played live basketball, too.
When Lewis showed them how
to dunk, the Vashers could not
even attempt it. But while their
obvious differences could have
drawn a dividing line, Lewis saw a
connecting one.
“The way they go about life,”
Lewis said. “They don’t think about
(their
limitations).
They
don’t
think about any repercussions of
what they want to do, they just go
out there and they do it. And that’s
honestly what you have to have
to play football, and that’s what
they have to have to go about their
everyday life.”
Tucker loves to fish, but he also
vividly remembers breaking his
arm while fishing and getting the
bone cut down as a result. And then
there’s the time he says he broke
both arms, both legs and a femur
when he fell out of his wheelchair
into an old firepit. His friend, Reed,
had to save him from being crushed
by the chair.
Tyler is a little bigger, his arms
aren’t quite as crooked and he’s
stronger than his brother. But these
are all relative terms.
But in this little slice of small-
town Michigan, they make their
own fun. They live on a lake, though
it’s a different house than the one
they lived at when Lewis visited.
They move around this town often
— their mother is a real estate
agent — and yet their place within
it seems to remain the same. It’s not
hard to see the appeal.
“I was talking about, it would
be cool if I went out there and just
lived out there,” Lewis said.
***
April 23 was also prom night in
Harrison, a night that usually means
dresses, dancing and dinners.
But Jourdan Lewis was in town
for this prom night and, again, word
travels fast.
“Before he came over, I was
gonna say, ‘Watch how many of our
“friends” come around,’ ” Tucker
said. “(And say) ‘Oh, hey man, I
haven’t talked to you in a while. Oh
by the way, I heard Jourdan Lewis
is coming over!’ ”
Sure enough, they came, dressed
for prom but stopping by to meet
Lewis.
“It
was
crazy,”
Lewis
said.
“Usually you go out to dinner or
something like that, you go hang
out with your friends. You don’t go
see like an athlete or anything like
that.”
But while the rest of Harrison
was treating him like a celebrity,
Lewis appreciated that the Vashers
let him experience their world. He
liked spending a day in a community
like that. The fact they invited him,
he says, is how he knew they were
more than fans.
“When they let me come up there,
honestly, and see how they lived,”
he said. “They treated me like I
was part of their family. It was so
special to see they didn’t treat me
any (more special) than they would
treat Reed or anything like that. It
was just a great feeling to know I
was just part of their family.”
That’s how Lewis wanted them
to think of him, too — like a regular
guy.
Lewis has earned a reputation
as somewhat of an ambassador for
Detroit. When an NCAA ruling
on
satellite
camps
jeopardized
scouting at the local Sound Mind
Sound Body camp, Lewis took
to Twitter to publicly express
his discontent. He occasionally
sounds off on social issues, too.
He comes from one of the nation’s
most storied cities and now lives
in one of America’s most revered
college towns, and that makes his
reaction to Harrison all the more
noteworthy.
“It was just an environment of
just pure joy and happiness,” Lewis
said. “It was just so much fun. It
was never a down moment when I
was there. It was just so much fun
every second I was there. It was
just something that you had to
experience, honestly.”
That Saturday night, around the
bonfire, Vasher recalls Lewis video
chatting with De’Veon Smith.
Smith
wanted
to
know
if
Harrison really was that cool.
“Yeah
man,”
Vasher
recalls
Lewis saying. “We’ve gotta bring
you up here sometime.”
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Jourdan Lewis gave the Vashers his game-worn jersey from the Michigan-Penn State game in 2014. Lewis had an interception in Michigan’s 18-13 win over the Nittany Lions.
5
TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com