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In a small classroom in Campus Magnet High School, the PSAL’s 2014 top scorer Nohah Vickers stumbled over an emotional speech before signing his National Letter of Intent.
He had just two shirts representing the schools that offered him full scholarships to play basketball at the next level. The first was Delaware State University—a Division 1 school that plays in the same conference as Norfolk State University, where pro player and former Campus Magnet standout Kyle O’Quinn played.
The other shirt was for Division II Mercyhurst University, a liberal arts Catholic college. After getting through his emotional story about the season, his basketball journey and the painstakingly difficult decision of which college to choose— which he couldn’t even make until the same morning—Vickers finally said it: “Mercyhurst.”
“I wanted to choose a school that best fits me, education-wise,” Vickers said at the event on Thursday.
Vickers, who led the league averaging 33.2 points per game and finished with 466 points scored, choose getting a degree and focusing on education rather than playing basketball. Besides being an all-star player, Vickers is a scholar who will graduate with a 93 average.
A very small percentage of college players from Division 1 schools actually go to the NBA — it’s an even smaller percentage from high school. At 5’9’’, 165 pounds, Vickers’ chances were reduced even further.
“Every kid that accepts a college scholarship, they think the next step from the college scholarship is the NBA,” Ken Vickers, Nohah’s father, said. “I know the next step for Nohah that [relieves] me as a parent is the job market.”
Campus Magnet HS head coach Charles Granby has preached his famous message of brains before basketball to his players for the 45 years he’s been at the sidelines, and taught players to dedicate themselves to getting their degrees.
Granby retired this year, but was present for Vickers’ selection party, and was proud of his choice.
“He’ll play for four years and after he comes out of there, he will have to find a J-O-B,” Granby said. “I always tell the boys, “Don’t wind up in the prison system, get that degree because that degree is your invitation to the party.’”
Vickers isn’t giving up on sports yet though. He plans to major in sports management at Merychurst.
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