Born with one hand, basketball player defying the odds
Very few people truly know what this is about, know the feeling of being alone in the arena, trying to do what most onlookers believe is just not possible and wanting, not sympathy, but only a chance to prove otherwise.
So it was for Syncere Gray as a 13-year-old, sitting on the bench as his team was playing at a tournament in Waterford.
“I didn’t play the whole semifinal game, or the championship, and I thought I was better than that,” Gray said, “because I was playing with my age group. And after that, I just started taking basketball seriously, playing yearround, every opportunity I got. I knew that most of the other kids were seeing me as a disadvantaged player, but as I saw it, ‘I’ve got to work harder than everyone.’ My mindset basically was, ‘I’ve got to do double the work as everybody else.’”
Gray was born with an underdeveloped right arm and no right hand. He and his father, Nick, devised ways he could handle the ball, shoot and do enough with his right side to make defending him more complicated than just taking away his left.
There came a rec league game at the Martin Center in New London, the summer between eighth and ninth grade, with several teammates fouled out. Gray, by then able to rise above and dunk, carried his team to victory in triple OT.
“I had to do it on my own, in front of my hometown crowd, kids I grew up with,” he said. “I was thinking, anything is possible, and I could do what I wanted to do, and I’m just like everybody else. Nothing different.”
His first four baskets for New London High were dunks. Today, Gray, 6 feet 3, is a senior, one of the Whalers’ top scorers, so quick and smooth going coastto-coast with the ball that many seeing him for the first time do not even realize at first that he is playing with one hand.
It’s remarkable, yes, and as I say, there are not many who know this journey. Though it’s a little beyond the normal functions of a sportswriter, I thought a certain someone should be made aware of Syncere Gray, so I sent a video, the recent piece on Gray by WTNH-TV’s Erik Dobratz, to Jim Abbott, who responded from California within an hour.
Of course, he saw some of himself.
“As soon as that video came up on my computer, it’s hard to put into words,” said Abbott, 52, who pitched 10 years in the major leagues without a right hand, throwing a no-hitter for the Yankees in 1993. “I do feel an affinity for kids who go through similar experiences that I had. I feel a sense of camaraderie and empathy and this sense of rooting for them, almost brotherhood in a quiet, distant way . ... Syncere? Man, oh, man, he’s got some serious ups, serious hops. I thought it was just fantastic. I love to see kids moving beyond what other people might think is impossible, and carving their own path. Junior high school and high school, it’s a difficult time. You look to fit in, be part of something. You’re discovering who you are, and that’s when sports can be an incredible ally.”
A generation apart, they have much in common. Like Gray, Abbott had to find a way, learning to tuck his glove and slip his left hand into it after throwing the ball, doing it so quickly that after a few pitches you stopped noticing. After all these years, it still seems impossible, all that Abbott did. “I’m not big on baseball,” Gray said, “but I’ve definitely heard all the stories.”
And Gray is beginning to learn, as Abbott did, that overcoming the seemingly insurmountable to play the sport they love offers something more: a rare and wonderful opportunity to inspire.
“The nicest thing people say is, ‘You’re an inspiration,’ “Gray said. “I feel grateful to be in this situation and being gifted at this sport, and to be able to go out there and show everyone that no matter your disability, as long as you work hard you can be just like everybody else, if not better.”
Nicholas Gray played for coach Craig Parker’s first team at New London, the 1995 state champs, so his son began playing with a basketball at about age 5. “At first it was difficult, to be honest,” Syncere said, “I didn’t use my right hand at all, just my left the whole game. There were definitely rough patches where I wouldn’t play well, and I wondered if it was because of my disability, or if basketball just wasn’t for me. But I would always strive to do better, and I wanted to be good at it.”
Parker hadn’t seen him play before he showed for the first practice.
“What essentially went through my mind,” Parker said, “was, I saw a kid out there with an obvious handicap, but someone that fit right in, was a very good player, a very good skill set and seemed very comfortable with his ability to perform. There’s always going to be this initial skepticism, but shortly after that, no, he was very athletic. He ran the floor, dribbled the ball, passed the ball, that went away very quickly.”
Gray earned his way upward, learning from older players, going hard in practice, translating it to the games. After a season at Ledyard, he returned to New London as a senior and broke into the starting lineup, averaging 13 points and six rebounds for the Whalers, with a high of 26 points vs. Capital Prep.
“Now I see a kid that plays with a lot of intensity,” Parker said, “definitely has a desire to succeed, a desire to win, leading by example as a senior because we start three sophomores, and a passion for the game of basketball.”
He considers himself an above-average high school player, and there have been some colleges showing interest. “But if I want to take it to the next level,” Gray said, “I’m really going to have to work hard this summer.”
There are examples, too, of players making it to the college level with one hand, such as Kevin Laue at Manhattan College 10 years ago, or Zach Hodskins, who played at Florida a few years ago, or Omar Ndiaye, at Northern Arizona last season.
“I remember exactly what those feelings were like,” said Abbott, now a motivational speaker in California, “and I remember television cameras coming and making a big deal about just participation. You’re still trying to fit in, and you’re being set apart. But I enjoyed the attention, being out there. It helps you gain a feeling of not just participating, but being good and contributing, being part of something. When there is both, achievement and difference combined together, it becomes a really, really cool story.
“When I got to the major leagues and my story became more known, I was amazed by how many kids were like me. I didn’t really realize that. I was surprised at Yankee Stadium and Baltimore and Boston and Oakland, when families came and wanted to meet and say hello. I realized the impact that playing can have. You see that people are watching and are affected, and it becomes a really, really cool experience. Syncere will have that; other people are going to see him and be inspired — moms and dads, boys and girls.”
So the story is just beginning for Syncere Gray. He’s more than just a kid playing basketball with one hand, more than just a very good high school player. He has more to give. So much more.
“I definitely want to stay within the game,” Gray said, “if not coaching, maybe having little skill academies or going and talking to players, like motivational speaker. Just the other day, my mom (Cristina) got a call. A teacher wanted me to go speak to her class. It’s an honor when stuff like that happens, because I’ve never done that before. I’ll probably just tell them my story and tell them that no matter what challenges life throws at you, as long as you work hard, and really love what you’re doing, you can do anything you want to do.”