MEN'S BASKETBALL: Senior Day has added meaning for Niagara's Garrison

By Jonah Bronstein

LEWISTON — Rob Garrison remembers being that awestruck kid at the Niagara Falls Boys & Girls Club when one of his basketball idols would show up. To him and his peers, Tim Winn was a superstar, Dewitt Doss a household name, Demondi Johnson an icon.

“Everybody knew who they were, and if you didn’t know, everybody made sure they pointed them out and told you,” Garrison recalls. “They were local celebrities when I was young. I’d look at them and say, ‘Hopefully that’s me someday.’”

That someday has come. The Biddy ballplayers at the Boys & Girls Club now idolize him. And Garrison, as reflective and conscientious an athlete as you’ll find, is well aware of his current status in the Niagara Falls basketball community.

“I do think about it,” Garrison says. “It’s crazy how times change and you grow into these positions and roles. And there’s going to be somebody after me, one of these kids here.

“I count it as a blessing, and every time I hear about my name being in the paper or being on television, I say to myself, ‘Stay humble, because that’s what got me here and that’s what’s going to take me further.’”

Garrison is unique among his Cataract City contemporaries in that he was not a standout at the local high school, but after going off to Connecticut for the first two years of his college career, he came back and enrolled at Niagara University, becoming the first Niagara Falls native in 15 years to play for the hometown Purple Eagles.

Former teammates made the city proud with their exploits elsewhere. Jonny Flynn and Paul Harris starred at Syracuse University, and Flynn is shining even brighter now as one of the top rookies in the NBA. Greg Gamble and James Starks displayed their talents at the University at Buffalo. Before them, Winn had a Hall of Fame career at St. Bonaventure University, Doss did well at Canisius College, and Johnson showed folks at Gannon University in Pennsylvania what Niagara Falls basketball was about.

“Everyone has done it their own way,” Garrison says. “But I’ve done it with my city’s name across my chest.”

Sal Constantino, one of Garrison’s former coaches and mentors, says Garrison plays the Purple Eagle card when trying to instill good values on the local youths.

“He works our camp (at Niagara Falls High School) over the summer and he always tells the kids, ‘I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for education,’” Constantino says. “They hear it from a hundred adults, but when it comes from somebody they want to be like, the message really sticks.”

Formative years in the Falls

Garrison fell in love with basketball at the Boys & Girls Club on 17th Street. He would walk over with his older brother, Jonathan Henderson, from their Ashland Avenue home, and stay in the gym as long as allowed. Eventually, Henderson lost interest in playing basketball, but Garrison’s passion only grew.

“If you ever wanted to find Robert, he was somewhere playing basketball,” says his mother, Dorothy Davis. “I never had to worry about Robert. He always had this drive about him, and he always wanted to be somebody. His favorite saying was, ‘I got skills mom.’ ”

While refining those skills on the local courts and playgrounds, Garrison stayed out of trouble, did his schoolwork, and was well-liked in the community.

Garrison says he found spiritual guidance from his uncle, Eddie Scott, a Niagara Catholic graduate who now works as a middle school principal in Annapolis, Md.

When Garrison was in middle school, Scott and his wife arranged for him to go down to Maryland and attend the basketball camps run by Morgan Wootten, a legendary high school coach and one of Niagara coach Joe Mihalich’s mentors.

“We became the voice of reason for Robert,” Scott says. “I like to make the analogy that we were the cod liver oil in his life. We talked about the balance between academics, athletics and spirituality. Looking at how he has matured and how his character has developed, he has taken heed to that.

“I have to say that it makes me proud that he’s experiencing one of the greatest highlights of his life attaining a college education. Of course, he’s used basketball as a tool. The learning experiences that he’s benefited from at Niagara Falls, Connecticut and Niagara University have really groomed him socially.”

Going away to play

Garrison had the skills to make the Niagara Falls varsity as a freshman, thus making him ineligible to defend his scoring title in the Boys & Girls Club Biddy league. He became a key player for the Wolverines as an upperclassman, helping the school win its first (and last) state championship and rise to national prominence in 2005.

At the time of his graduation, Garrison had little interest in continuing his career at one of the local colleges.

“I had heard so many stories about the basketball players who never made it out of here,” he says. “I wanted to get out of here as soon as I can, so I could say I made it out. And I wanted to be out on my own and be independent.”

Planning to spend a year at the Phillips Exeter Academy, a New Hampshire prep school noted for academics, Garrison got a surprise scholarship offer from the University of Connecticut, which had just suspended two of its top point guards for stealing laptops.

Garrison fit the mold of a model student-athlete and capable ballhandler UConn coach Jim Calhoun needed to lift his program’s image and still stay in contention for a national title. Garrison started the first 11 games as a freshman, and the Huskies were undefeated. But once the suspended players returned, his playing time evaporated. At the end of his sophomore year, Garrison announced plans to transfer, but did not initially indicate he wanted to come home. There was talk he might even go play in Hawaii, where his brother now serves in the military.

But on a visit to Niagara he bonded with Bilal Benn, another player looking for a new school after two years at Villanova, and the two decided together that they wanted to soar with the Purple Eagles.



The homestretch at home

Niagara already had an established point guard in Anthony Nelson when Garrison became eligible last season. Tyrone Lewis was entrenched as the scoring guard, and Benn, another guard, was clearly going to play major minutes. But Mihalich saw that Garrison was one of his five best players, and implemented a four-guard lineup that led to the Purple Eagles wining 26 games, the highest total in 87 years.

Garrison has played the same role this year, though Niagara hasn’t had as much overall success. But this year and last, the Purple Eagles fortunes have often been decided by how well Garrison plays. In games when he’s scored 13 or more points, Niagara is 21-4.

“I’m living the dream because I’m doing what I like to do and I’m doing it well in front of the people I love and the people that love me,” Garrison says. “I feel a sense of love from people that I don’t even know. I see them in the mall and I can just tell they are proud of what I’m doing because I’m doing something for my city.”

“Rob is a kid who if anybody in the community knows him, likes,” Constantino says. “When I go to Niagara games, people are so complimentary of him. It’s hard for kids to stay home and play, for a lot of different reasons, but Rob has made the best of it.”

Niagara has its home finale this afternoon. It would be the last time seniors Garrison, Lewis, Benn and Demetrius Williamson play at the Gallagher Center. And for Garrison, it will be the last time he plays a meaningful game in his hometown.

“I’m not sure if it’s going to be emotional,” Garrison says. “I know it’s going to be a good experience, a fun day. I’ve tried not to think about it because I know it’s coming to an end and I’m enjoying myself so much over the last three years.”

Contact reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.

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