Sometimes all a fan knows are statistics.
Die-hard sports fans know who the impact players on their favorite teams are and they follow those players’ box scores throughout the season as if they are right there with them.
This can be said of University of Tampa basketball fans who follow team captain Jeremy Black. A junior at UT, Black has shown his skills on the court time and time again, but knowing the man behind the stats, and his not-so-easy life growing up, paints a picture of the player we see at each games tip-off.
Jeremy Black grew up in Tampa as the youngest of seven children. Having four sisters and two brothers, it wasn’t always easy for Jeremy to spend time with his father and stepmother.
“My father held down three jobs. He worked in the lumber business, in security, and owned his own lawn service,” Black said. “My stepmother also worked a lot, so a lot of my childhood I spent doing my own thing.”
Black started playing basketball at a young age and before he knew it he found family from the game.
“Going to Blake High School, my basketball coaches and teachers became my family since I didn’t get to see my parents that much,” Black said.
Black became the star of his high school team and averaged 14.4 points his senior year and led Hillsborough County with 15.4 rebounds a game. His rugged rebounding and overall skills in high school led him to become the first of his siblings to go to college. Black chose to go to UT.
Black has steadily improved in all three of his seasons at Tampa. In his sophomore campaign, he led the Sunshine State Conference with 102 offensive rebounds.
In the offseason between his sophomore and junior seasons, he worked on improving his perimeter shooting in order to help make up for the loss of 2005-2006 SSC Player of the Year Mark Borders. However, after being named team captain, Black worked just as hard to become a leader his teammates could follow.
“Jeremy is the most serious team captain I ever had. He leads by example by working hard in practice,” said Spartans forward Chris Evans.
Black not only leads by example in practice, but he also goes out of his way to get into his teammates minds.
“He is like a quote king. I go to my locker and there’s always a leadership quote there,” Evan said. “It’s just good to read and keep you focused and motivated.”
Black has made a habit of finding inspirational quotes and putting them in his teammate’s lockers. His interest with quotes started last year. After losing his stepmother to a long suffering ailment, Black took up on reading books of quotes.
“My step mother kind of raised me. We weren’t that close, but she was always there for me,” Black said. “I guess after she died, I started reading books of quotes and started to find a lot of good basketball ones.”
As a team leader, Black also helped his teammates persevere throughout this year’s up and down season. When the team was playing poorly in the middle of the season, Black made players sign a contract.
In it they had to agree not to complain, and to work hard to improve. To Black, pushing his teammates was necessary.
“Sometimes you have to step up and tell people to step up”, Black said.
It seems to have worked as the Spartans have turned their season around and won five of their last six games after a victory over Florida Southern.
Coach Richard Schmidt appreciates his captain’s hard work and inspiration.
“Jeremy is the most competitive guy on the team. He’s a battler, and I’d say he has improved the most out of any player that has ever played at UT from their first year to now,” Schmidt said. “He is also an outstanding guy. He works as a Sports Information Director and helps out all the other sports departments at UT.”
Jeremy Black is a man who has overcome a lot.
His six siblings still live locally, with his sisters each having two children and his brothers still searching for careers. With everything he has gone through, Black still concentrates on helping others and tries to avoid the spotlight.
“He is always giving to other people. In the summer, when we were down here practicing if he had money he’d always pay for my lunch and vice versa,” Chris Evans said.
Well for one moment hopefully Jeremy can stand the spotlight. He’s earned it.