up, he can play basketball tooYears ago, in some almost-forgotten conversation with Carolyn Lum-Tucker, the subject of her son Brad came up. Brad was a young boy then, but he was already a noted youth tennis player, having regularly beaten
up, he can play basketball tooYears ago, in some almost-forgotten
conversation with Carolyn Lum-Tucker, the subject of her son Brad came
up.
Brad was a young boy then, but he was already a noted youth tennis
player, having regularly beaten tournament opponents in ranks as high as Men’s
B and C.
Tennis was what we spoke about mostly, but Carolyn made sure to
mention another sport.
“He plays basketball too,” she said.
Somehow, it
was hard to imagine a highly skilled tennis player playing basketball well too,
so the response was: “but tennis is his sport, though, isn’t it?”
Carolyn’s
answer doesn’t matter now. What matters is that she was — back then —
hinting around at what the rest of the island would learn much later — that
he’s a damned good basketball player too.
Lum-Tucker, a three-year starter
for the Kaua’i Red Raiders basketball team, averaged 20 points a game and
played the role of quiet, focused leader.
He plays the same unassuming
leadership role on the tennis team, and he hasn’t lost a match in his four
years on the team.
Lum-Tucker is ranked among the top few tennis players
statewide in his age group.
His name has been all over these sports pages,
and he surely doesn’t “need” this extra ink.
But he does deserve it. In a
world full of complaining, trouble-making athletes, he is a nice and stark
contrast.
As one Garden Isle sports fanatic said just the other day —
“Lum-Tucker, now that boy has heart, a good heart!”
Just before Brad’s
sophomore season was about to start, former sports reporter John Crouse, a
family friend of the Lum-Tuckers, mentioned Brad’s ability as a basketball
player.
And his comments prompted this thought: “Was Carolyn trying to
tell us something way back then?”
But there was still some skepticism —
skepticism that goes hand-in-hand with this job.
Sure enough, Lum-Tucker
started that whole sophomore season, and he proved himself as a defensive
cog.
He blossomed into a key starter as a junior, and he took the league by
storm as a senior.
Well, alright, we can see it clearly now, Carolyn knew
it all along.
Crouse thinks Lum-Tucker could be a touring tennis pro if he
chose that profession, and if there’s anyone in the Kaua’i tennis community
that doesn’t think he could be a successful college player, please contact us
and give us your reason.
Footwork is one part of Lum-Tucker’s talent on
both the tennis and basketball courts, but he also uses his footwork in other
areas such as cross country and track and field.
As a junior on the cross
country team, Lum-Tucker continued to improve as the season went along, and he
was the first finisher from Kaua’i at the state meet held at Kaua’i Community
College.
One memory of Lum-Tucker’s high school career is from near the end
of the basketball title-winning game against Kapa’a.
He was focused and
sweating — as usual — at the foul line, and he eyed the basket before
confidently making 2-for-2. Soon after, he left the game to a large ovation.
What most folks didn’t know was those points put him exactly at
20-points-per-game.
And then, the story goes, he showed his self-less side
and clapped heartily for Jason Sahara — a teammate putting his first two
points of the season on the board. That’s a real leader.
Yup, he can play
basketball too.
