‘A surreal moment’
Jacob Gazzo’s emotional journey to his first Briarcrest game
When Jacob Gazzo sat in front of Rowell Arena at Briarcrest Christian Schools on Nov. 16, ready to sign his national letter of intent to play collegiate basketball at Ole Miss, it was more than just a ceremony to celebrate a dream he’s wanted all his life.
He got to celebrate with his parents, who still live in Mccomb, Mississippi, as well as his old friends who were able to make the trip to Memphis.
Gazzo’s signing was less about the moment, though, and more of a celebration of how far he’s come in the past six months. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to play basketball again, let alone walk again. A freak accident led to a six-month recovery during which Gazzo had to learn how to walk and run again and prepare for his senior basketball season at his new school.
“It was such a surreal moment,” Gazzo said of his signing. “I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Now that he’s healthy and able to play the sport he loves again, he’s ready to make the most of it.
Gazzo, who transferred from Parklane Academy, will make his Briarcrest debut on Dec. 2 against Collierville. It will be his first game since his scary injury this past summer. It will be an emotional return to the hardwood.
“I’m going to cry,” his mother, Amy, said of watching his first game back.
“It’s going to be overwhelming,” his dad, Jake Gazzo, said.
He moved up to Memphis with his grandmother to get into a better basketball situation. His parents still live in Mccomb.
“I wanted to see what basketball could bring me up here,” he said. “The competition is great up here and that’s what I really came for mostly -- higher competition, and I just really wanted to get better.”
The injury
June 13 is a blur for Gazzo. All he remembers that day is showing up to P7 Sports Academy for a summer game. The next thing he remembers is being in the hospital.
During the game, Gazzo went up for a dunk, slipped off the rim fell on his head
and was knocked out cold. When he came to, he was told he was paralyzed. His paralysis lasted two weeks. He was diagnosed with a spinal shock injury.
“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to walk again,” Gazzo said, “and I didn’t know if I was gonna be able to play basketball again.”
Just as Gazzo was getting used to his new teammates, a new community and a new challenge for basketball, it was nearly stripped away from him.
Gazzo’s parents weren’t with him when he got hurt. They were in Biloxi, Mississippi, when they got a call that their son was going to the hospital.
“It’s probably the first time in my life I didn’t have an answer of when he was going to be back or can he get back,” his father said.
It wasn’t until August when Gazzo was able to begin his recovery. He had extreme shaking in his legs and was told that could continue the rest of his life.
“I was just wondering if I was ever gonna be like a normal kid again,” Gazzo said.
After meeting with a doctor in Nashville, he was told that as he gained his strength and continued to work through his recovery, the shaking would go away.
From there, Gazzo’s mindset changed.
He wasn’t going to let the injury hold him back. He was going to fight to get back to his normal self and resume playing basketball again.
“He just really relied on God and knew that there would be challenges, but his faith pulled him through, and my gosh, he worked from sunup to sundown to get back to where he is now,” his mother said.
“So, I think the whole journey has made (his signing) even more emotional for me. I think that I’m gonna watch him play basketball in a whole new light and it’s gonna be just such a good feeling.”
The journey back
Amy played a big role in helping her son get game-ready.
She said she struggled with pushing him because she didn’t want him to overwork his body but also didn’t want him to get complacent. A lot of the help she provided was mental support.
“I knew that we had to face everything that we had been through,” she said.
That started with going back to P7 Sports Academy and getting over the fear of being in the gym. Once he was comfortable in the gym, then it was a challenge of getting over the mental block of dunking again.
At 6-foot-8, Gazzo finds dunking almost easier than laying the ball up. He had to get back into the habit of going up for the shot that caused his injury.
“I was scared to dunk at first,” Gazzo said. “And the first time I did it, I was so scared, I didn’t do it again for three weeks.”
His family was there with him through his recovery from helping him standing up on his own, walking 10-20 steps at a time, to jogging, running and eventually training again.
“I lived in fear and he had complete faith that this was all going to work out,” Amy said. “He just kept telling me, ‘Mom, God has this.’”
Watching him trying to walk would bring Amy to tears at times yet Gazzo remained confident he was going to be all right.
“He’d say, ‘Mom, I’m so grateful I’m not dead,’” Amy recalled. “... I was completely in awe that that was the child that I raised.”
It’s why his first game back will be equally rewarding and emotional.
It will be the first time his parents will see him play with his new team and his first game since being paralyzed just six months ago.
The process has given Gazzo a better appreciation for his talent and ability. And he’ll finally get to show his new friends and new community why he wanted to join them for his final season of high school basketball.
“It may be a little emotional for me because it took me so long to get back here,” Gazzo said.
Reach Wynston Wilcox at wwilcox@gannett.com and on Twitter @wynstonw__.