College

Coming off one of the best seasons in Southern University Laboratory High School’s history, Bobby was riding on cloud nine with several major schools seeking his services. However, he elected to stay home and attend Southern University and A&M College, his parent’s Alma Mater. Given his academic and athletic credentials, it is no doubt he could have excelled at almost any school he would have chosen. His parents and brother, however, were delighted that he elected to stay home and attend a local university. This way, his family was able to follow his fledging academic and athletic career more closely, and to be there to guide and counsel, should he need such assistance. Throughout the early years, they stressed that he maintain a proper balance between academics and athletics. At times, peer pressure was very difficult for him to deal with, but he never strayed from the strong foundation of positive values his parents had instilled in him.
Thus, when others were out partying late at night, he chose to hit the books and keep his grades up. Weekends were not just for fun and games, but academic preparation as well. On weekends when he had home games, he would always find time to come home for a hot meal and family bonding. The end result of this was that, like elementary and high school, he consistently maintained a grade point average above a 3.0 throughout his collegiate career, graduating as an academic all American with a 3.2 grade point average, highest on the team.
With his academics well in hand, he began to focus more on polishing his athletic skills in preparation for the professional level. His coach stressed hard work and at times almost perfection. Even though Bobby was an all state basketball player coming out of high school, he had played the center position with his back turned mostly toward the front of the goal. This was fine for a 6.25 ft. high school center, but in college, the average height of a center was 6.9 ft. Thus, the best he could hope for was a small forward position for which he had been recruited. However, he quickly found that one of his teammates, a junior, had the small forward position locked up for the next two years. Bobby, thoughvery respectful and generally patient, was not fond of being a second or possibly even a third stringer, even though he was only a freshman. Thus, when the team’s best shooting guard was injured, Coach Ben Jobe announced during one practice session that he was looking for a replacement at shooting guard. Although Bobby had not played this position, he never backed away from a challenge, and beside, he knew that if he could do well at this position, he could work his way into the starting lineup as a freshman. So the next day, before practice began, he went to Coach Jobe and asked if he could try out for the position. Coach Jobe consented and the rest is history. Bobby worked harder for this position than he had ever worked before. His Father had erected a collegiate height goal and he would come out every chance he got to shoot and have the family retrieve the ball for him, often when it came through the net. By the end of the season, he was playing 15 or more minutes per game as Southern’s shooting guard. He went on to become one of the best basketball players that had ever played for Southern University.
By the time that he graduated from college, he was leading the nation in 3-point shooting and 4th in overall scoring with an average of 34.3 points per game. His highest and probably best collegiate game came in 1990 against Alcorn State University, where he hit 52 points, including ten 3-pointers, before a packed housed including a dozen professional NBAscouts. As some would say, he showed out for the scouts, and it definitely paid off. At the end of the season, he graduated on time in four years, majoring in animal science/pre-veterinary medicine with academic honors (3.2 GPA), a noble achievement for any student, let alone an athlete. But the best was yet to come.