Fab Five Case

FAB FIVE

Fab Five, when I hear this I think of an extraordinary basketball team that made a difference to all college sports and not just for basketball. They went through a lot with each other in just two years at the University of Michigan. These five young men are a great example of overcoming diversity.

The first player Michigan recruited out of the five freshmen was a six foot ten Power Forward named Juwan Howard. Juwan Howard was from the tough streets of Chicago. He played at the Chicago Vocational Career Academy and earned a spot on the McDonalds All American game. Michigan was hard on Howard calling him every day until he committed to play for them which was one of the happiest days of his life, but tragedy struck him sooner than he thought. One day at school he got a call that his grandmother had passed away. He had all this joy inside him but then it was just taken away, but the coaching staff of the Michigan Wolverines basketball team was right by his side in his time of need.

Another player that Michigan had their eyes on was six foot six Point Guard Jalen Rose. Rose was from Detroit which was also another rugged area to grow up in. He was brought by his mother alone because his father wasn't around. That already put a fire in his heart to do well anything he wanted to do. Rose was a natural in basketball though. Playing in the mean city of Detroit he had to avoid a lot of obstacles such as drugs, alcohol, and violence. At Rose's high school games there were people standing under the basket that were armed suggesting that he shouldn't try to score on the other team so his team could win or they would try to hurt him after the game. He never backed down though which made him the great player he was in college. But once he got to college his problems didn't end. He got caught up in a "crack house" incident where he was arrested for supposedly being in a place where drugs were stored, but in all actuality he was just playing video games with a friend of his not knowing that his friend had drugs on him. The whole nation was in an up roar and he had to play a big game the following week against the fighting Illini of the University of Illinois. The crowd chanted the Nancy Reagan slogan "JUST SAY NO" to try and get into Rose's head during the game, but Rose responded with one of the best games of his career scoring numerous points to lead his team to victory. He couldn't have done without the help of his. They encouraged him the whole game and kept him up so that he wouldn't get down on himself.

Another Player that overcame a lot of things while being at the University of Michigan was six foot six Small forward. He was a star basketball player in the town of Austin, Texas where he was from, but things changed when he got to Michigan. Jackson was having a horrible time in Michigan. He wasn't playing much and that upset him because where he was from he was labeled as "The Man." He sacrifice a lot for the good of the team. There was once a point when he was