Finding A Future In Spokane Rogers Coach Showed Star Way Out

Spokane basketball courts are a far cry from the California neighborhood where Crips and crack cocaine envelop families and threatened to swallow yet another young man.

They have, however, become a lifesaver for Rogers High player De’Andrey Mosby, who somehow, some way escaped a dead-end past and found his future in the Greater Spokane League.

The 6-foot-2 forward plays underneath the basket against players taller than himself. But the Pirates senior has found spectacular basketball success.

Despite giving away height to nearly every GSL team, Mosby leads the league in scoring. His quickness has enabled him to average more than 20 points per game, after a combined 60-point outburst on Friday and Tuesday.

Overcoming a size disadvantage was easy compared to the obstacles he has faced that might have cracked the will of a lesser person.

An older brother, he says, is imprisoned for a gang-related murder in his hometown of Compton, Calif.

His mother he says “didn’t have her life together.”

The grandmother he lived with, Vera Jones, died of a brain tumor when he was 12.

It was she who had provided stability in his life. She took him to church. He was never allowed to talk back. She taught him not to smoke, to respect people, to avoid gangs and drugs.

“I went to stay with Auntie, then she died of cancer, too,” said Mosby.

So, too, did a baby sister.

A brief stay with his father didn’t work out. He was out of school and fending for himself.

“My freshman year, I decided I wanted to get away,” Mosby said. “It was just me, my mom and my little sister.”

They came to Spokane to live with an uncle who has since returned to California.

Today, Mosby is living alone on public assistance. He says his mother is hospitalized with a toxic pregnancy.

“I wouldn’t be able to truly assess his background, but the information is consistent,” said Rogers principal Wallace Williams. “He did grow up in a very complicated environment. When you take on that kind of responsibility, you have to do what works.”

Thanks to Rogers High School assistant basketball coach Dexter Griffin, who took Mosby under his wing, Mosby is in school and has a future.

At last report, he had a 2.83 grade-point average and was planning to attend college to teach and coach.

“Andrey has the foundation to be successful in every aspect of life,” said Williams. “That wasn’t always the case.”

Society does not always treat everyone equally and fairly, said Williams. Feeling everything and everyone was against him, said Williams, Mosby withdrew inside himself to avoid being hurt.

He discovered at Rogers that people cared and risked opening up to them in order to find help.

“His help has not been around the color line,” said Williams. “That’s one of the unique things about the staff here. They see kids first.”

Griffin discovered Mosby, out of school and playing basketball on a Browne’s Addition playground.

“He was a pretty good player, talking a lot of smack,” said Griffin.

Mosby hit a couple of shots on Griffin, who tired of the incessant talk and schooled him.

“We killed his team and he became humble,” said Griffin. “At the time I was coaching at the community college and told him if he needed help to contact me.”

Griffin became, said Mosby, a big influence. He encouraged Mosby to return to school after a year and a half of truancy.

“I just tried to show him the life he could lead if he worked hard,” said Griffin. “I also told him he could fall.”

Structure was foreign to Mosby, who struggled on Rogers’ junior varsity team his sophomore year.

“I didn’t think we’d keep him,” admitted coach Rick Mergenthaler. “Dexter stayed with him.”

Griffin patiently tolerated the lack of discipline and temperamental outbursts.

“Being yelled at was tough,” said Mosby. “I grew up on my own and was not used to anyone yelling at me. It took until the end of the year to face it.”

Still, there always was something special about the athlete that transcended his background, said Mergenthaler.

“He always wanted an education, he always wanted what his family hasn’t given him. His grandmother was his anchor, but he’s a mature kid, driven to keep his family together.”

Last year, Mosby averaged just over 10 points per game for a 1-19 team in what normally would have been his senior year.

He petitioned for and was granted an extra year of eligibility because of his hardship background.

“He said his primary goal was an education, even if he was not declared eligible,” said Mergenthaler. “He once wrote on a paper, ‘I hope someone can discover my talents and prepare me for college.”’

This year, Mosby has scored 15 or more points in 12 of the Pirates’ 14 games, including seven games over 20, the last five in a row.

He is determined to play college ball and get an education. He will likely start at a community college, said Griffin, under a coach who can give him proper attention on and off the court.

“He needs a better jump shot,” said Griffin, which explains why he plays inside. “But he has a bigger heart than anybody.”

Trying to understand the complicated life of this articulate young man is difficult from the perspective of mostly white Spokane.

“To a lot of people it might seem strange, but that’s how I grew up,” Mosby said. “Basically, I’ve been old since I was young. No one should go through anything like that.”

He is thankful for the opportunities leaving Compton and coming here afforded him.

“I’d never been raised around white people,” he admitted. “This is heaven compared to where I’m from.”

Not having parents, he said, affects him when he sees the support they provide his teammates.

“To have someone behind you is something to cherish,” he says. “Never take it for granted.”

It is that kind of introspection and his experiences, say his principal and coaches, that make Mosby the role model he says he can become.

“He’s gone through everything a young man can go through,” said Mergenthaler.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos (1 color)