'Don't give up:' Malvern's Michael Minor shooting for final basketball comeback at Walsh
Michael Minor is giving his basketball career a final shot.
The former Malvern player has not played in a competitive game since 2022. His last appearance came in his final high school game. An ankle injury in a district final loss to Hiland left Minor and the Hornets devastated.
Two years and two surgeries later, Minor wants to play again. He hopes to walk on at Walsh University and play for the Cavaliers next season.
The last two years have felt like 20 years to Minor.
"It taught me a lot about myself," Minor said. "It taught me how to battle adversity."
Minor injured his ankle just over two minutes into Malvern's 50-36 loss to Hiland. He spent much of the first half trying to walk off the injury behind his team's bench. He reentered the game with 30 seconds left, scored uncontested and immediately checked out.
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"I knew it was pretty bad," Minor said. "I usually have a pretty high pain tolerance. I've rolled my ankle before and knew what that felt like, but I knew I was done as soon as it happened. ... I couldn't walk. I was trying to run and couldn't run. I couldn't stand on it.
"Every part of me wanted to go back in the game, but I just couldn't. I literally could not play."
The severity of Minor's injury wasn't fully known until he had his first surgery that summer.
"I had no support in my ankle," Minor said. "My ligaments were destroyed on the outside. They put an internal brace in my ankle."
Minor went a whole year without playing basketball after his first surgery. While playing with some of Walsh's players, he realized that something didn't feel right.
"I went to the doctor to get an MRI and told him what was going on," Minor said. "He said 'I don't know how you're getting out of bed in the morning. You're quite the specimen.'
"My tendon was a split tear for four centimeters and wrapped around my Achilles. I was barely getting along with it."
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Minor's reinjury required a second surgery. The tear was more severe than they thought. He did not pick up a basketball for five months.
Trying to play again is risky, Minor said. A third surgery could end his career for good.
Minor loves the game, though. He enjoys watching his younger brother Mitchell on this year's Malvern team. He helps train kids in the Malvern area. Being involved with basketball motivated him to give his career one more chance.
"This was definitely challenging," Minor said. "There were times where you want to give up and there were times when you want to keep going. You have to ride those highs and kick out those lows.
"This has definitely changed me as a person. It taught me a lot about how to stay on course and keep going. Don't give up basically."
Minor originally committed to Mount Union. He attended school there, then took online classes at Akron after his second surgery. He is expected to start classes at Walsh this fall and have full eligibility remaining.
"Sometimes guys don't come back from one of those major ankle surgeries or they're not the same," Walsh head coach Jeff Young said. "After the second one, doctors are like, 'Hey, it's probably in your best interest not to play.'
"He probably doesn't know for sure yet either how it's going to react to what it takes to play in college, but we'll see. He's a hard worker. ... He just loves to play. He works his butt off. I hate to see careers end with injuries like that, but maybe it will work out for him."
Reach Mike at mike.popovich@cantonrep.com
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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Malvern's Michael Minor giving basketball career a final shot at Walsh
