Wash U. senior was key in national championship win

LOCAL

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Wash U. senior was key in national championship win

BY JASON GRANGER, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT

When the Washington University men's basketball team celebrated its second consecutive NCAA Division III national championship late last month, no one seemed more excited than 6'2" senior guard Sean Wallis, from Northbrook, Ill.

Wallis, 22, starred for the Bears, picking up a double-double, scoring 16 points and dishing 10 assists for Wash. U., as the Bears ran roughshod over the outmatched Richard Stockton College. The victory was especially redemptive for Wallis, who was forced to sit out at last year's championship game because of a devastating injury.

"Sean is a really remarkable kid, he has basketball charisma," said Bears Coach Mark Edwards. "He's a natural floor leader but he's also skilled enough to be an integral part of the offense.

"After he got hurt last year, he continued to contribute to the team. But to sit out the championship game wearing a shirt and tie instead of a uniform was hard. This year, to have the opportunity to contribute back on the floor and feel the greatness of winning a championship was absolutely sweet for him."

Not that Wallis is any stranger to success on the court. His senior year of high school, he helped lead his team from Glenbrook High School to the state championship in Illinois. The championship garnered a lot of media attention because all five of the starters for the team were Jewish.

One of those starting five on the high school team, Zach Kelly, also made his way to Washington U. He said looking back on the high school championship, the fact that there were so many Jews on the team was something they did not often consider.

"The whole Jewish component was something we never really talked about," Kelly said. "To us it was just kind of a fun fact. Obviously, Judaism is important to all of us, but we were just concerned with going out and playing hard, but it was fun to share that with the community."

Now Kelly has shared the court with Wallis for not just a high school championship, but a college one as well.

"It was special for him and it was special for us," Kelly said. "It's something you strive for. You cherish it."

Wallis' mother, Lynda, said basketball was all around her son growing up in Northbrook, a suburb of Chicago. She said he began playing basketball in preschool and reveled in the successes of the 1990s Chicago Bulls, especially the aerobatic exploits of Michael Jordan.

"He watched many of the championship games on his father's lap," she said.

"I was extremely spoiled. I got to go to a lot of Bulls games," Sean Wallis said. "I wouldn't trade anything for those times, watching Jordan and the Bulls win all those championships. Growing up in Chicago, that was a great time."

Wallis helped translate his success as a high school basketball player to college by keeping with him the lessons he learned on the first championship run, his mother said, by playing for each other, not for individual accomplishment. "They play like a family," she said.

Sean Wallis, who is active in St. Louis Hillel at Washington U., agreed, saying the Bears' success — and his own — reflect the team's respect for every player in the Bears uniform.

"It's just being comfortable with my teammates," he said. "We have a tight bond. I've been playing with them for a long time."

Individually, Wallis said he will do anything he can to help his team win.

"I pride myself on being able to do whatever it takes to win," Wallis said. "If it means scoring or handling the ball and finding the open man, I will do whatever it takes to win."

Coach Edwards says Wallis is a great competitor and that losing him last season after the third game was a tremendous blow. Wallis suffered a fracture of the tibial plateau, which required extensive surgery. The rehab of the leg was taxing at times.

"It's not just physical rehab either, but mental," Wallis said. "You have to mentally prepare yourself to get out there and play again."

No amount of rehab, however, can completely prepare an athlete recovering from injury for that first full speed collision, Wallis added. "That first time you get knocked down and get back up is important."

But this season allowed Wallis to go out on a high note, finally clutching that most coveted of prizes for a college basketball player, the national championship.

"It was a special experience," he said. "For me and my teammates to win a second championship in a row was great. And for me, to be able to get out there and play and be on the court, it was a different experience."

After missing a whole season of college eligibility, Wallis, who is in a five-year finance program at the university, has the option to play another year. He thinks he's going to take another shot at a third championship in a row, but he's also keeping an eye on the future as well.

Edwards hopes Wallis decides to play, but says he will support whatever decision he makes.

Wallis has been contacted by officials in Israel to play professional basketball there, an opportunity he has embraced, especially after his first trip to Israel as part of the Birthright Israel program.

"I know I am not a realistic candidate for pro basketball in the U.S.," he said. "But playing in Israel would be awesome."

His experiences in Israel helped shape who he has become, he said, and that time will stay with him forever.

"It was amazing," he said. "I fell in love with it. There were soldiers attached to my group, some the same age as me. Some of those kids are so like me, but have such different experiences growing up over there."

His time there also helped sharpen his faith, he said.

"I am not just a Jew whose parents are Jewish," Wallis said. "I am proud of my religion."