One shot for Josh
Five years ago, promising Vermont recruit suffered brain injury in car crash. On Tuesday, team honored him during final regular-season game
The two basketball buddies from Indiana, Josh Speidel and Everett Duncan, envisioned this happening hundreds of times in their careers at the University of Vermont: Duncan finding Speidel with a bounce pass, and Speidel finishing with a layup.
Instead it happened only once, on Tuesday, when the Catamounts celebrated their seniors during the last game of the regular season. That the play happened at all was a testament to Speidel’s resilience, and to the work of many others at the campus that sits about 45 miles south of the Canadian border.
Shortly after committing to Vermont as a prized recruit, Speidel, now a redshirt senior, suffered a severe brain injury in a February 2015 car accident. Speidel, who had been known for his scoring and rebounding, was still in a coma in an Indianapolis hospital when Vermont coach John Becker visited him and promised his parents, David and Lisa, that the university would honor his scholarship.
Though Speidel ultimately recovered enough to enroll and function as a student — he is on track to graduate in May — he could not return to competition. That is, until Tuesday night, when Becker and Speidel’s teammates followed through with a plan to finally get him in a game and into the box score.
Becker and Albany coach Will Brown agreed on a special accommodation. The Catamounts would let Albany win the opening tip, go down and score. Then Vermont would run a play to get Speidel an uncontested layup. At that point, Speidel would come out of the game, and normal play would commence. Vermont walked through the play three times at the morning shootaround to assure no slip-ups.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been that nervous for a layup, but it’s my first layup in five years,” Speidel said in a telephone interview after the game. “My dad joked with me. He said, ‘You could always miss it, grab a rebound and add to your stats a little.’ I thought about that. But then I figured I might as well end my college career shooting 100 percent.”
Once Albany scored, the other Catamount starters — Ben Shungu, Daniel Giddens and Anthony Lamb — passed the ball around before tossing it inside to Duncan, who found Speidel for a right-handed layup. Speidel suggested getting all the players involved as a symbol of the teamwork that aided his recovery. And Becker wanted Duncan, one of Speidel’s roommates and his closest friend on the team, to deliver the assist.
Then there were hugs all around, from players on both teams and Becker. The sellout crowd of 3,266, which included Speidel’s parents, sister Jamie and grandmother Mary Speidel, stood and cheered. Finally, Speidel walked over to thank and hug Brown. Vermont went on to win, 85-62, with Duncan scoring a career-high 22 points and hitting all six 3-point attempts.
“Remembering back to the old days, it meant the world to me,” Speidel said. “I’m forever thankful to Will Brown and Albany for letting me do that.”
Becker said it would have been impossible to envision such a moment when he visited Speidel in the hospital after the accident.
“It’s been five years of him diligently working every day to get better, with the goal of getting back out on the court,” Becker said. “It just fills my heart with joy that that actually happened.”
A 6-foot-7 standout forward at Columbus (Indiana) North High, Speidel’s future changed when a sport utility vehicle crashed into his Honda Accord as he pulled out of a fast-food drivethrough in a neighboring town. Neither the passenger in his car nor the adult driver and two children in the SUV were seriously hurt. But Speidel’s head slammed into the door frame, fracturing his skull and leaving him paralyzed on his left side.
After four weeks in a coma, Speidel awoke with no memory of the crash or his entire senior year in high school. He couldn’t walk, talk or use his left arm. With time and therapy, Speidel regained his ability to speak — “Mom” was his first word — and most of his motor function. But he could not play, in part because of periodic tremors in his right arm and short-term memory loss.
Speidel enrolled one year later than his class. He worked out on his own and remained a popular member of the program, sitting on the bench for home games and some road games. Vermont qualified for two NCAA Tournaments in Speidel’s first three seasons, and the 24-7 Catamounts are seeking a third berth later this week as the top seed in the America East tournament.
Academically, Speidel carries a 3.40 GPA in an individually-designed major in the College of Education and Social Services, with a double minor in behavior change and coaching.
“We could be here all night talking about people who helped me academically — professors, tutors,” Speidel said. “I’m forever grateful to them and what they’ve taught me, how they accepted me, worked with me.”
Tributes poured in before and after the game, from the sports world and beyond. On Monday, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont praised Speidel on the floor of the U.S. Senate for his resilience and spirit. “Josh Speidel is a remarkable young man,” Leahy said. “I wanted to do this because in an era where we hear so much bad news, it’s wonderful to hear inspiring news.”
Duncan was thrilled to finally take the court with his friend, whom he met on a travel team in Indiana. “When we came out the first time, we felt a certain buzz in there, an energy,” Duncan told the Burlington Free Press. “It felt like a different energy, a happiness. You could feel it from every single person in there. Every single person in there was watching Josh and engaged.”
None more than Becker, who saw Speidel come back from his lowest moment. And the scoring play? In all the excitement, Becker never got around to giving it a name.
“We might have to call it Speidel now, right?” he said.