WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2024 BOOK REVIEW

 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2024 - ONE LAST BOOK REVIEW

Sometimes, I don’t listen to an audiobook for weeks, and then times, I can’t avoid them.  So, after listening to The Woman (Kristen Hannah), I listened to a John Grisham book.

I picked the “wrong” book.  Some time back, I listened to Sycamore Row by John Grisham and read that it was the middle book in a series of three books.  So, I went to my library app and looked for the first book in the series.  It wasn’t available, so I picked “Sooley” instead.  I had about four longer drives in the last two days to get through the audiobook quickly.

Sam Soolemond was a teenage basketball player in South Sudan, but he was from a small village away from the capital. Somehow, his name was put forward as a possible member of a teenage team recruited to play in a tournament in the United States. His family (and most in the village) were poor. He took his first bus ride to Capitol City, where 29 other potential basketball players were. The organizer was a former basketball player from South Sudan who played college basketball in the United States.  

Sam was proliferating—maybe 7 or 8 inches in the scope of the entire book!!! But he was awkward and had limited skills—besides being fast.  

The organizer could only take 15 boys, so half of the 30 boys made the trip, and half went home.  The first 14 players were good - and it was hard to decide on the last player.  The organizer agonized over the previous player and chose this fast, agile, growing boy from the sticks.  They flew to the United States and practiced and played in a tournament of similar international (and US) teams.  

A college basketball recruiter scouted the games for good players. The plan was to attract good international talent and give them a scholarship to play basketball.  

Sam Soolemond got the nickname “Sooley.” He didn’t play well but was at the gym early in the morning, shooting baskets and improving.  The South Sudan team didn’t make it to the next level. However, some players were deemed good enough and were recruited to play on college teams. The organizer visited with a friend from a historically black College and University (HBCU) who selected Sooley.  

Sooley red-shirted his freshman year but was always at practice and shooting in the gym for a couple of hours a day. The team lost some players to injuries and other issues, and by the second half of the season, the coach took Sooley off his redshirt year and played him.  

*****

Meanwhile, back in South Sudan, rebels had invaded his family’s village and had rounded up all the men and put them in the only church (a Catholic Church) - and killed them.  The rebels took Sooley’s sister, stripped her, and <. . .>.  Somehow, his mother and two brothers escaped to a refugee camp in Uganda.

When Sooley found out where his family was, he talked to them every Wednesday morning using a  Doctors Without Borders satellite phone.  

*****

BOOM - he was making three-point shots, blocking shots by the other team, grabbing rebounds, and jumping higher.  After a dismal start to the season, by conference tournament time. Sooley was scoring 30 to 50 points a game.  Miraculously, the team won the conference tournament and got an invitation to the “Big Dance.”  They beat Duke (a number one seed) in the first round (as a sixteen seed), with Sooley scoring 40 and 50 points per game.

*****

As the team advanced to the final four, aide workers found a way to get a satellite feed of the game in the refugee camp.  

*****

He was a friendly young man, always smiling.  

Soon, Sooley became a national icon. The skinny black kid from the outback of South Sudan who scored 50 points a game in the National Tournament was a hit. His social media accounts reached into the tens of thousands.  ESPN replayed his long-range shots (aka “bombs”) and his dunks.  The freshman kid was getting attention from the NBA (National Basketball Association) to turn pro.  

*****

Central Carolina, a black college, made it to the final four. They were the Cinderella of the basketball season—never before had they made the NCAA tournament.  And, what a great human interest story - how his family was in a refugee camp in Uganda and how this kid called his family every week over difficult and expensive satellite phones. 

They lost in the first game of the Final Four, but now the agents and scouts are really pestering him to come out for the NBA draft. He declared for the draft and was drafted early in the first round. His agents helped him get a guaranteed $40 million for two years and a four-year contract.  

*****

The money went to Sooley’s head.  The basketball coach arranged for Sooley to have a part-time job on campus - for $8 an hour.  Now, he would be getting at least 40 million.  He could move his mother out of the refugee camp.  

***

He was invited to a wild party.  At the party, a girl gave him some ecstasy pills.  This poor black kid from one of the poorest nations on earth was unaccustomed to such will parties.  He took all the pills - and died of an overdose before he could collect even a cent as a professional player.  

*****

It was a terrible waste of a potentially valuable basketball player, sports ambassador to South Sudan, and role model for others.

*****

His friends established a non-profit fund that garnered a lot of money and brought his mother and two brothers to the United States.

******

Okay - so what did I learn from this book?  

Don’t get too big for your pants!!  Just because you hit it rich - don’t go to the parties and do stupid things.  Remember your family.  

And always smile, be warm and gracious, and humble.

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Karen -Anne White, December 11, 2024