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.

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TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com