A heart for the game: Perseverance pays off for Ohio State walk-on Eddie Days
Published: Tuesday, March 15, 2011
By Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer
"Basketball is something I'll never give up," says OSU senior guard Eddie Days, who overcame a heart condition to earn a spot on the Buckeyes' roster as a walk-on.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- As a freshman, Eddie Days' heart kept him from the Final Four. As a senior, he's bringing his heart back to Cleveland.
This week, with Ohio State beginning another potential run at the Final Four with two games at Quicken Loans Arena, he's earning the payoff for a three-year wait.
"We'll take it," said his mother, Judie.
As a junior at Richmond Heights, Days collapsed at a basketball practice one morning, tests later revealing what Judie said was an extra muscle in his heart. Under the care of a cardiologist, he missed the end of his junior season, was placed on medication and cleared to play as a senior, averaging 22 points per game for the Spartans.
Turning down chances to play Division III basketball at John Carroll and Case Western Reserve, including some full-ride academic scholarships, Days set that heart on Ohio State, his mother remembering him staring through the windows of the Schottenstein Center on an OSU campus visit.
"He didn't say a word, but just looking at him, I knew what he was thinking," Judie said. "He was imagining himself playing on that court."
So without any contact with the coaching staff, Days took his 3.8 GPA and enrolled at Ohio State. He quickly established himself as the king of the courts at Ohio State's Recreation and Physical Activity Center, playing four hours a day, and when walk-on tryouts came about, Days made the team, ready to join Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Daequan Cook and David Lighty as OSU freshmen.
Then came his physical.
Concerned about his heart, an OSU doctor red-flagged Days, worried he suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the condition that can suddenly take the life of an athlete, as happened with a Michigan high school basketball player this month.
Days and his family contended he was fine and cleared by his own physician, but the Buckeyes wanted Days to get out of basketball shape to see how his heart reacted, and by the time that happened and he was found to be OK, the Buckeyes had gone on without him, headed toward the national title game.
The Eddie Days file
* Position: 6-foot senior guard
* Hometown: Richmond Heights
* High school: Averaged 22 points per game as a senior at Richmond Heights in 2005-06 and was named the All-Northeast Lakes District player of the year in Division IV, the same year that future OSU teammates Dallas Lauderdale (Solon) and David Lighty (Villa Angela-St. Joseph) were named the players of the year in Division I and Division III.
* Stats: In his second year with the Buckeyes has played in a total of 11 games, seven this year. In 20 career minutes, he has one assist, one rebound and one steal and has yet to score a point, missing all six of his shots.
? Doug Lesmerises
"That was one of the hardest things I ever had to go through, because it was something I worked for, and with this type of school, you never know if you're going to get the timing right to get back with this team," Days said.
"I felt horrible, because he was ready to be on the team and we couldn't let him go," said OSU trainer Vince O'Brien, who didn't make the decision on Days. "But I would have felt worse if something had happened. We did the right thing, but it's nice karma that he's back now. Hopefully he gets that Final Four trip."
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