, to watch my kids grow and be closer to my mother and my father," Stith said. "I didn't have much of a childhood. I was always travelling with Boo Williams in the summer. I missed out on a lot of things in the pursuit of my dream."
Saturday, that means a fourth straight championship game.
Brunswick lost to William Fleming 66-57 in the 2007 Group AA final and fell to Millbrook 53-43 in 2008. Last year the Bulldogs lost 39-33 in overtime to Cave Spring.
Like any high school coach, Stith feels heat from fans.
"They cut me no slack," he laughed. "We're 24-3 and I probably made about 10 dumb decisions tonight in their eyes. But I love it. It keeps me on edge and I love the pressure."
Stith is sharing the ride with his two boys. Brandan Stith, a Brunswick freshman, will miss Saturday's final with a knee injury. Younger brother Broderick is an eighth-grader many already are comparing to Bryant at the same stage.
"Broderick and Brandan, they can play," Stith said.
But how long will they stay in Brunswick?
The former UVa All-American and NBA player does not hide the fact that his entry into high school coaching has changed his focus on the future.
"So much so, that I have my aspirations set a little bit higher than just coaching at the high school level," Stith said. "Therefore, at the right point in time it's going to be time for me to part ways with Brunswick."
Stith came back to Brunswick to hide from basketball.
Home and his old high school have healed him.
"These kids have restored the love that I had for the game," Stith said. "They have given me more than I can give to them. It was one of the best decisions that I've made in my life."
