Why Fisk basketball's Jeremiah Armstead is first HBCU player to receive national award for courage
Being 6-foot-5 and sleeping in a car for an extended period of time is nearly impossible, especially when the space is being shared with three other people.
It was among the many uncomfortable situations Jeremiah Armstead faced as a teenager and before he was accepted to Fisk University and joined the school's basketball team.
Armstead received the U.S. Basketball Writers Association 2024 Most Courageous award Wednesday. It means Armstead, who has played in 11 games this season, will be treated to an all-expense paid trip for himself and a guest to the NCAA Men’s Final Four basketball tournament April 6-8 in Phoenix.
Armstead is the first HBCU or NAIA player to receive the Most Courageous award. The award is named in honor of former Pearl High and Vanderbilt basketball star Perry Wallace, who became the first Black basketball player in the SEC and the first Black athlete to play a full four-year career in the SEC in any sport.
"My life has changed so much over the last two years," Armstead said. "I didn't think I was going to go to college. I didn't think about an experience like this ever happening because of the situation and circumstances we had going on. I would spend long nights talking to God, so I've waited on something like this to happen. And now that it's happened it's not stopping. I have been blessed and all I can do is thank the Lord. I wouldn't be here without Him."
Armstead, who is originally from Atlanta and grew up as a child in Philadelphia, his mother, Mindy Brooks, and his younger brother and sister were homeless for four years living on the streets of Long Beach, California.
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That's where Armstead was living in 2021 while attending Long Beach Polytechnic High School when he met Stephen Bernstein, CEO of the non-profit We Educated Brilliant Minds, which assists teens in making it to HBCUs. Bernstein, a Fisk graduate, got Armstead in touch with Bulldogs coach and former NBA star Kenny Anderson
Anderson was impressed by what Bernstein told him about Armstead's basketball skills and told Armstead if he could meet Fisk's entry requirements he would have a place on the basketball team.
"I didn't think anything was going to happen when I met Mr. Bernstein because it was so short notice," Armstead said. "There was only like a week left before the first semester of school. He did some amazing things. I applied for Fisk on a Friday, got accepted Saturday and I flew out that Monday."
After Armstead qualified, the non-profit We Educate Brilliant Minds along with two other non-profits − Sisters of Watts and A Time To Mentor − raised money to pay his tuition. Armstead also receives an academic stipend from Fisk each semester.
Anderson, who will also attend the Final Four courtesy of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, said anything that comes Armstead's way is well-deserved.
“He’s the type of player everyone wants on their team,” Anderson said. “He gets along with his teammates and is willing to put in the work. He is a great ambassador for the university.”
Armstead's mother and her other two children recently moved into an apartment in Long Beach. Armstead said he would take his brother Marcus, who is 18, as his guest on the trip to the Final Four.
His family has not yet been able to see Armstead play in a game, but he is returning to Long Beach in two weeks during spring break to visit them.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Fisk basketball player goes from being homeless to a Final Four trip
