A Return To Reading
By T.J. Martinez
HurricaneSports.com
Less than a year after leading Reading High School to its first state championship, Lonnie Walker returned home as a Miami Hurricane to face La Salle on Nov. 22, and his community embraced him with open arms.
“I honestly can’t describe that type of feeling,” said Walker. “It brought so much more confidence on my approach to the game just seeing the community and seeing friends and family who I’ve been around my whole life, and now I’m on my next chapter.”
Not one of Walker’s family members in the stands had a dry eye as a sold-out arena chanted his name before the game even started.
“Seeing my grandma cry and smile, seeing my mom smile and cry, it was the best feeling in the world,” Walker said.
Walker also accomplished one of his goals in his early college career. Since he was young, Walker wanted to give his parents and grandparents an opportunity to watch him play a college basketball game live, especially his grandmother. With his visit to Reading, that dream became a reality with his grandma sitting courtside.
“That meant everything to me,” Walker stated. “Everything has an expiration date, so for her to actually see me play a college basketball game, to see me grow up to a young man, a young adult, I was proud of myself because one of my goals was to have my grandma see me develop into a young man.”
He also claimed that his grandmother loves the attention that has been brought upon her with his success.
“Ever since I left she’s like the mayor of Reading,” Walker said. “I love the Reading community for doing that, to love and care for her like anyone else.”
At only 18 years old, Walker sees himself not only as a leader in his community, but also as a symbol of hope and change.
“It means a lot because when you come from a gutter place, one of the poorest cities in the country at one point, you have self-doubt,” Walker said. “Things can’t turn out the way you want it to be. You can’t have the world, you can’t have the money and what I did, I just wanted to see how far I could take it. Seeing parents cry, coming to me and saying my son wants to be like you. I love when people do great for themselves and I want my community to do great. It’s kind of like my goal outside of basketball without really saying it.”
While in high school, Walker had the opportunity to leave Reading High School for private schools throughout Pennsylvania. In his heart, Walker knew that if he was going to inspire change in his community, he had to show his loyalty to his hometown.
“You have to look at the bigger picture,” Walker said. “Sometimes It’s bigger than basketball. I had friends, who didn’t have parents at all and they never had self-motivation, nothing to make them become a better person, so I wanted to make a change. I wanted to make a difference for my community and if it was just putting a ball through the hoop then so be it.”
Even though he’s only a freshman at Miami, Walker seems to be mature beyond his years mainly because he’s already had to overcome adversity early in his college career.
This past summer, Walker had surgery to repair his right meniscus. There was doubt that he would be able to play in his homecoming game. Not wanting to miss out on a chance of a lifetime, Walker went through rehab knowing what was on the line.
“That was one of my motivations that kept me going, kept me working out, kept me lifting,” Walker said. “Whatever I did when I was doing therapy it was with a purpose. My heart, my grind was 10 times more than I think an average therapy would be because I’m going 100 percent if not 2000 percent because I wanted to be there.”
Being one of the top recruits in his class, Walker had his choice of about anywhere to spend his college years. One thing that impressed the McDonald’s All-American about the University of Miami was their interest in his life outside of basketball.
Miami’s coaching staff knew what his community meant to him and wanted to give him a chance to give something greater to his home.
“It’s pretty big coming back to your hometown to play just for that specific player and it shows the character and personality that our coach and assistant coaches have,” Walker said. “They understand that it’s more than just basketball. They love me on and off the court, not just on the court.”
Walker and his Miami teammates have big plans for this upcoming season. Their goal is to do what no other basketball team at the University of Miami has done.
“As a team goal, that’s to make history,” Walker said. “Do what a lot of people think we can’t do and prove all the doubters wrong. We’re starting off great, but we have to keep on staying humble, hungry and blessed at the same time.”
