Heart of a Champion

For most, 15^th birthdays are a time for celebrating life. Men’s basketball sophomore guard Marquavian Stephens spent his fighting for his life.

Stephens and his high school teammates had visited local elementary schools in Flint, Michigan, where they engaged in meet-and-greets with the students before the start of his sophomore season.

After finishing, he joined teammates at a nearby gym for pickup games. After playing a few games, Stephens said he felt contact to the head while attacking the basket. He can only remember finishing the game and walking off the court.

“During the game I felt dizzy but I thought it was just from the contact,” Stephens said. “Then I just remember the ball going down the court and me staying on the other end. I just remember the coach calling for two new teams and walking off the court, then waking up in the ambulance with the paramedics asking was I okay and a needle in my arm.”

Stephens woke up in a hospital bed, surrounded by family and teammates, confused as to what had actually occurred. After moving into another room with the doctors and his mother and finding out what was happening, he said he only asked one question.

“At the end of the day, am I going to play basketball again?”

Stephens was transferred from a Flint hospital to a children’s hospital in Detroit where he would recover for nearly a month and a half. While in the hospital, Stephens was originally told that he would never play contact sports again and would need a pacemaker. However, after further examination by the doctors, he was told he needed open heart surgery, but would still be able to play.

Stephens jumped at the opportunity.

“We figured out the problem, but you will have to get open heart surgery,” Stephens said. “At the time I was just like open heart surgery? But I can play basketball, y’all can do what y’all want.”

Two days after the surgery, Stephens walked out of the hospital under his own power to begin his recovery process to get back on the court. According to Stephens, it wasn’t until the summer going into his senior year before he was able to go through an entire year of basketball at the rate he was used to.

Though the experience was traumatic, Stephens says it opened his eyes to just how short life is and the importance of aggressively pursing his dreams.

“No one ever thinks something like that would happen to them,” Stephens said. “So when it actually happened to me, it made me realize that life is too short. Whatever you want to do or accomplish, you have to make it happen now because you never know when it is your time.”

SWC head coach John Cosentino agreed that Stephens going through what he did at such a young age helped him appreciate life and the moment more than others.

“I think he learned to appreciate things that other people may not appreciate,” Cosentino said. “They take it for granted.”

Fortunately for him it was not his time and he was given another chance to live his life. He believes the experience showed him that he was here for a reason, and he believes that reason is to give back using the ability he was given.

“Knowing that I was given another chance, I want to use my abilities for good,” Stephens said. “That’s what makes me want to give back, I think I was meant to take care of myself, my grandma and to my people.”

Stephens has taken advantage of his second chance since getting to Southwestern College. He is currently the leading scorer in the conference with 18.2 points per game, and second in three-point percentage at 45.7 percent and has been named Pacific Coast Athletic Conference South player of the year. This comes as no surprise to Cosentino, as he lauded Stephens’ work ethic.

“I don’t think there has been a practice this year when he’s not here about an hour after either with a teammate or shooting,” Cosentino said. “He’s not just corking up jumpshots casually, he works on stuff on his own. He just knows how to work.”

Assistant coach Anthony Cosentino seconded the praise referring to Stephens’ love for being in the gym trying to get better whenever he can.

“He gets here early, he stays late, he gets in here on days off whenever a coach is able to open the gym,” Anthony Cosentino said. “He’s detailed with his workouts, he never questions a workout and he just does what’s asked of him and more.”

Stephens credits a lot of his inspiration to work the way he does to Flint, Michigan, as well as his mother and grandmother. He knows that he is in a position to possibly improve his own, as well as their lives in a positive way using what he loves to do.

“There’s nothing to look forward to back home. It’s the same cycle everyday,” Stephens said. “They’re knocking down all our schools, on my grandma’s block she has the only house on the street that lives there so that’s a lot of my inspiration. All I really have is my grandma and my mom, so this out here is my opportunity to take care of them, because in Flint it’s tough.”

With his added inspiration, Stephens has his mind set on success for more than just himself. In order to do that, one of the things he needs to do at this level of basketball is to win. He has been able to do that, being named player of the year on a conference winning team that finished the regular season 24-4.

At times during the season Stephens has taken matters into his own hands when the team needed a boost. One of these examples can be seen in the team’s February 15 win against San Diego City College as he scored 12 points in the game’s last 10 minutes with the team down by 10 to help comeback and win the game.

John Cosentino said he admires Stephens’ competitiveness and said he hasn’t seen many like Stephens.

“I’ve been coaching 40 years at the Division I, high school and NAIA levels,” John Cosentino said. “He’s as competitive as a guy I’ve ever had.”

Anthony Cosentino seconded the sentiment praising his attitude.

“He has a huge chip on his shoulder, and he brings it every practice, every play,” Anthony Cosentino said.

Stephens said doing what he needs to do to win no matter the cost is an attitude he adapts in his everyday life, as well as basketball, pointing to NBA stars like Russell Westbrook and Damian Lillard as inspiration.

“The fearlessness you see from Westbrook and Lillard I try to implement into my game,” Stephens said. “Some people may say it’s selfish play but it’s not that, it’s just when you want to win so bad. It’s not necessarily I think my teammate or someone else can’t do the same thing, it’s just I want to win so much and I just feel that having that same mentality is going to help me be successful, not just in basketball but in life.”

After making it out of Flint, Michigan, surviving heart failure and coming back to produce at a high level this year, Stephens has been successful to this point. His road back from open-heart surgery has been a long one. While his heart may have failed him, he has not failed his team as the heartbeat of the Jaguars basketball team.