Newsletters
R.J.’s hoop dreams were lost and found
As a star basketball player at Woodward High School, R.J. had dreams of NBA glory—but life took a very different turn. As a high school junior, he was kicked off the basketball team for alcohol use. He got back up, though, and led the team to the state title as a senior in a memorable game that still holds the state record for most points scored in a championship game. He was named MVP and one of the city’s top 100 players of all time by the Cincinnati Enquirer.
R.J.’s college basketball career was a series of ups and downs. After two seasons of playing for a junior college, he eventually transferred to the University of Dayton. As a junior, he was on his way to being regarded as one of the best players in the nation. But shortly into the season of his senior year he was ruled academically ineligible to play. He knew his NBA dream was effectively gone.
"That was probably the worst time in my life," says
R.J. "Not doing what I was supposed to do took away
my opportunity to make the NBA…It was a once-ina-
lifetime opportunity." Along with his shattered
dreams, his drug and alcohol use... Read the full story in our June 2013 Newsletter.
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