When Isaiah Whitehead was beginning to take basketball seriously years ago, Jermaine Brown told him one day he would play in the McDonald’s All-American Game, the prestigious all-star showcase featuring the top 24 high school prospects in the country.
On the day that dream became a reality, the jovial and kind-hearted Brown was in a hospital room fighting for his life after suffering a brain aneurysm on Monday.
“I’m always thinking about him,” Whitehead said of the Lincoln assistant coach in a phone interview shortly after he was selected. “I’ve known him all my life. He told me I could do this and I kept on going harder and harder, and here I am today.”
The 6-foot-5 Coney Island native, a Seton Hall signee ranked among the top 20 players in the country, became the first McDonald’s All-American from the city since former Bishop Loughlin star JayVaughn Pinkston made the game in 2010. It will be shown live on ESPN from the United Center in Chicago April 2.
When his name was shown on the nationally-televised selection show, Whitehead smiled — an outburst for the unassuming star — while his mother, Ericka Rambert, said she screamed out in joy.
“It feels great, it’s a dream come true,” Whitehead said. “At first I was kind of nervous. They picked two shooting guards [before me]. I kind of didn’t think I was going to get picked. When I saw my name, it was a sigh of relief.
“All the greats that have come through [the game], it’s crazy. LeBron [James], Carmelo [Anthony], Kevin Garnett. Just by me getting chosen, it’s the next step.”
Whitehead also follows Lincoln greats and current or former NBA players Lance Stephenson, Sebastian Telfair and Stephon Marbury who played in the prestigious event, players he was compared to prior to walking through the doors at Lincoln.
“You got to give him his just due,” Lincoln coach Dwayne “Tiny” Morton said. “He’s really following in the footsteps of the kids ahead of him.”
Brown made a major impact on Whitehead’s life, Rambert said, motivating and encouraging him when he was coaching him at the junior high school level. Whitehead plans to visit Brown at the hospital on Thursday and give him the good news.
“Doctors say he can hear voices. I’m going to tell him I made it. Hopefully he can stay strong and be able to join us for the season,” Whitehead said. “He’s fighting. I don’t know what are his chances, but I just know he’s a fighter. He’ll never give up.”
Whitehead will be joined in the game by New Jersey forward Karl Towns, a Kentucky signee out of St. Joseph-Metuchen. … Christ the King guard Sierra Calhoun and Nazareth guard Bianca Cuevas, who have committed to Duke and South Carolina, respectively, were chosen for the girls game.