Tuesday, February 27, 2001
Hunter beats odds at Ohio U.
Withrow grad emerges from rocky home life to basketball stardom
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It is easy to look at Brandon Hunter and wonder how he ended up playing at a mid-major school like Ohio University.
Hunter, after all, is the big, strong rebounder — just the kind of player this year's University of Cincinnati team could use. And Hunter grew up a five-minute walk from UC's campus.
“UC made a mistake,” said George Jackson, who coached Hunter at Withrow High School. “He really wanted to go there, but a lot of schools made a mistake on him.”
Hunter, who comes to Oxford Wednesday to play Miami University, did make a couple of unofficial visits to UC. But the Bearcats only extended an offer to walk on. Xavier barely recruited Hunter at all.
Those who know Hunter's whole story think it's a wonderful thing that's he's playing college basketball at all.
“To be honest, I didn't think he'd make it,” his uncle, Larry Hunter, said. “Brandon comes from very meager means. His home life wasn't good.”
Larry Hunter said Brandon's parents were not always there for Brandon. Larry's sister is Brandon's mother. “There was no moral support for him,” Larry Hunter said.
Brandon Hunter could have been a victim of the streets, too.
Larry Hunter lived in New York City for a time. When he came back to Cincinnati in 1990, and saw 10-year-old Brandon, he didn't like what he saw.
“He wasn't getting any attention. He wasn't getting any love or understanding.”
His uncle encouraged Brandon to turn to sports. Basketball became his game. He didn't play organized sports until he was in the eighth grade.
And, almost as soon as he began playing, he had to give up sports. He was needed at home.
“There was nobody to babysit my sisters,” he said. “I had to help out my mom. She didn't have money for a baby-sitter. It was up to me to take care of them.
“But it made me stronger. It made me the person I am today.”
The person he is today is a very good basketball player, a dean's list student, and, by all accounts, a very good person.
“He's very mature,” said OU coach Larry Hunter, no relation. “The experience he's had — he's seen quite a lot for a 20 year old — may have helped him get there. He knows right and wrong. He listens to people. He's very caring. He just has a great personality.”
Talented player
Hunter is one of the best basketball players in the region. He is 6-foot-7, 260 pounds. He's second in the Mid-American Conference in rebounding and sixth in scoring. Down in Athens, Ohio, they're comparing him to Gary Trent. Trent is the former OU star who now is playing for the Dallas Mavericks.
“At this stage, he's ahead of where Gary Trent was,” coach Hunter said. “He has better ball skills. He's a better shooter from the perimeter. Gary was more explosive. But Brandon is an awfully good player.”
Hunter is a player in the MAC mold of Trent, Wally Szczerbiak and Bonzi Wells — talented players who with four years of polish in the MAC can play and thrive in the NBA.
Hunter nearly missed his chance. Basketball was his game, but he seemed more likely to become a playground legend than a possible NBA player.
“He always had a basketball in his hands,” said his grandmother Lillie Milton. “He always wanted to be a player.”
Hunter wasn't particularly big or strong for his age.
“I used to play the local parks,” he said. “I was a really good dribbler. That's all I could do.”
His first taste of organized basketball came at Schwab Junior High as an eighth grader. Antwan Peek, now a star defensive lineman on the University of Cincinnati football team, was the star at Schwab. Hunter fed the big man.
“He was so much bigger and he could jump so high,” Hunter said. “I just passed it to him.”
Hunter entered Withrow the next year. He was 6-foot, maybe 160 pounds.
That's when his basketball career was nearly permanently derailed. His sisters, Jenna and Jennelle, needed someone to take care of them.
Hunter won't go into specifics on why the responsibility fell to him.
“At some times in life, things go a little different when you have rough parents,” Milton said. “My son's not a great guy, and his mother's not a great girl.”
“It's something I had to deal with,” Hunter said. “I couldn't make the commitment you have to make to play basketball at Withrow.”
His grandparents — Milton, Arthur and Mildred Clark — chipped in. The Clarks began taking care of the girls. Milton bought him a car, so he could juggle basketball, a part-time job and school. (Mildred Clark has since died. Hunter has her name tattooed on his left shoulder; he still drives the 1985 Buick LaSabre Milton bought him).
“My grandparents really helped me out,” he said. “Without them, I don't know if I could have played basketball.”
Withrow to OU
Hunter was not an instant star at Withrow.
“He was a late bloomer,” Jackson said. “It hurt him that he didn't play as a freshman. And he had always been a guard. Then his body started to develop.”
Hunter played junior varsity as a sophomore.
His junior year was his breakout year. He had grown to 6-6 and bulked up to 225. He averaged 13 points and 11 rebounds, leading Withrow to a regional championship. The Tigers lost in the state semifinals to Lakewood St. Edward's, a team led by UC's Steve Logan.
Hunter signed with OU before his senior year. Waiting would have meant a chance to get signed by a big-name school.
“Ohio U. was committed to me,” Hunter said. “I was telling them I was thinking about not signing, but they were committed. That took a lot of pressure off me. Waiting for the big schools might have been cool, but OU is where I want to be.”
Hunter had a solid year as a senior: 19.5 points, 15 rebounds, 4.5 assists a game. He led Withrow to the Division I Sweet 16.
“He had really started to develop by then,” Jackson said. “People said he could help any team in the country at that point. Maybe not start but definitely play as a freshman.”
The best was to come that summer. Hunter led the Ohio team to the title in Wendy's Classic, an all-star tourney with teams from Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.
“It was the first time Ohio had won it,” Jackson said. “He was the MVP. People were saying, "How could this kid end up at Ohio U.?'”
College success
Hunter was a starter from Game One at Ohio U. He had bulked up to 260 though the summer weight program.
“The strength definitely helps me,” he said. “I can bully people around, and I never get pushed around.”
Hunter has had some monster games. He had 23 points for OU on Monday night, and 33 points and 12 rebounds on Saturday. He had 37 points against Duquesne; 25 points and 19 rebounds against Miami; and 11 double-doubles in all.
Hunter makes a homecoming of sorts Wednesday when the Bobcats come to Oxford to play Miami.
Twenty or so of Hunter's relatives will be there. His mother, Carol Hunter, and his father, Stanley Prophett, may be among them. Both are both “sort of” back in his life, Brandon said.
Jenna and Jennelle stay with Clark now, but Hunter still feels responsibility.
“Brandon wants to come back and take care of sisters,” his uncle Larry Hunter said. “He'd like to play in the NBA, but he knows 6-7 is a little small. He may end up playing overseas. But he'll take care of the girls either way.”
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