There are events in every person's life that affect change.
Sometimes these events are small, nearly unnoticeable...Bowling Green point
guard Antonio Daniels wasn't so lucky.
On the morning of February 7, 1996, Antonio was awakened at 8:00 AM
by Bowling Green State University head basketball coach, Jim Larranaga, and
an assistant. Neither of the coaches could look at Antonio, they just kept
looking at the floor. Antonio noticed this. Then the phone rang...it was
Antonio's mom. She told him the news: Antonio's brother, Chris, was dead.
Antonio's only reply was "No." Then he dropped the phone, rolled back
over in bed and pulled the covers over his head in shocked disbelief.
Chris was one year older than Antonio and was Antonio's hero.
Chris was the starting center for the University of Dayton. They had grown
up together, played together, learned the game of basketball together and
had been close their whole lives. Antonio considered Dayton for his
college career as well, but they didn't seem serious in their recruitment.
Still, the two would try to get to the other's games as often as possible,
even though their schedules made it difficult. This is why Antonio played
basketball two days after his brother's funeral.
The changes in Antonio were noticeable immediately. First
physically, he had shaved his head, and changed his jersey number from 10
that he had worn his whole basketball life to 33, his brother's number.
Mentally though, the changes were a bit more subtle and took more time to
surface.
Bowling Green was playing Eastern Michigan who was ranked 23rd in
the nation. The Falcons had been having a mediocre season and since no-one
expected Antonio to play, most people wrote the game off. Chris Daniels
had an opening in his schedule and was supposed to be at that game to watch
Antonio play. This is why Antonio played.
The team seemed to pull together for Eastern, each player had a
small black patch with Chris Daniels' #33 on their uniform. The fans were
given brown ribbons in memory of Chris and to show their support for
Antonio and his family. The Falcons hung tough with the faster and bigger
Eagles of Eastern, so tough that the game came down to one last shot.
Antonio got the ball, drove the length of the court and hit the shot for
the Falcon win. As the buzzer sounded, Antonio made a victory lap of the
court and pointed at his jersey, not being cocky, but as if to say, "This
was for Chris."
Antonio Daniels has always been a good basketball player. In high
school he led his Columbus St. Francis DeSales team in scoring as a senior
(21.3 PPG) and averaged almost ten assists a game. He was named Division
II player of the year in the state of Ohio as a senior and was well
recruited out of high school.
Half-way through his Freshman year at BG, Antonio had already
earned the starting point guard spot. He dished out almost four assists a
game to go along with his 12.6 points per game average, numbers that earned
him Mid-American Conference freshman of the year honors.
His sophomore and junior years saw continued steady play and solid
numbers, but Antonio's upward curve had seemed to level off a bit,
averaging 10.3 and 16 PPG for his sophomore and junior years respectively.
Then Chris died.
Antonio says the death of his brother is the worst thing that has
ever happened to him, nothing could be worse. He still thinks of his
brother all the time and plays every game for him. Little things that used
to affect him don't anymore.
As someone who has watched Antonio play in almost 75% of his
collegiate games, this is the change I notice in him most: the little
things don't affect him anymore. Antonio used to play with a big smile on
his face all the time, now he looks and acts like he is all business...all
the time. Antonio has been rock steady in his play this season, scoring
over 20 points in six of the Falcons' eight games so far. Not
coincidentally, the Falcons' only two losses came in the two sub-20 point
games.
Antonio has never been a whiner, but in the past he did tend to
hang his head after missing an easy shot, getting beaten off the dribble,
or after a questionable call. Now, he plays right through these
distractions.
This is Antonio's senior season at BG. In the Falcons' eight games
so far he is averaging 21.8 PPG (3rd in MAC) and 7.5 assists (1st in MAC).
He has the rare ability to find the open man, and also score from the point
guard position. He also has the luxury, at 6'5" (he's always been listed
at 6'4", but has grown since arriving at BG), of posting up opposing guards
and even some small forwards. Antonio also has some serious hops! During
the Falcons' Midnight Madness dunk contest, he took off from the foul-line
and clanged the ball off the back of the rim, he jumped too far!
Antonio has NBA aspirations...and these may be well within his
reach! After attending a Boston Celtics camp this past summer, Red
Auerbach had many positive comments concerning Antonio's game. Antonio
also plays in a summer league in Columbus with Jimmy Jackson and a few
other NBA players. Antonio was second in the league in scoring this past
summer and likes to brag about how he "dumped" 38 on J.J. while holding him
to 24.
The death of a loved one is never easy, especially when it's your
big brother who is a young, healthy athlete, and not to mention, your hero.
Antonio has handled the situation with grace and strength. He may not
realize it yet, but he has grown tremendously from this experience. On the
court, it has made him a steadier, more intense basketball player. Off the
court, when basketball is over, he will have the strength to be able to
deal with anything.
© 1996, Grant Cummings