Original Old School: Thank Me Later

Before LeBron, there was Schea Cotton. He was a California legend that was going to be an NBA Hall of Famer when all was said and done. Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned. Injuries can ruin expectations, but they can’t ruin someone’s love of the game. In September’s SLAM 141, we took a look at Cotton’s new basketball path and the impact he is making. — Ed. by Aggrey Sam Langston Hughes’ classic poem, “A Dream Deferred,” could easily apply to the saga of Schea Cotton. Just as the (Harlem) Renaissance man’s words ring true so long after the famed wordsmith left this Earth, Schea Cotton-at least the arc of his basketball (playing) career-was also before his time. “I really didn’t have a childhood,” says Cotton, who was featured in the Los Angeles Times as a 6-foot, 180-pound 12-year-old. “I was getting recognition as a fifth-grader. By the sixth grade, [ESPN's] Scholastic Sports Ameri...