SPORTS

Adam Himmelsbach | New UK assistant gave player a shot

Adam Himmelsbach
ahimmelsbach@courier-journal.com

The Kentucky basketball team's new assistant coach, Barry Rohrssen, has a reputation as a smooth, charming recruiter. He is one of John Calipari's longtime confidants, and his recent hire was widely praised.

I've never met Rohrssen. I spoke to him over the phone once, and that was five years ago. But this is a short story about his act of kindness that led to that one phone conversation. Maybe it's indicative of the way he operates.

In February of 2009, I drove to Fork Union Military Academy, an all-boys school tucked in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. I was there to write a New York Times story about a basketball player named Kevin Laue.

Laue seemed to have it all. He was 6 feet 10. He could run the floor. He was a good passer. He was smart and perceptive. He was also born with just one full arm.

Laue's left arm ended at the elbow, but it seemed unfair to call it a disability. Laue could still do most things you and I can do, and some things we can't — like dunk a basketball.

Laue was raised in Pleasanton, Calif. He played for his varsity basketball team there, but colleges hardly noticed. So he transferred to Fork Union — a traditional power that had sent countless players to Division I programs — for a year of postgraduate study.

Laue played well. He would catch the ball with his large right hand and clamp it against his nub. He'd make jump hooks. He'd block shots.

College coaches came through Fork Union's gym and were always impressed, yet they always left without offering scholarships. And on some level, you couldn't blame them.

This was not hey-give-the-kid-an-honorary-jersey-and-let's-all-smile. College basketball scholarships are rare and highly valued and important, and they must be earned. I wrote the story about Laue that winter, and a few quiet months passed.

I called Laue again, and he said he still hadn't received any scholarship offers. Time was running out.

Then one day in May, I was contacted by Rohrssen (pronounced RAW-son), who was then the head coach at Manhattan University. The university's president, Brother Thomas Scanlan, had seen the article, and he had been inspired by Laue, and he had asked Rohrssen to look into it.

Rohrssen couldn't believe what he saw. He gave Kevin Laue the scholarship he had been working toward for so long. He gave him a chance that the other college coaches had not. And that's admirable.

"For all the right reasons, Kevin deserves this chance," Rohrssen told me then. "He's someone who won't take this for granted."

Laue tallied a total of 42 points and 36 rebounds over his three seasons with the Jaspers, though his impact can't be measured in numbers.

More stories were written about him. A documentary was filmed. People with similar disabilities gravitated toward him. They said he had given them hope. Kevin Laue became an inspiration.

Meanwhile, the Manhattan basketball program was scuffling. After going 6-25 in 2011, Rohrssen was fired, later resurfacing as an assistant coach at Pittsburgh. His heartwarming gesture was mostly forgotten.

I've never met Barry Rohrssen and don't really know much about his character. But I think this simple, kind-hearted action says a lot, and I think it sets a good example for the rest of us.

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at 502-582-4372 by email ahimmelsbach@courier-journal.com and on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach