Giving Up the Ball

by Janet Thomas and Lisa A. Johnson

Editorial Staff

Players leave basketball behind for missions and find they’re a jump ahead when they return.

The air in the gym is heavy, thick with the smell of rubber-soled shoes, of basketballs, and of sweat. In one corner, young men stretch and pull. One of them calls out, “Pasame la pelota!”

In unison, the other players repeat, “Pasame la pelota!”

“What does that mean, Kelly?”

“Pass me the ball,” Kelly answers. “Now try this, ‘a la izquierda,’ That means ‘to the left.’”

“A la izquierda!” the group answers.

And so the Spanish drill continues as the basketball players prepare for a scrimmage. You might think this is a scene from a gym class at the MTC, but guess again. It actually took place at the University of New Mexico, where the Lobos were preparing for a game against Brigham Young University. The Lobos were getting a crash course in Spanish from last year’s senior guard Kelly Graves, who served in the Chile Santiago Mission. It just so happens that the majority of the starters for BYU served Spanish-speaking missions, and sometimes they tried to confuse and intimidate the opposing teams by speaking Spanish on the court.

“Those BYU guys can’t fool me,” said Kelly. “I served a Spanish-speaking mission too. During our stretching time, we’ve been going over some Spanish phrases.”

For many high school basketball players, competing at the college level is a dream come true. But just as they are getting caught up in the roar of the crowd, a big decision presents itself. Do I go on a mission? Now? Next year? Or four years from now?

Once going on a mission seemed to mark the end of an athletic career. But now, more and more basketball players, as well as those participating in other sports, are finding that they can still participate on college teams as returned missionaries. On the basketball courts, you’ll find players at several universities who are prime examples of athletes who chose to serve the Lord for two years before returning to their studies and the game.

Keith Chapman, a forward at the University of Utah, is a returned missionary from the Germany Frankfurt Mission. As he was growing up, he had always planned to go on a mission. But when the time came to submit his papers, the game plan became a little more complicated. “The NCAA started having a controversy about whether missionaries would lose eligibility or not. That was the first hesitation I ever felt about my decision to serve a mission. After praying, I decided I was going to go at any rate. The NCAA then decided that we would keep our eligibility.”

On his mission Keith learned to keep an eternal perspective on things. “Before my mission, basketball was my whole life. Now I know there are more important things like staying worthy and looking more into the eternities than just to the next game.”

From the time Reid Newey of Roy, Utah, was six years old he had dreamed of playing basketball. He played in city leagues, in high school, in the ward. He watched games on television and attended games with his dad. Basketball was what he wanted to do with his life.

During his first year at Utah State University, Reid made the NCAA all-freshman team. He was making a real contribution. The following year he would have been a starter. But something else was affecting his life. “My freshman year was the first time I’d read the Book of Mormon all the way through,” said Reid. “And I really gained a great testimony of it then. I loved it. I’d rush home from practice just to read it because I loved it so much. From then on I had a different feeling. I went through a lot of prayer and fasting, and it was a personal revelation for me that I should go on a mission.”

Reid had a tremendous experience in the mission field that made everything worth it. “We met this man who was a retired colonel from the army. He was just a great man. He was baptized a week before I left. He drove me to the airport to go home, and we had the opportunity to walk around the Dallas Temple. As we stood there, he looked at me and said, ‘Thanks for coming, Elder Newey.’ I didn’t know exactly what he was talking about. But then he kind of grabbed me and said, ‘No, thanks for coming on your mission.’ That was the greatest experience of my life. It really touched me, and I can’t bear to think what it would be like if I hadn’t experienced that.”

Reid had one more piece of advice. “I’m a basketball player, but everybody has their own obstacles to going on a mission. Everybody has something to keep them from going. But I know there isn’t anything worth staying home for. My advice would be to get your life in order and go, no matter what it takes.”

Talk to any of the players who took time out to serve, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Go! There isn’t one who regrets his service to the Lord.

“The decision I made to go on a mission was the greatest one I made in my life,” says BYU’s star forward, Mike Smith. “I decided to go when I was pretty young, so that I wouldn’t be influenced later when the pressure was on,” he added.

And the pressure did come. Mike was dubbed one of the best players to come out of any California high school and was recruited by many large universities. He chose BYU, and in his freshman year, he started 27 of 31 games. It didn’t bother him at all to leave his sports career behind for a couple of years.

There were those who didn’t understand, however. One man in particular, a long-time fan of Mike’s from his hometown of Hacienda Heights, California, couldn’t fathom why Mike would run the risk of sacrificing his career to serve a mission. Mike wrote his non-LDS friend a letter from the mission field in which he bore his testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, the Book of Mormon, and the prophet of the Church. Mike also told him he felt it was a privilege rather than a sacrifice to serve. His friend was so touched by Mike’s testimony that he took the letter to a local Catholic priest, who happened to be interested in Mike’s basketball career too. The priest, in turn, read the letter in mass every day for a week, saying it was an example of a youth who was doing all he could to serve the Lord.

“Nothing that happens on the basketball court can compare with experiences in the mission field,” Mike explains. “The feelings you experience on the basketball court are so limited, so temporary. You can make a game-winning shot and the fans love you, but the next play you dribble it off your foot and that great feeling is gone. But the feelings that come over you out in the mission field, where the Spirit touches your heart, you’ll never forget.”

Brian Taylor, a BYU guard who served in the Spain Seville Mission, will never forget or regret his decision to serve a mission. “I had the great opportunity to go out and open up a new island in the Canaries. I felt like the Apostle Paul. We’d walk down the street and people would ask, ‘What are you young guys doing in white shirts and ties? Why aren’t you down at the beach in your swimsuits?’ And they’d be impressed, and they’d listen to us, sometimes 150 people at once. We’d show movies like The First Vision and Families Are Forever on the sides of buildings, and the whole pueblo would come out to watch. We would then bear our testimonies, and the people would weep.”

Brian smiled and shook his head as he remembered, “There is just no comparison between that and playing basketball. You win a game for your team, you feel great, but the feeling only lasts that long.” Brian snapped his fingers. “But just as I talk about being on that island and bearing my testimony to that many people, it makes me feel like cheering again. You just feel good about it, and it never leaves you. It’s that eternal kind of feeling.”

Mike Johnson from Utah State University has basketball in the blood. His dad and uncles all played at Utah State, and Mike wanted to follow in their footsteps. But a mission came first. He left for the England Leeds Mission straight out of high school, not knowing if any of the recruiters who contacted him before he left would be interested when he returned two years later.

“I wanted to go on a mission,” said Mike. “I wanted to say, ‘Hey, I’ve done what I’ve been asked to and now, if I need to call on my Heavenly Father for help, then I can do it knowing that I haven’t put Him off.’”

Mike has talked to several freshman who are leaving on their missions. He encourages them to work hard and be dedicated. Then he tells them the lesson he learned, “If you go, when you get back everything will fall into place.”

These athletes as well as other missionaries soon learn that some of the fruits of their labors are harvested later by others. Alan Astle, a BYU guard, had one such experience. While tracting in England, he and his companion kept a record of every door they knocked on. “I remember one lady we tried several times was always too busy to talk to us, but I thought she was a good prospect. Right next to her name in our book I wrote ‘good.’ About four months later I got a letter from this lady, thanking me in countless ways for putting that comment next to her name. The new missionaries in the area saw that, went back, and she was baptized. She’s brought about five or six others into the Church so far. I just got a Christmas card from her, and she’s still thanking me for writing ‘good’ next to her name.”

For the two years of their missions, these athletes just about gave up basketball. Most of them did not touch a basketball for more than a few hours during the entire time they served. Now, these basketball-playing returned missionaries won’t lie and say they stepped right back onto the court and played as well as ever. On the contrary, BYU’s Bob Capener, who served in Chile and was a star guard last year, said, “Even though you don’t really lose your skills, you’re not ready to play right when you get back. I came to school to play about a month after I returned, and I almost died. I was out of shape and couldn’t breathe. But in time, with the habits and discipline that I gained on my mission, I was in better shape than I ever was before.”

Bob’s experience is not unique. But sometimes gains are made instead of losses. Some players, like Greg Humphreys of BYU, never expected to play any kind of college ball. Greg hadn’t even played in high school before his mission. “I sure didn’t worry about losing my touch on my mission because I never had it,” Greg said with a laugh. “I just thought I would come back and play ward ball. But I grew a lot on my mission and got physically stronger, bigger, and more mature.”

And the players see other ways a mission has helped their basketball. “Since we had to live with a companion for two years, we’ve learned to get along with some of the other guys who don’t have the same interests, so it helps us in that aspect of teamwork,” said BYU center Jim Usevitch, a returned missionary from New Zealand.

Jon Hansen, a transfer to the University of Utah from Long Beach State, returned from his mission to the Switzerland Geneva Mission just six weeks before school started. In some ways he enjoyed taking a break from basketball. “On your mission all your focus is on spiritual things, service, and spreading the gospel,” said Jon. “A mission is a total change. It’s harder coming home than it is leaving. When you get home, you really have to work hard to stay as close to the Lord as you were on your mission.

Tom Gneiting, one of BYU’s seniors last year, said returned missionaries do have a few advantages. “Mentally, you’re smarter about the game and you know more about it. You’re not quite as emotional as you were when you were 18. You’re calmer in the games.”

Brent Stephenson, a guard for BYU, added, “Also it helps you with patience. A lot of the game is having patience and doing the right things at the right time. I think maturity helps us there.”

BYU coach LaDell Anderson agrees. “One of the biggest assets these boys gain on the court from the missions is their ability to work as a team—to not be selfish.”

Coach Lynn Archibald of the University of Utah encourages his players to go on missions. “I can talk to an LDS player differently because I’m an LDS coach. I ask him, ‘What are you here for?’ Once you get your eternal goals in order, your earthly goals will take care of themselves. I encourage him to go on a mission because I think it will make him a better person. And if it makes him a better person, he’ll be a better basketball player because he’s going to know what he wants.”

Hard work seems to go with missionary service and pursuing sports. Danny Conway, a forward/center at Utah State University, found that a mission helped him learn how to improve his game. “If you want something, you really have to dedicate yourself and sacrifice. For me, if I’m good, it’s because I work hard and sacrifice something. I’ve never been one of those guys who can just step up and play well without putting forth the effort.”

Brian Taylor of BYU agreed, “After your mission you have the confidence that you know you can do it. You know you can do anything, because you’ve done the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your life.”

Even though these young men love basketball more than eating and sleeping, more than going to movies or relaxing with friends, none of them love basketball more than the Church and their missions.

Jon Judkins, a guard/forward at Utah State, summed up the feelings for the group. “I don’t think there’s anything I could ever do in basketball that would make me feel that joy—the joy of seeing someone join the Church and completely change his life.”

Greg Gneiting; Kelly Graves; Jon Judkins; Jon Hansen; Bob Capener; Reid Newey; Marty Haws; Dan Bell

Keith Chapman; Mike Smith; Brian Taylor; Mike Johnson; Brent Stevenson; Dan Sampson; Danny Conway; Jim Usevitch.

BYU’s Marty Haws (above), who served in Florida, and Brent Stephenson (left), who served in Brazil, found that their missions helped them shoot for more eternal goals. “What could be more important than helping people understand why they’re here?” Marty asked. Brent never even dreamed of playing college ball until he returned from his mission, where he grew in many ways.

Mike Smith (left), of BYU, towers over an investigator family in Argentina, while Utah State’s Reid Newey (above) tracts in Texas. University of Utah’s Dan Sampson (right) is dressed in white for the baptism of a family in Scotland, and BYU’s Brian Taylor (lower left) enjoys a dance performed by a girl whose parents he taught and baptized. None of them would have missed these experiences for anything.

Jon Hansen (above), of the University of Utah, stands with a family he met while serving in Switzerland. BYU’s Steve Schreiner (upper right) stands with a Japanese member at the Tokyo Temple, and teammate Greg Humphreys (lower right) officiates at the baptism of a family in Spain.