March Madness is in full swing. This time of year always gives us many unique sports stories. It is not surprising, because up to 64 teams participate in the playoffs and the US college basketball system includes hundreds of teams. The NCAA tournament is famous for the fact that there are always stories of crazy underdogs who end up achieving some kind of success. The interaction of many franchises reveals the stories of people from different places and times, united by a common past.
One such story is from Duquesne College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This program has been in decline for decades. The most glorious years of the university were the fifties. If we look at the basketball players who passed through this university, we will not find any NBA stars there. Older fans may remember Norm Nixon, who played with Magic Johnson on the Los Angeles Lakers in the early 1980s.
So not only did this team advance to March Madness, but they also won in the first round. This happened to Duquesne for the first time in 55 years. However, in the second round the team lost in devastating fashion to Illinois, considered one of the favorites of the entire tournament.
Keith Dambrot
Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
But here we will not even worry about this achievement itself, but rather about those who are responsible for it. Who leads this team? Keith Dambrot. LeBron James fans who have delved into his biography will probably remember this name. This is the specialist who trained James at St. Vincent – St. Mary’s School. The school is located in LeBron’s hometown of Akron, Ohio.
LeBron, under Dambrot’s leadership, was able to achieve two state championships and also lead the school to a national ranking. The relationship between coach and player has always been respectful. An example of this is how James defended the specialist in his book. The fact is that already in the 1990s. scandals occurred with the reputation of certain public people in the United States. Keith went through the same thing, accused of racist comments he allegedly made while working at Central Michigan University from 1991 to 1993.
Lebron described in his book that he knew about the rumors about Dambrot, and specifically saw him before entering the San Vicente – Santa María school. James concluded that the specialist was not racist, and this was confirmed over the years of working with him. The star basketball player helped Keith protect his image, allowing the specialist to build a long-term career.
Drew Joyce III
Photo: Alberto E. Rodríguez/Getty Images
The second person to congratulate on Duquesne’s success is Drew Joyce III. He will surely be remembered by European basketball fans for his long career in the German championship, as well as by domestic fans for his participation in the VTB United League when he was a player for FC Minsk. Joyce was LeBron’s teammate at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s, but he didn’t make it to the NBA, so he decided to build his career in Europe. He achieved it: he became the Bundesliga record holder for the total number of assists.
A few years ago he ended his playing career and became a coach. In 2022, Drew led Duquesne in partnership with Keith. This type of duumvirate system can be found periodically at the student and school level in the United States. Thus, Joyce reunited with his high school coach. Both Dambrot and Drew are Akron natives. The city is quite close to Pittsburgh, so the conditions for them are quite comfortable.
Drew Joyce (left) and LeBron James (center) at the Shooting Stars premiere
Photo: Getty Images
In addition to playing with LeBron, Drew remains his friend to this day. Drew’s father, Drew Joyce II, is also a coach and in 2021 took over at St. Vincent – St. Mary’s. This is how everything turned out to be intertwined and life demonstrated once again that it goes in cycles.
Since LeBron plans to own an NBA team after he’s done playing, maybe he’ll invite his old friend to work for his franchise. In any case, the start of Joyce’s coaching career is a great success.
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