As a basketball scout, my partner in …

As a basketball scout, my partner in life, Thom, typically spends many spring and summer days on the road traveling across the country and Canada watching high school level players. Often in a gym from morning till night, he is assessing skills and abilities that are then sought after by college coaches looking for that next big talent. It was 2010 in Little Rock, Arkansas, that he first met Jackie Cruz-Towns, mother of NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns, at a national AAU event. Jackie sauntered up and said, “You must be somebody important, you’re taking notes.” A smile the size of her son’s talent was on her face. Karl was a rising sophomore that year.