From Mentee to Mentor

December 1, 2011   ·   4 Comments

by John Powell

At the beginning of February, Ryan Pearson was named ESPN’s Player of the Week. He was on the front page of the media enterprise’s college basketball section, went on television shows to give publicity to the team, and started the team’s hair club, going unshaven as the team continued to win. After a 16-game winning streak, Mason electrified the nation again, and Pearson was the perfect ambassador.

He credits his success to a lot of people, holding Jim Larranaga, the coach that recruited him, in high regard. Even before running through a full practice with the current coach, Paul Hewitt, he knew the new coach was a good fit.  He credits his high school coaches for getting him recruited to a D-I program. But their influences all pale in comparison to the influence of the woman that raised him.

“My mom, she really fell in love with the campus, with the area,” Pearson said. “When I came for my visit, I just felt like I was at home, like these guys treated me like I was on the team.”

When Pearson left his home in Far Rockaway, New York, he was looking for a mentor. He found a leader in John Vaughan, a guard that took the young  forward under his wing. Vaughan’s forte was clearly not in teaching Pearson how to be a better forward – coaches were for that – but on how to lead a team.

“JV my freshman year, John Vaughan, basically took me under his wing and basically told me that I was talented and to just keep working hard,” Pearson said. “Just don’t get discouraged the way things were going on, that I was a freshman and I got a long way to go. He took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. He and Darryl Monroe, I just tried to watch them and learn from them.”

It was clear from day one that Pearson would have a big role. In his rookie year, he played in every contest when he was healthy, a total of 32 games. He shot just under 50 percent from the field and his strong play throughout that campaign led to a CAA All-Rookie Team nod.

Vaughan and Monroe left, but their message proved to pass the test of time. Alongside Louis Birdsong and Cam Long, he stepped up as a leader of the sophomores and a leader of the team.

“My sophomore year, I stepped into a leadership role,” Pearson said. “We only had one senior in Lou Birdsong, and it was Cam, but I knew that I was going to be playing a lot more minutes my sophomore year. I had to become more vocal.”

Pearson delivers the same message that Vaughan gave him. But if anyone on the team had an excuse to pass the baton of leadership off, it might have been Pearson.

“Scarred but not slowed” was the title of last year’s Washington Post feature on the headline-stealing forward. Pearson had a childhood accident in 2001 that left him with 32 pairs of staple marks, a right leg that is shorter than the left, and a basketball career that appeared to end before it could begin.

But when he was given an opportunity to play again, he made the most of it. With hard work and dedication, he is renowned as one of the more unorthodox forwards in the CAA, but the change of pace keeps teams off guard and he gets the ball in.

He knew what it took to get there, and he does not let any of his teammates off the hook.

“These [freshmen], when they came to visit, they chilled with us and they basically look up to us,” Pearson said. “They need us to show them the ropes and that’s basically what I’m going to try to do, deliver the same message that John Vaughan, Darryl Monroe and those guys delivered to me.”

Preseason CAA Player of the Year was Pearson’s expected title from the team’s fans all across the country. Even with Cam Long on the team, who was projected to be taken in the NBA draft, Pearson was one of the central facilitators of the offense last season.

If given the ball on the blocks, he would find a way to get it in the net, with a pair of arms and legs flailing in the process. A double-double average would not catch anyone by surprise, but even with all the work, he never wants to take the credit.

“It’s a great honor,” he said of the possibility to win the Player of the Year award. “I’m about to have an MVP-type season for my team, whatever that means. I’m not going to go out there and get selfish. I’m going to go out there and play a team game. I’m going to rely on my teammates just as much as they rely on me.”

That is why he is the team leader. He steps up to make plays and gives the credit to everyone around him. The respect, he has shown, is deserved.

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