“Where should I stand?” I said, below the South basket in a mostly empty Fred Delay Gymnasium.
“Wherever you want!” yelled standout senior center Terrence Ringo Jr.
As he approached, the only thing I could think was, “What have I gotten myself into?”
Terrence Ringo Jr. just completed one of the best statistical seasons we have seen here at Union University in a very long time. Averaging 19.5 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.2 blocks per game, he led his team in all four categories, while being the first player to lead the GSC in points and rebounds since the 2018 season.
I had the privilege of watching Ringo play very closely this year, serving as an intern with our sports medicine staff here on campus. What this means, barring disastrous injuries or extenuating circumstances, is that I stand behind our home bench, tending to cuts, passing out water and/or acetaminophen, bringing overall good vibes and building relationships with our student-athletes. On account of this, Ringo and I had become friends over the past year, and the journalist in me knew I had to tell the story of the year he had.
The plan was simple; I would interview Ringo until our photographer, Brylee, arrived, at which point we would leave the lofted bleachers and head down to the court. We would play some one-on-ones, and then he would dunk on me. I had never gotten dunked on before (I quit playing basketball once kids started growing faster than I could drive), so I figured there was a first time for everything, and who better to baptize me than my friend Terrence Ringo Jr.
As we sat in the loft of the Fred, we began to talk about the journey that Ringo’s basketball career has been. Hailing from Evansville, Indiana, Ringo didn’t start playing basketball until high school – later than most collegiate basketball players – and it wasn’t until his father asked him to try it that he gave up his first love, football.
“Football was what I wanted to be doing, but then my dad, he said, ‘You’re getting kind of tall, you should try basketball,’ so I tried it for him, but I really wanted to play football.”
Even still, Ringo’s transition into basketball was not an easy one. After not making the team in middle school, he made a lower-level junior varsity team his freshman year of high school, but still didn’t play much. It wasn’t until his sophomore year of high school that he truly got his start in basketball.
Ringo attributes the toughness and tenacity he plays with, in large part, to football. “That’s probably where I get the first half of my aggression from,” he says.
The aggression that he plays with ended up landing him a roster spot at Shawnee Community College, where, in his freshman year, he was faced with yet another setback: a herniated disk in his back, which required surgery. The doctors told him he would never play again.
Terrence Ringo Jr. attributes half of his aggressive style of play to his days playing football. The other half comes from pure desire and grit. See, Ringo is listed at 6’6”, but says he is “closer to 6’4” on a bad day.” Ringo also plays center, frequently matching up with players four to six inches taller than him. When I asked him what gives him the edge in the matchups where, at least on paper, he is physically outmatched, he chalks it up to the way he was raised.
“With the people that I grew up playing against, you’ve got to go up and get that ball, or you’re going to get knocked over. I just carry that mindset over for whoever I’m playing against. I’ve been playing against people bigger than me my entire life. With my mom watching me play, I’m not going to come out here and get embarrassed.”
Here, he gets more animated – the most I’ve seen during the interview. He continues, “I say this before every game, ‘the bills have to get paid’, you can ask my coaches. Wherever I’m playing, ‘the bills have to get paid.’ I have to go out and do what I have to do: keep the lights on.”
Ask his coaches I did. Assistant coach Emerson Jones had the same things to say after I asked him about Ringo’s hustle and toughness:
“He is just relentless. He always used to talk about how he ‘had to pay the bills,’ and at first it was comical, but you can really see in his mind how he has bigger plans with what he wants to do with the game of basketball. He approaches it like a professional each and every day.”
After Ringo’s injury, he went back to work, but he quit his job in the middle of his first shift. He knew that he missed basketball too much to quit playing, so he got back to working on his game. He transferred to Danville Area Community College, where he played for two years, before transferring last season to Kentucky Wesleyan University. After entering the transfer portal one last time, he connected with Coach David Niven, and he knew the minute he set foot on campus that Union was where he wanted to be.
From day one, Ringo was plugged in, both on the basketball court and the rest of campus. It is naturally harder for student-athletes to be involved, but it has become a pattern for some to really exist on the fringes. I ask him about this, and if he is aware of said stereotype:
“I actually just got told about this, but it didn’t matter where I was going to go, I was always going to bring my energy and try to branch out and meet people.”
Meeting people has been one of Ringo’s favorite parts of Union. When I ask him about specific things he’s been invited to, he mentions Bible studies, hangouts and even people offering to cook for him:
“I say I do a lot for people, but at this school, people do a lot for me, so I really appreciate that.”
Ringo loves student events here on campus, as he jokes about how he went to his first play the other day in our very own W.D. Powell Theater, but where Union has made the largest and most lasting impact on him is in his spiritual life.
“I’ve enjoyed it here. I’ve gotten to get deeper on Christianity and faith for sure. I wasn’t big on that last year, and I kind of felt lost, like I was missing something. This year, I feel like the other half of me has gotten filled.”
After talking about the ways in which he grew spiritually this year, we begin to talk about how he wants to grow his game. A couple of weeks ago, Ringo announced that he had signed with an agency to begin pursuing a professional basketball career. He knows there are things he needs to improve on, namely his ballhandling and three-point shooting, but he isn’t afraid of the work.
“I might do drills with coaches, but if I’m working on shooting, I’m having fun. I might bring someone in here, and we’ll do first to ten. That’s not how I get better, draining myself mentally. I’m a hard worker, but you want to have fun at something you enjoy doing.”
At this point, Brylee had arrived, so it was time for my indoctrination. Ringo lined me up on the floor, then dunked over me four different times, with me getting slightly more confident and less terrified each time. The last time, I decided that I would jump as if I was trying to block him; if I was ever going to catch a body in a semi-controlled environment, now was the time.
As Ringo jogged toward me, slowly gaining speed, I jumped and closed my eyes. I felt his side go through my chest as I turned my head so as not to catch a stray elbow or shoulder on his way up. Next thing I knew, I was sliding across the floor on my rear until my back hit the pad, conveniently placed upon the wall to prevent myself and other of Ringo’s victims from turning into grease stains. As Ringo hung on the rim about eight feet away, it contextualized what had just happened: he had turned me into a projectile.
As I brushed myself off, Ringo came over to help me up and proposed we switch to one-on-ones. We decided we’d play to seven by ones and twos, and to say I was anything short of petrified would be an understatement.
For context, I’m a cross-country runner. I pride myself on occupying the small subset of collegiate cross-country runners who are moderately athletic since I played pretty much every sport except for football growing up. However, basketball was never my strong suit. I stopped playing anything more competitive than church league basketball once I got to high school, and I’d stopped growing at the highly average height of 5’11”. I’m a decent shooter and have a really good midrange fadeaway, so the plan was to not embarrass myself on defense, hopefully hit a jump shot or two, and not get skunked.
Ringo got the ball first and missed a fadeaway from the elbow. I got the ball, stepped into a three, probably two feet behind the line, and drained it. 2-0.
Ringo missed another jumper, and I went to the best part of my game, the fadeaway midrange. I shot-faked and got him in the air, but it didn’t matter; he was too tall. After collecting the ball that he swatted into the opposite end of the court, he backed me down and scored: 1-2.
I clanged a deep three off the side of the rim, and he scored again: 2-2. This became a pattern. 3-2. 4-2. 5-2.
He hit a three to finish me off, and I thought it poetic that his last bucket was a three, the next step he wanted to take to improve his game. We chatted and shot for a couple more minutes, dapped each other up, and then I left.
As I walked back to my dorm, I was overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude. Gratitude for my friend Terrence Ringo Jr., the experience I just enjoyed, and for a thing like athletics that makes it possible for me, a very amateur runner/trainer/writer, and Terrence Ringo Jr., a very high-level basketball player, to live life and connect with one another and hear each other’s stories.
For Ringo, it provides an opportunity to reach someone with the love of Christ that he showed to me every time we interacted over the past year: “There are a lot of people on this campus that look like they’re happy, but they’re on the edge a little bit, and that conversation, that interaction, that’s what starts people up. That’s my main goal. Being an athlete is cool and all, but we’re human first.”
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