DAYTON, Ohio — Sometimes 8-year-old boys can teach us lessons about life, sometimes they can ease the pain of college basketball players and coaches who struggle to deal with the finality of a season ended and a dream shattered.
And so it was last night, when little Londell Francis, the adopted LIU Brooklyn Blackbird with the strength and courage to smile through the evils of his sickle cell anemia, uplifted the spirits of his big brothers only moments after their 68-55 loss to James Madison.
Londell had watched the game inside a Subway on the school’s Brooklyn campus with his mother, Nedra Johnson. I asked him afterwards what he would want me to tell his team.
“Tell them they tried their best,” Londell said, “and I’m very proud of them.”
I told LIU Brooklyn star Jamal Olasewere what Londell had said.
“He’s had a huge effect on our lives,” Olasewere said. “He’s been a little brother to me, and he always will be. I’m glad we changed his life — he definitely changed ours.”
Kenny Onyechi happens to be Londell’s favorite player. When Onyechi emerged from the locker room, I gave him Londell’s message and asked for his reaction.
“Honestly, that really just made my day, feeling down after a loss,” Onyechi said. “That really just made my day, ’cause I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
It quickly became evident by the way Onyechi, a 6-foot-7 senior from Sugarland, Texas, began choking up that Londell had truly touched his life, thanks to a program called Team Impact.
“His strength kind of gave me strength … pushing through with all he has to do, going to the hospital — he always had a smile on his face,” Onyechi said.
I informed Onyechi that he was Londell’s favorite player. The boy had never told him that.
“He’s mine,” Onyechi said.
LIU Brooklyn coach Jack Perri was standing against a wall outside the locker room.
“I can’t imagine him in pain, because he’s always got such an unbelievable spirit to him,” Perri said.
Londell’s mother chuckled as she described Londell glued to the flat-screen television.
“He was yelling out their nicknames,” she said. “You would swear we were sitting behind them or he was on the bench.”
For too much of the night, this wasn’t LIU, but LI-Who Were Those Guys? A season-low 55 points. Ten blocked shots by James Madison. A sprained ankle eight minutes in that stripped C.J. Garner of his explosiveness. A third foul at the end of the first half — a gamble Perri lost — on the fearless Olasewere.
And yet Londell, whose whole life is built on hope, never gave up hope.
“He didn’t lose faith,” his mother said.
Only at the very end did Londell accept the outcome.
Was James Msdison better?
“A little bit,” Londell said over his mother’s cell phone. “The ball just didn’t go in.”
But hope springs eternal for an 8-year-old boy who refuses to see anything other than a better tomorrow.
“But next year they might win the championship,” Londell said, “and I’ll be right there!”
I told Perri what Londell had said, and the coach broke into a smile and chuckled.
“Hey, we’re going to keep him right there, man,” Perri said. “He’s an angel on our shoulders. He’s awesome, man, he’s just unbelievable.
“You were able to put a little bit of a smile on me for a second there just by talking about him.”
Not NCAA champions.
But Londell Francis’ champions.