How Durant nicknamed Vols’ Fleschman
KNOXVILLE — Jacob Fleschman had no idea what blackjack was when he boarded a flight with the Texas basketball team in 2007.
But as an 8-year-old in Austin, Texas, he knew exactly how cool it was to be a kid around Texas star Kevin Durant. He beelined for the back of the plane to hang out with the Longhorns, who dealt him a hand.
“I got blackjack on my first hand,” Fleschman said.
Fleschman remembered getting a dollar for the winning hand, but he also got something more long-lasting when Durant called him “Blackjack.”
“For the rest of the trip, all the players called me that,” Fleschman said. “Since then, it just stuck, which is bizarre and I never really thought that would happen. Here I am 13 years later and people still call me ‘Blackjack.’”
That flight from Austin to Philadelphia shaped plenty for Fleschman, who tagged along with his father, Sandy, as the Longhorns played Villanova.
He got a lifelong nickname, while the trip sparked a friendship between the elder Fleschman and Rick Barnes, who was in the middle of a 17-year tenure at Texas. The friendship continued when Barnes became the Tennessee coach in 2015. Barnes soon suggested to Fleschman, then a sharpshooter at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Austin, that he walk on at Tennessee. Fleschman knew he wanted to go a major college and valued finding a new experience. It was a perfect fit.
“I think it is important that you branch out and experience new things in new places,” he said. “I have my second home here, which I am really thankful for.”
On Saturday, Barnes gave Fleschman another reason to be thankful when he announced the junior guard received a scholarship for the spring semester.
“He’s been a great part of our program,” Barnes said Monday. “The guys love him. I think you saw the video, the way they responded. … He’s been a great walk-on. I think anytime you can reward somebody like this, at least for this semester, it’s a good thing.”
Tennessee had an open scholarship after Zach Kent transferred in the fall. Barnes said the scholarship got “cleared up” Friday, setting the stage for the prank-happy coach to find a way to tell Fleschman.
Barnes chose the locker room after Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 66-45 as the setting. He asked forward Yves Pons what the “big news” was. Then he talked about center Uros Plavsic, before announcing the big news that “Black gets to go on scholarship.”
The Vols mobbed Fleschman immediately.
“It just sort of escalated,” Fleschman said. “It happened and it turned into a slap fest and I was surrounded by people. People were just smacking me.
“I am super appreciative of it and super appreciative of coach Barnes, all my coaches and all my teammates that have been here.”
Fleschman’s primary duty is leading the scout team, a responsibility passed to him after Lucas Campbell and Brad Woodson graduated. He values that and the experiences being a walk-on have afforded him — experiences fueled by a flight, a future NBA superstar and a hand of blackjack.
“Even before I got here, everyone sort of knew me as ‘Blackjack’ because (coach Barnes) would say it,” Fleschman said. “It stuck all the way until now.”