shakes wrote:
When my college buddy texted me this story yesterday it hit me really hard. Loved Nathan. Was devastated when he failed out of DePaul after his freshman year, was devastated years later when I heard he was paralyzed and then was devastated yet again yesterday when I heard the news. One of the great "what could've been" stories in basketball. There's no telling how good he would've been if his head was on straight. And it's not like he was a bad kid. He wasn't. Very nice, quiet kid. He just sucked at school.
But damn could he play. I remember watching him eat senior Nick Van Exel's lunch every time we played Cincy that year. All year whenever DePaul needed a stop he would go out and simply strip the ball clean from the other team's point guard. He was amazing in that regard.
There are a few things where I remember where I was when they happened.....Regan getting shot, finding out Kurt Cobain died, 9/11. Finding out that Nathan had failed out of DePaul is on that list too.
RIP HOWARD
When he left Depaul he transferred to NLU (Now Louisiana-Monroe) which was 30 minutes away from the University that i was attending. Couple of my friends from college happened to take a trip down to NLU's campus where they bumped into him in the gym.
I always remembered them telling me how he told them that he was enrolled at NLU but he really didn't have to attend any classes. Apparently he and the Administration along with the coaches had worked it so that he could chill on the academic side and still stay eligible. The instructors were going to take care of it for him.
I knew then why he actually transferred there. It didn't make sense that a guy that was essentially a pro would transfer to a spot like that.
I guess he had to find a spot that would ghost grade him and they were all too happy to oblige him.
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The Hawk wrote:
This is going to reach a head pretty soon.