Cleburne senior Trey Whitehead was still a sophomore when he realized his dream would never come true.
Two years ago, he was cut from the boys’ basketball team.
“I really wanted to play basketball. That’s really what I wanted to do,” he said.
Head coach Kurt White saw that passion and asked Trey to stick around as the team manager.
“This is for the better of the team and I understand that 100 percent,” Trey said.
Coach White says Trey has been invaluable.
“He is our MVP of the year because of the work that he’s done,” White said.
It’s a job Trey has done dutifully for the past three seasons, which is why he still can’t believe the honor given to him earlier this week.
“I almost cried. I almost cried,” Trey said.
Because Trey has been so devoted, Coach White planned on letting him suit up for the team’s final game of the regular season. But he kept it a secret, until about midway through the fourth quarter when he motioned to Trey at the top of the gym to come down to the court.
“I’m thinking something went wrong with the computer or something I needed to go fix” Trey said.
Instead, Coach White told Trey there was a jersey waiting for him in the locker room.
“I don’t think he could get his street clothes off fast enough to put that uniform on,” White said.
“Just putting on the uniform felt like heaven to me. It felt like heaven,” Trey added.
But with just a few minutes to play, Coach White actually put Trey in the game. He missed his first shot, but the second, a 3-pointer from the corner, was nothing but net.
“It’s like we won the state championship right here in Cleburne with one guy hitting the shot,” White said.
“I got to do what I love most, with the people I love most and at the end of the day that’s all I can ask for,” said Trey
That’s not a bad way to end a career.