Greatest Stories Ever Told: The Story of Joshua ~Chapter 3

At 12 years old, in 6th grade, Mr. Graves, Joshua's school counselor, had taken his class went to visit an airforce base. There they were walked through the programs that they had to offer, and were encouraged to take the very same tests that their Airforce recruits were required to take. Joshua blew them away, not just with one test, but acing all of them. They invited him to try their Airforce simulator which the fighter pilots use to train on. He aced this program as well.

At this age he stood 4'10" and wore glasses due to eye conditions called conjunctivitis and photo-sensitivity. During the day he would often have to wear sunglasses to protect his eyes from the brightness of light, and at night his eyes would often glow from the over sensitivity to take in light, even in the dark. The diseases would make his eyes twitch very badly and give him facial ticks. He had prescription eye drops, as his eyes would produce no natural tears. He dreamed of being a fighter pilot, but at the time, with his glasses, it was not a possibility.

At the age of 13, Joshua had grown into a very attractive young man. He excelled at every sport and had the honor of walking down the "senior hall" not just without any bullying, but with the support, encouragement and friendship of the senior boys, and the flattery of the senior girls. The girls would surround his and tousle his hair, and comment on what a lady killer he would be when he got older.

Joshua has always excelled in athletics. Every sport he excelled in, he pushed himself beyond the limits that even he imagined until he was known as the golden boy of his area. But this was not a term that he embraced or was proud of, because his quest was always to better himself. But his athletic passion was basketball. During his 8th grade year he scored 51 points in one game, breaking records, and led his tea

m to go on to score over 90 points together. He broke national records with a quadruple double; scoring 51 points, performing 12 steals, getting 15 rebounds and 11 assists.

At the end of his 8th grade year went to see an eye doctor. His eyes had corrected themselves. When he showed up at school Mr. Graves, his semi-retired school counselor, and asked Joshua if he had gotten contacts. Joshua replied, "No, my eyes corrected themselves. I have 20/10 vision now."

When Mr. Graves had seen and heard this, he was elated for Joshua. Mr. Grave's son was the captain of a nuclear submarine. He loved the military and immediately set up an opportunity for Joshua to fly in a military helicopter and, what is a gunship, gave Joshua the stick to fly himself for about 5 minutes. As everyone watched, Joshua got to fly over their local areas, basically confined within a few square miles. But by this time, he had already given his heart over to basketball.

He spent hours and hours after working a laborious job, sometimes up to 12 hours a day during the summer practicing; even when school started, into the winter months sometimes playing so late into the evening, he'd play by just a solitary street light. And many times, not having a light at all using only the light of the moon. When he became a freshman in high school he grew to 5'1". He was asked to move up to varsity, but he turned it down because he did not feel he had anything to contribute/for the team; and he also felt that it would cause problems with his classmates who were not offered this opportunity. With these factors combined, it did not seem like the best decision for the time.

Coming into his sophomore year, throughout the summer, he had played almost 1000 hours of basketball and shot up to a height of 5'8" though still short in the world of basketball. As he came into the first open gym, he stole the ball from an opponent, took off from the corner of the free throw line and dunked it. He would stretch religiously, even hanging from the clothes line bar, hoping he would grow. He would do hours of exercises to increase his jumping ability, but what also helped was his Uncle Vinny, who was in the Navy, and introduced Joshua to martial arts. By this time he had already reached a black belt in Tai Kwon Do, a brown belt in judo, and had been long into his quest of mastering the art of Jeet Kune Do.

But Joshua always felt as though something were missing. He'd say, 'I feel like I need a guitar in my hand.'

Throughout his young life he was groomed by another man who was a coach, a teacher and a mentor to Joshua. That man's name was Mr. McNally. He had coached college and professional teams in both football and basketball. Mr. McNally started Joshua out, at a young age, managing the teams. Helping both he and the players out in both football and basketball. He would always encourage Joshua, and often ask him to demonstrate something for the older kids to watch.

Joshua's sister was an All State, which later turned into All American, track sprinter; because of this it was expected out of him as well. Joshua ran track, overlapped running cross country with playing football, and of course his passion, basketball. Mr. McNally had groomed Joshua to be his golden boy. He had planned to retire once Joshua had graduated; however, his wife became very ill, forcing Mr. McNally to retire when Joshua was just a freshman in high school; bringing on chaos into the school with coaches coming in and out all the time as well as teachers to fill the void.

Even with these hiccups, Joshua was still recognized as one of the two best high school basketball players in the United States. At only 5'8" he was barely beat out for the number one spot by Chris Webber, who was his friend and ended up going on to play professional basketball. Joshua was rated just under Chris, though Chris was a full foot taller. Joshua had broken records in dunks per game, points, assists, rebounds and steals. He played with migraines that plagued him almost daily, and had severe hypoglycemia; having no idea at the time the autoimmune diseases that plagued his body, not to find out until years later.

As many at this time looked to one man for basketball, Joshua did as well. This was, of course, none other than Michael Jordan. Though gifted in the style of how Michael played, he also learned and patterned his game after Michael Jordan; and his professional behavior both on and off the court. As Joshua was everything Michael at this time, he had heard of the same situation with height happening to MJ and the love and desire they both had for the game of basketball. When Joshua was young, doctors had told him that he's supposed to be 6'6", which as a young man like Joshua, made him elated; because that was and is Michael Jordan's height. Though he eventually grew to well over 6'3", at 5'8" he was capable of doing anything and everything Michael Jordan could do. For all those who remember MJ, every dunk that he was doing, Joshua was doing as a sophomore at only 5'8".

As Joshua had foot problems, specifically trouble with his arches, it was very difficult to find a pair of shoes. Also the fact that he had very large feet and very large hands. Being able to palm the ball when only at 5'1". As his team wore the same shoes, and Joshua was given the number 23, he was also allowed to be the only player on the team to wear Air Jordans, at this time called Hare Jordans. These were one of the many pair of Michael Jordan shoes he had owned over the years. As stated earlier, Joshua was everything Michael Jordan, owning over 50 hats, 25 t-shirts, a dozen warm up suits, and every pair of Michael Jordan shoes that had ever come out. All Nike Air Jordan clothing. As many would say it was an obsession, Joshua would say, 'it's not an obsession when it's healthy.' Convicted as just a young man.

Practice

By the end of Joshua's sophomore year, he had broken a multitude of national records. Though his team's success and camaraderie was more important; his abilities and his team would only get better in the years to come. One of the records that Joshua had broken at 5'8"and just turning 16 January 14th of his sophomore year, was that he had broken the national dunk record for one game. In one game he had dunked 9 times. Which was quite an achievement for him, as it would be for anyone. He very proudly held that record; until three days later his good friend, Chris Webber broke it by only one dunk. (We must add again; that Chris Webber was a foot taller and almost two years older than Joshua)Though mainly a one footed jumper, Joshua was measured jumping off of two legs as having a 51" vertical.