thatsjared.com

The following appeared in the Flint Journal. Copy by Jared Field and photo by Stuart Brauer.

Basketball is life only to a naive few who haven’t experienced the trials and tribulations of living day-to-day.
Mott Community College’s Kevin Tiggs, now rated one of the top junior college prospects in the country, is no stranger to life’s hardships, or the hard work it takes to overcome them.

Growing up on Flint’s rough and tumble north side, very little came easy for him, he had to earn everything he has. The 22-year-old sophomore small forward has a story that, for basketball fans in the city of Flint, rings all too familiar.

Only there’s a catch.

His story isn’t a cautionary tale it’s an inspiration.

“Kevin is an inspiration to me as a coach,” said Mott head coach, Steve Schmidt. “It’s exciting for me to think about how far he has come. For a kid who barely played in high school to put himself in a position to be an All-American and to have the opportunities that he has created for himself at the next level it’s inspiring.”

Tiggs spent the better part of his youth as a fixture on basketball courts all across the city, taking on all comers. If there was a game to be found in Flint, Tiggs would find it.

“Me and my friends would just go to random parks and just dominate,” said Tiggs. “Manhall (west Flint), Pengelly (south Flint), Berston (north Flint), it didn’t matter.”

It was this same nose for competition that led him to Northern high school during his junior year for what he thought was a run-of-the-mill open gym.

“There were a bunch of people there, and I didn’t think there was any way we could all play,” said Tiggs. “As it turned out, Coach Pleasant (former Northern head coach) was there and he just started running us. I thought to myself ‘this isn’t an open gym.’”

Tiggs had stumbled upon a tryout, and coach Pleasant liked what he saw.

“I was leaving, and coach Pleasant started chasing me,” said Tiggs. “He was saying, ‘hey kid, hey kid,’ he tracked me down and told me that he wanted me to come back.”

Tiggs, who was actually a student at Flint Schools of Choice at the time, made the Vikings’ varsity squad as a junior before losing his athletic eligibility as a senior. At 19, he was too old for varsity sports.

But for Tiggs, basketball soon became an afterthought.

Then, during his junior year of high school, Tiggs’ mother died.

“At the time when my mom passed, basketball was really the last thing on my mind,” said Tiggs, whose father died last year as well.

But Kevin was always the first thing on the mind of his mother.

“I miss her so much,” he said. “If you had only met my mother – she would be so proud. She would be there in the stands screaming, ‘That’s my baby.’ “

After graduating from Schools of Choice, Tiggs promptly entered the work world. He took a job working 40 hours a week at an auto parts distribution center on Corunna Road.

“I went to work, and I didn’t even think about basketball,” he said. “I still played at the park and in a couple of leagues, but that was it. At the time when I was working, I wasn’t really thinking about school, either. I just thought that if I lost my job I would enroll in school. But, college was always an option for me.”

In the winter of 2005 after another fortuitous open gym at Ballenger Field House, Tiggs exercised that
option and enrolled at Mott Community College.

“I heard they had an open gym at Mott, so I went up there,” said Tiggs. “I got to playing and I just said ‘forget it, I’m going to enroll here.’ “

Tiggs got his first big break at Mott in the classroom as a student in Schmidt’s basketball activities course. Schmidt, who had never seen Tiggs play in high school had already been tipped off about the wiry 6-foot-4 kid by Mott standout and current Florida State Seminole, Jerel Allen.

“A lot of kids take that class with the hope that I’ll notice them,” said Schmidt. “And wow, I noticed him. He was a little strange at first, and I didn’t really understand his enthusiasm – always laughing and smiling in the middle of games. But, Kevin’s the type of kid that once you get to know him, you can’t help but to like him.”

Tiggs’ first year playing at Mott was only his second crack at organized basketball. Even so, by the end of the season Tiggs had earned his coach’s trust and the moniker of captain on a Bears’ squad that finished 25-6 and won the state title.

This past summer, some of Tiggs’ playground magic came to the fore at the Flint City Pro-Am League, where he turned a lot of heads on his way to being named the league’s most valuable player.

“I didn’t need the pro-am for my confidence, I already had that – that’s just me,” Tiggs said. “I had the upper hand, though, because I had been working out all summer. I think the rest of those guys were tired and I just outworked them.”

This season, Tiggs has been wearing out the opposition as a matter of course.
He is averaging 18 points a game with seven rebounds and three blocks, and shooting 64 percent from the field.

In January, Tiggs was recognized by the NJCAA as the national player of the week after a three-game stretch in which the left-hander made good on 40 of 47 shots from the field.

And now the phone calls and letters from major division one universities are coming in.

“The only thing that’s tough about (the recruiting process) is that when I’m trying to focus on our games, they are steady calling me,” he said. “It makes me feel good, though, knowing that all that hard work is going to pay off.”

And the list is only going to get longer as more suitors are jumping in line every week.

“It’s a blessing from God that all this has happened,” he said.

But, it’s even more than that.

“It’s a good lesson for young people to learn,” said Schmidt. “It’s not too late to go after your dreams, and he’s a classic example of why I say that.”

Tiggs and the Bears, ranked No. 5 in Divison II, host Schoolcraft at 7:30 tonight.