Coming out of high school I never saw myself as being who I am today. Today I sit here inches from my dream, all I've been through, the pain, the struggle, losing my dad, all of it. I sit on that bench and just admire the arena, the lights, the fans, just all surreal for me. I’m here for a reason, here’s my story. 

My name is Johnathon Hampton and I’m a hooper. In the game of basketball there’s a difference between a hooper and a basketball player, a basketball player plays with the fundamentals and plays the game the way it's supposed to be played. A hooper is someone who can give a bucket at any given time; and I'm a hooper. When I was young I used to play hoops on my baby hoop with my dad, and I fell in love. As long as I can remember I dribbled a ball or had a ball in my hand. My favorite player growing up was Kyrie Irving, I wanted to be just like him dribbling around people, making crazy shots, and making fancy layups. It didn't help that I grew to 6’8, so that killed the dream real quick, but that's still my guy. Growing up in California was a struggle for real, but being bigger than everybody made it a little easier, nobody messed with you, everyone wanted to be friends with the tall basketball player. 

Early on in my life I realized that I didn't have the TV lifestyle, two parents at home, spending time together, cooking meals, I didn’t have none of that. My father left me at an early age, I’d say around 9 or 10 was when he stopped seeing me, it was hard cause the reason why I got into basketball was because of him, I didn’t have no father giving me advice on my game or telling me what I could do better, man, he wasn’t even there to say good game kid. When I was old enough to realize that my dad wasn’t gonna be around, I got to work. My father always talked about his playing days on the court so I wanted to put his career in the dirt by the time I had stepped off of the court. 

The summer before entering my freshman year I joined a AAU team, Sacramento Hornets, we were some hoopers, I met my best friend Deshaun, and I met my father figure, Coach Buxton. Coach Buxton pushed me in ways no one else could because he knew I was different then everybody else and I loved every second of it. My boy Deshaun, that's my brother, we both enjoyed the same things. We played 2K, watched the Kings play, praised the Cavaliers with Lebron, Kyrie and Kevin Love. I spent the best summers of my life playing for that team. It allowed me to avoid making the wrong choices back home, as well as spending time with the people I enjoyed being around the most. We were good like really good, we were nationally ranked beating all these top tier teams with ease, it was fun when your kicking everybody’s ass, no one was stopping us, no one. 

Coming home after a summer of ball, I was getting ready for my sophomore year of high school, I thought this was going to be the year I ball out and put my name on the map. I’ll never forget the day I got the phone call. I was hooping at my local YMCA, just trying to stay in shape, I go over to my stuff on the side and see I have a missed phone call from Deshaun with a text that says “gimme a call when you have a chance”. I'm thinking to myself, this dude misses me already, and I'm laughing as I start to call him back, my smile quickly turned serious when i hear, “hey joe how are you this is deshaun’s father”

“I'm good sir how are you?”

“Listen Joe, I need to tell you something, are you around your mom by chance?”

“No sir I’m at the gym right now, How’s deshaun?”

“Joe, Deshaun was killed in a shooting at school, some kids got into an argument and Deshaun ended up in the crossfire”

I hung up the phone out of sheer panic. I slap my hand hoping this was a dream, but nah. This was real. I just lost my best friend. Do you know what it feels like to lose two of the most important people in your life? When I lost my dad I could almost come to terms with it , but this one, this one is different, Deshaun didn't have a choice, his whole life, destroyed, just like that. I would never see him again. 

My sophomore season was just about to begin, a couple more practices then opening night of the high school season. This one particular practice was a little more chippy between us teammates. If I remember correctly, me and my teammate were going back and forth, just giving each other buckets. I went up for a dunk and I feel my teammate just hit me in the side and i went down, boom. I go to get up and it hits me. Sheer pain through my left knee, I can’t even get up, I start screaming outta pain, my whole body started to fill with pure anger. I was taken off in a stretcher, taken to the hospital and maybe about an hour later, doctor told me “ you tore your ACL, you’ll be out for the season and won’t be able to return until next year, you’ll be out for 11 months.” I didn’t know what to do so I just started to cry. I remember my mom just holding me because of how much pain I would be in for the next year. At that point, I felt no pain in my leg, just pain for myself, this was supposed to be my year then I lost Deshaun and now I’ve lost my year to prove i'm a hooper. 

My year of rehab was pretty painful, watching others get the recognition i deserved but it kept me motivated to keep pushing myself to get back in the gym. I would shoot from the wheelchair. I had to make sure my form kept in touch during my time off. I counted the days counting down to when I could get back to the court, then I got a call from my doctor. I answered the call and he told me “your leg will be healed sooner than we thought, your rehab is going way better than expected”. That was the first time in my life I felt like something was finally going my way, I started to tear up and I hugged my mom when I got that news. 

A couple months went by and I was finally ready to get back to working out and returning to my old self. I walked in to my local gym for the first time after my injury and just sat there, didn't even dribble a ball, I just sat in awe, I was back, it was about time. From then on every move, every shot, every crossover that I made came with more passion and more hard work. I vowed to myself that I wouldn’t take this game for granted and I’d give it everything I had. 

Lemme fast forward to about the end of my senior year, you already know I balled out and did my thing Junior year. It was the last game before playoffs, I had finally fulfilled my legacy and gathered offers on top of offers. I had big Division 1 programs coming to watch me play and drop 40 on these mf’s. It got to the fourth quarter of our game, I went up for a rebound and this dude bumped me a little too hard for my liking. I turned to him and said “ ay, I finna drop your ass if you do that sh*t again” He didn't say anything in response, so I thought it was done. Then my teammate went up for a lay up and the same dude came and knocked him down pretty hard. I’m a man of my word so I walked over there and just shoved his ass to the floor. This then led to the biggest high school brawl in years. Dudes throwing punches, coaches barking at each other, it was crazy man and it was my fault. The same dude I had beef with walked over to me and yelled out “what's up now bro”, I just laid his ass out right then and there, one punch just BOOM. I watched him falling to the floor and thinking ah crap. 

I was charged with assault and spent 90 days in jail. You don't know at all what jail is like until you're in there. You're being watched every second, you can’t sleep to make sure no one can hurt you, you have to survive.  I had reached a point in my life where no one should be. I’d given up, I lost all my offers, no coaches even would respond to an email from me. It was heartbreaking for real, watching my mom cry from all of the pain I had caused her. I’m not gonna lie I thought about ending it for real, I figured it might be easier for me just to be gone. Then my phone rang.

“Hey Joe, how are you, this is Coach Cooney from East LA college”

I was struck I didn't even know what to say except “hey coach i’m alright how are you”

“I'm good Joe, you been staying in shape”?

I hadn't touched a basketball in weeks so I told him what any reasonable ex criminal would

“Of course coach, I'm in the best shape of my life”. 

“That's amazing Joe, whether you're lying to me or not, I wanna offer you an opportunity to come play for my school.”

Again I was just like damn this dude gonna take a chance on me. I only told him two words

“I'm in” 

Looking back at my time at East LA college, that for real was God's plan for me. Coach conney was a father to me. He pushed me to be better than I was, he got into me for taking any little shortcut, he was there for me when I wanted to give up. I was an All American, I was awarded the best player in the country and the most important award to me, most self improvement, an award given out by East LA. I watched my mama learn how to smile again, she was so proud of me, more than any mother could ever. I had multiple D1 offers at this point and I would have a good chance to prove myself at the next level, something I had really grinded for my whole life. 

Many people were trying to give me advice on where I should go next. My moms wanted me to go somewhere close to home so she could come watch me play. My coach wanted me to go somewhere, where I could become a better person. A lot of people wanted me to go to Duke just to continue a great program's legacy. One day I finally just woke up and made my decision on where I wanted to go to further my academic and athletic career. I wanted to go somewhere where the name Hampton was in the rafters of the arena. 

I haven't forgotten why I worked so hard. My father walked out on me and I’m still here to make sure he’s known as my father and I'm not remembered as his son. I had decided to take my talents to where my father had taken his. 

I committed to the university of california los angeles (UCLA)

I remember my first game for every detail. I know it was only a month ago but I remember every second of my first game. I walked out on the floor and it felt like home. It wasn’t just the fact that it was Division 1 or the fact that I had worked so hard to get here. It was the fact that I made 8 year old me proud and my mama proud. It was the dream man, before the game I had just sat on the bench, tearing up and just reflecting on what I had been through. Losing my father, losing Deshaun, losing my chance to become something, losing myself as a person, I had been through it all. I sat on that bench and just cried with Coach Cronin. He understood what I had been through, he understood my journey, it felt amazing to finally have someone on my side in life. God is great man, he’ll put you through hell but he has a plan. Before tip off, I stood on the court and took it all in, the fans chanting, the atmosphere was just breathtaking. My dream finally came true. I had made my way back.