A few months ago, USC Head Coach Kevin O'Neill received an email. After reading its contents, his immediate thought was to extend a helping hand to a person with an incredible story and to a person that had given so much and gotten little in return.
Coach O'Neill took it upon himself to respond to this email and in turn change the life of this man, while reminding his players of how lucky and gifted they are to be playing college basketball. Some, as they would soon find out, would not be able to get the same chance that they did.
In the middle of August, Coach O'Neill answered the call, and a man walked into the gym standing about six-foot-six inches tall. The players did not know who he was, but within minutes, it was if he had been there all along.
For more than a week, this man became part of the team, helping in every player's individual workouts. He offered not only basketball advice, but many life lessons that have stuck with the Trojan players, even to this day.
He told the team his name, and that he too like them, wanted to be a college basketball player. Recruited out of San Diego county, he starred at Helix high school, receiving notable attention from college programs. Instead, he went straight into the draft-- the military draft.
Touring in Bagdad, Iraq, in now his second year in the Army, an RPG struck his Humvee. And then another went sailing past the window, only to have a third shot strike the vehicle on its left side. When the dust cleared, his left arm was in shambles from the elbow down to his wrist. An AK-47 bullet also sat sunken into his upper-arm just below his shoulder. He was alive, but called it the scariest day of his life.
He said that he was blessed that day to survive, and after returning home after successfully serving his country, it was time to get a former love of his life back into his daily routine, basketball.
Without ever meeting the man, Head Coach Kevin O'Neill said, "it was a no brainer." Explained in the email was this man's love of basketball and that he had aspirations of becoming a division-one basketball coach.
"I am so thankful that Coach O'Neill reached out to me," he said. "The funny thing is, my coaching style would be exactly like his. He coaches just like they way I led my troops in the Army."
Retiring with the rank of Staff Sergeant, this man had had his leadership tested in the army, and now it was time for it to be tested on the basketball court. Head Coach Kevin O'Neill quickly relinquished the reins, and he said he couldn't have been happier.
Calls of "Coach Lorenzo" could be heard throughout the gym, and today, Coach Lorenzo Nathan, walked back into the gym and gave something very special back to the team that have given him so much.
Mr. Nathan presented Head Coach Kevin O'Neill and the team with a plaque commemorating his service to the military, wanting to share with them a part of him, after they had shared so much of themselves to a man they now call part of the team, and a member of the Trojan Family.
By: Josh Moser
