Tommy Randolph lost his mom the summer before his sophomore year. Basketball and the Ebert family have helped him through it
Tommy Randolph can't forget. He won't ever forget the day he discovered his mother dead. It was two summers ago. He had just returned from a basketball workout.
Randolph, 17, a 6-foot-2 point guard, has gained strength through the Ebert family and basketball, a sport in which he has taken off as one of the state's top high school players this season, regardless of conference. "Often times, people will say, 'Oh, you just play 2A teams.' But I say, 'Look what he did in a tournament, playing 5A and 6A teams.' He averaged 26 points in all four games to start it off."
Basketball has been easy growing up. The hard part was life. Raised in south Phoenix, seeing horrible things around him, one of five children raised by his mom, he watched how hard his mom worked trying to keep meals on the table. She worked two, three jobs. Randolph said there are times that are harder than others thinking about his mom. He said he didn't know his dad growing up, so his mom played both roles at home for him. She was his biggest fan.
"It was the hardest day of my coaching career, and more than 100 times harder for Tommy, that being his mom," Stryczek said."He's a great kid off the court. Like, no problems. He's dealt with that by helping mentor his teammates and just by living in the gym.
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