I have been blessed to be able to mentor thousands of young men in women in my 40 years of teaching and coaching. 

University of Toledo 6-foot-10, 240 pound sophomore basketball player Richard Wonnell (Genoa) has been one of my prize student-athletes ever since he and his sister wanted to learn how to shoot in my "Beef It" basketball shooting program 10 years ago.

The Rockets are 10-10 overall, 5-5 in the Mid-American Conference. Wonnell has played in 13 games, averaging nine minutes with 20 points scored, 25 rebounds, and he has blocked two shots.

The University of Toledo's 6'10" center Richard Wonnell (Genoa) out-jumps a defender from the University of Northwest Ohio in the Rocket's 88-62 exhibition victory. (Photo courtesy of UT SID)

I have to say, he did not have the greatest "God-given" natural ability when he was a 10-year-old.  Actually his sister, Bonnie, had better coordination and natural shooting style — but Richard was a hard worker.

His parents, Steve and Joy, continued to call and ask to bring Richard and Bonnie to wherever my AAU team was practicing. Maybe it was that exposure to some great shooters and hard workers that I personally picked Wonnell to be on my AAU team the last eight years that motivated him. 

I had just completed my formal public high school head coaching experience, (20 years in Cincinnati and four years at Elmwood). I volunteered with Coach Jim Welling at Owens Community College. Welling, an Eastwood graduate, took Owens to two national championships and now at Central Catholic, took the Fighting Irish to the Division I state final four last March.

Then, I was hired as an assistant at Adrian College as one of the recruiters and shooting coaches working with Coach Buck Riley. You learn to identify who the hard workers like Wonnell are.

It was that experience working with good student-athletes and then reading Coach John Wooden's book, The Wizzard of Westwood, that made me want to mentor young student-athletes to get to the next level after high school.

Wonnell continued to work on his shot and played for me for four years in our Western Basin Toledo AAU program. He played on my 16-and-under team for two years behind some great players like Will Kameleski (Cardinal Stritch), Justin Francis (Port Clinton/Ohio Northern University), and Aaron Mass (Tiffin Calvert/Bluffton College). 

It was the continued desire to play against the best that drove Wonnell. During his final two years with our program, Wonnell made numerous all-star teams in tournaments in Morgantown, West Virginia, Lexington, Kentucky, and the best AAU team in the USA in Cincinnati. 

He played against the best AAU players in the Midwest.An example of the level of competition he played against was Dequan Cook (Dayton Dunbar/Ohio State/now in the NBA). 

The desire to excel in the classroom was Wonnell’s strength. After making All-Ohio in football his senior year at Genoa High, he came to me and asked if I thought he could play at the University of Toledo. 

Wonnell did not really have a great high school experience and many of the fans and his coaches did not believe he could make it anywhere on the hardwood. I told him to give it his best shot — I kept saying he was living many a high school player's dream. 

Because of his academic excellence in the classroom, he decided to walk on at University of Toledo. It has not been easy and we worked on his shooting, footwork, and strength in the summer before his freshman year. He did not get a lot of playing time as a freshman and was only one of the three players from last year's Rocket squad to return to play for the Midnight Blue and Gold.

I have never been a statistical coach — but I do like to grade efficiency. Wonnell has the second highest efficiency (plus 66) ever recorded in a game for me. 

Wonnell always did exactly what I asked of him.  He recently had a "break out game" with nine points, eight rebounds, and was 4-for-4 from the free throw line in 14 minutes on the floor. He has played an average of about 10 minutes per game since. 

Coach K and former UT coach Bobby Nichols both told me, "Wonnell has one of the best attitudes on the team.”

College basketball is so much more challenging than high school — but like others I worked with (Ryan Smith — Whitmer/Purdue; Greg Nared — Wilmington/Maryland; and Steve Smith — Central Catholic/Adrian College's second leading scorer in school history/now a U.S. Army officer), all it takes is a commitment to hard work and a focus on a dream.

Wonnell has accepted my mentoring without any hesitation.  My goal is to have Wonnell take his academics first; and then basketball to whatever level he dreams. Leave all the naysayers and critics on the sideline — "just play your game.”

Arnold Sutter is a former Genoa basketball player who later became a high school, AAU, and college coach, and now is a consultant for student-athletes wishing to make the transition from high school to college sports.

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