Jerry Darnell Stackhouse. The head coach at THE Vanderbilt University!
As most people are gearing up to watch the NCAA National Championship game tonight, I can’t stop thinking about how proud of you I am at this moment. I’ve watched your introductory press conference a couple of times now and admired the way you responded to each and every question. (People may be surprised to know, I watch coach’s press conferences on the daily to see how they conduct themselves.) The entire time, I kept thinking one thing…I’m so proud of him!
As you know, I certainly looked up to you as long as I can remember. We are only five and half years apart, so I’ve always wanted to tag long. Even though you’re my uncle (yes, my uncle people…not my cousin), I’ve never called you Uncle Jerry. It’s always been Stack or just Unc. Nevertheless, you’ve always treated me like an equal. I remember going to watch you play in middle school and being in awe. When you got to high school, you would come pick me up and let me ride to the games with you. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t get in, because the gym was always sold out by 4:00! You insisted on the coach letting me have a practice jersey to wear during the games and the team really embraced me as one of the guys. I sat on the end of bench and couldn’t wait for my chance to play on that same floor just a few years later. When you left for Oak Hill, I was truly heartbroken, because I didn’t think I’d be able to see you play much anymore. Nevertheless, my Dad made sure we caught your games whenever we could. Upon leaving Kinston High School, I told you that I wanted to break all of your records. At first you laughed, but soon realized I was serious and told me if I did, you would give me $100. I remember calling you the night I broke the last remaining record and it was one of the proudest moments of my life. You were so happy for me and I appreciated it more than you’ll ever know. At the time, I just wanted to make you PROUD.
When you chose to attend the University of North Carolina, I immediately because a Tar Heel fan. I researched so much about the school and one day wanted to follow in your footsteps to Chapel Hill. During your two summers there, you always came to pick me up from Kinston and let me stay with you for a week or two. I was able to play in pick up games with you, your teammates and current pros. At first I was in awe, but you always made me feel like I belonged. You told me you were prepping me for what lied ahead, because you knew I would one day be in that position. Once again, I wanted to make you PROUD.
The day you decided to leave for the NBA was bittersweet for me. I knew why you were doing it (Duh, you had to!), but boy did I love you only being an hour and forty-five minutes away playing college basketball. During your rookie season (my 10th grade year), you and my Dad were talking on the phone and he told you I had to be out of school for a week with walking pneumonia. When you found out it wasn’t contagious (HA!), you asked my Dad if I could come to Philly for the week? I had to miss school anyway and you wanted to take me to practices and games. I’ll never forget how excited I was to see what NBA life entailed. As usual, you allowed me to be apart of everything! I sat in on practices, I was in the locker room after games and you just made me feel special. This trend continued throughout your NBA career. Whenever I’d call or text to ask to come see a game, you always welcomed me. It may seem like a small thing to most, but it meant everything to me.
Fast forward a few years after NBA retirement and you started coaching AAU. You still bring those teams to our family reunion every July to play against us. You always said there’s no better way to prepare them for battle than playing against our family. Trust me, you’re right! We are as competitive as it gets. During the practices, I show up and you tell me to just jump in and help coach where I see fit. During these times, I just try to do my best to connect with the boys and help out any way I can. You’ve done this for a few summers now, but there is one time that you’ve asked me to help that stick out forever. When you took the Raptors 905 G-League job, I reached out to you to ask if I could come and watch training camp. Without hesitation, you sent me the dates and told me I was welcomed. When I arrived, the team had just finished the first practice of a two-a-day and the coaches were getting ready to meet. I went in the coaches room with you and you introduced me to everyone. You guys began to meet and I remembered thinking wow, this is great! As you were going through the practice plan, one of the equipment managers walked in and you asked him to get some 905 gear for me, because I would be helping with practices all week. I was stunned at first, but thought you were just being cordial and allowing me to step foot on the court while you guys were practicing. At the next practice, you split the guards and big guys up and looked at me and told me to go work with the guards. Inside my head, I kept thinking, “Wait, what? Did he really just ask me to work with professional players? Wait, he didn’t give me any instructions? Does he just want me to wing it or assumed I was really paying attention in that meeting?” As you can imagine my heart was beating a million miles per second, but I realized it’s just basketball. I’ve been doing this all my life and you know how passionate I am about it, so give it your best shot. The next practice, you had to miss because you were closing on your home. It was a skill development practice and you asked me to once again help the guards. By now, I knew what you were trying accomplish offensively, so I just broke the drills down into pieces and helped where I saw fit. Once again, this may be a small thing to most, but you truly believed in me enough to do this! Once again, I just wanted to make you PROUD.
Okay, back to today. Today, our roles are reversed. I’m PROUD of you. I’m proud of you for many reasons. The person you are, because I truly know and have seen from where you’ve come. I’m proud of you taking a leap of faith to lead such a prestigious academic institution and develop young men into outstanding members of society. More importantly, I’m proud of you, because you continue to remain a role model for many. Including myself. You’ve shown me that dreams are possible. You’ve shown me that hard work pays off. You’ve shown me that everything is done on God’s time. You continue to give me hope. You continue to push me to dream. Not only dream, but dream BIG.
Today, I became a huge Vanderbilt Commodore fan. You can best believe I’m ready to Anchor Down! My entire life, I’ve been a huge Jerry Darnell Stackhouse fan. Not just because you’re family, but because you are YOU! For that Unc, I’m very PROUD.
Love you dude,
Baby Boy
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