He goes to the hoop. He jumps, hanging in the air for what felt like eternity. It was his second game. Brought up from the DLeague, he needed to prove himself. His name is Jeff “Elmo” Beige. As the ball is coming down, closer to the hoop another individual comes into play. The name is unnecessary to know, but the man is key to Jeff’s story. The man jumps. He didn’t have to, but he did it anyway. His six-foot ten body could have easily blocked the shot on Jeff’s six-foot five structure. As Jeff’s hand with the ball comes crashing toward the net the man’s hand makes contact with the ball.
The ball doesn’t even touch the rim. Rejected at the rim. Jeff’s career is over at that very moment. One block defined his whole basketball career. Such a dejected ending for a fantastic story. Before one can understand what was mentioned above his story must be told. Jeff Beige was born at “the top of the world. ” What I mean by this is he was born in Barrow, Alaska. The most northern settlement in the entire United States of America. Jeff’s life was somewhat recluse. He and his two brothers were involved in the community, but they did not know much about the rest of the world.
Sure they understood about the concept other countries and the President, but they did not know other things. They did not have access to certain, common items. The Beige brothers did not have new phones. Their TV was only cable. The Beiges did not have much variety in their lives. One thing they did have access to was basketball. Anytime a basketball game would come on TV, they would watch. They would also play it at school. The Beige brothers were as obsessed with basketball as some are as obsessed with TV shows. Jeff Beige, the oldest brother, was much taller than most people in the tiny town.
He was six-foot five, taller than his constituents. Jeff was trained to play center at a young age. The center in basketball tends to be the tallest person on the court. In tiny Barrow, Alaska they did not have any other high schooler taller than him. No one thought he was going to go anywhere in basketball. No one thought he would even play college ball. No one from Barrow had ever become a professional athlete. Most people did not go very far in general. He defied the odds. Jeff became a member of Barrow High School’s basketball team at sixteen. His six-foot five frame easily dominated in the post.
He was shooting hook shots over people all day. No one could stop him because no one was that tall. He was named AllState quickly. One game Jeff was playing he got fouled. It wasn’t a technical foul, just a regular shooting foul. As Jeff went up for a lay-up a much smaller point guard hit his humongous arm. When he was struck he screamed, “That is a foul boy! ” The way he said it caught everyone off guard. He sounded like the puppet Elmo. That is where he got his all-encompassing, nickname Elmo. At the end of Jeff’s senior year he was posting ridiculous numbers.
He averaged twenty points per game! In addition to his impressive scoring ability, he also averaged ten rebounds and five blocks per game. That is crazy coming from a six-foot five center. Even with the impressive stats he was still not granted All-American status. Most people speculate he did not reach this other-worldly status because of his abnormally small stature for his position and how his division does not produce much talent. Even with this setback he still made it to the All-Alaskan state All-Star basketball game. Even though he was not a starter, his numbers were still impressive.
Mean while he was training for something more important. The playoffs. Barrow High School had won their division easily. After a fantastic nineteen and six season the Barrow High School basketball team lost in the first round of the playoffs. If you think the story ends there then you are wrong. Even though Jeff “Elmo” Beige lost in the playoffs, he was picked up to play college ball! It wasn’t the University of Kentucky. It was the University of Alaska Fairbanks that picked him up. To some this might seem bad. The University of Alaska Fairbanks isn’t a “hot place” for basketball recruits.
A little known fact about the University of Alaska Fairbanks is their basketball program plays Division I schools. While at the University, Jeff studied Marine Biology. When he was not studying he was training. Jeff was always either in the gym doing various muscle exercises or playing the game he loved, basketball. The coaches at the University tried to work on his shooting. They thought he had the potential to be the next great shooting guard like Michael Jordan. After numerous attempts to fix his shooting, the coaches gave up. Since he was trained when he was young to play center, he did not do a lot of shooting drills.
His accuracy was horrible. The coaches decided that Jeff, currently a junior in college, should be their starting center. Even though he was small compared to other centers on other teams, they thought his vertical would help sustain his career. Jeff had one of the best vertical leaps in the country. At first it was rough. He did not win a single tip off his entire junior year. Imagine yourself every game jumping in the air, but every time falling just short of the ball. That would be extremely frustrating. Even though he did not win any tip offs, he continued to play his heart out. Jeff never gave up and was a hard-worker.
Jeff always gave hundred percent, nothing less. This heart for the game plus his stats made him a possible target for pro teams. That idea though was a big IF. At the end of his college career he averaged eighteen points per game. Not bad for a six-foot five center from Barrow, Alaska. In addition to that, his shooting percentage went up. During his junior year of college his shooting percentage was thirty-five percent. Ouch! At the end of his senior year his shooting percentage was forty-seven percent, and he averaged six rebounds and two blocks per game. Even with these numbers, Jeff was disappointed.
Jeff came to an important realization. It is highly unlikely that he will get drafted. Then a silver lining in Jeff’s clouded mind of depression appeared. The Utah Jazz wanted to talk with him. The NBA’s Utah Jazz! They wanted to talk to a six-foot five center from Barrow, Alaska! This was a big deal. Jeff got on the first plane to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Utah Jazz offered a contract to Jeff. They would pay him a Dleague (the NBA’s minor league) salary in exchange for him playing for the Utah Jazz’s D-League team. Jeff did not care if he was playing for a D-League team, he was just happy he could play post-college basketball.
The coaches for the D-League team tried to help Jeff’s poor shooting ability to no avail. The coaches just decided to see how well he would do as a center. Just like in college, it took time for Jeff to develop. After playing just one season, Jeff exploded. He started averaging more points than most centers in the D-League. The only problem was he was not getting the number of rebounds or blocks as previously expected. That was not a big problem, but still needed some fixing. By the time his third year came around, he was dominating! Jeff averaged twenty-two points, seven rebounds, three blocks, one steal, and two assists per game!
That is incredible! Mid way through his third season, the Utah Jazz called him up. He was called up to play directly for them. Jeff came into his first NBA game with a chip on his shoulder. He felt robbed because he was not drafted originally. His first game was against the reigning NBA Champion Washington Wizards. Jeff started off slowly. He picked up some pace in the fourth quarter to no avail. The Utah Jazz lost the game. The next game he played was going to be extremely important for Jeff’s future career. The Utah Jazz considered dropping him if he did not play well this game.
The Utah Jazz were playing the Philadelphia 76ers. The Philadelphia 76ers were not a good team at the time. Jeff should have played well, but he did not. Jeff had a rough game. He got rejected multiple times. He only had two points and a rebound. The Utah Jazz dropped him from their roster the next day. After that horrific day Jeff decided to quit playing basketball. He moved to Park City, Utah where he got married, raised two kids, and lived a great life as a construction worker. Sadly, Jeff died of lung cancer. Jeff had an impressive career that should never be forgotten.