February 22, 2006

WEBMASTER NOTE: Pam played for the Connecticut Storm.

Perseverance hits the mark

     SMITHFIELD - Tears flowed freely last night as Pam Malcolm walked slowly and deliberately toward the Bulldog logo on the Bryant University basketball court.
     Varsity athletes in gray sweatshirts and blue warm-ups lined three sides of the court and cheered. Students in the grandstand opposite the players bench stood and applauded. Cheerleaders waved their black and gold pompons. Opposing players from Merrimack College clapped. Malcolm's Bryant teammates, joined by a half-dozen Bulldog alumni, smiled and wept. Her high-school coach and several players waited near the bench to present her with her framed Bacon Academy jersey.
     It was Senior Night at Bryant, a final chance to recognize four players who had sweated and sacrificed together, survived 6 a.m. practices after losses and savored a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2004.
     But Malcolm, number 34 in the new home white uniform, was no ordinary senior. She walked with crutches and an awkward hitch in her gait. A brace supported her stiff left leg. Four years ago she was a 6-foot-2, 160-pound star, one of the top 100 high-school basketball players in the nation, the leading shot-blocker in Connecticut high-school history. Last night she was about to play in her first and last collegiate game.
     "She is an athlete who refused to let a horrific accident hold her back. . . . What we witnessed is her rise from adversity to walk again," Bryant coach Mary Burke told the large crowd at the Chace Athletic Center.
     On April 16, 2002, her 18th birthday, Malcolm was involved in a crash in her hometown of Colchester, Conn., that left her with a broken neck, a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a punctured lung. She was a passenger in a car driven by a friend. They had been drinking beer after an Amateur Athletic Union basketball practice.
     The car slid off Route 16 and hit a line of trees. The friend never braked. She walked away; Malcolm was not so lucky. Her legs were pinned, part of the engine was in her lap, her torso was outside the car. She spent five weeks in the hospital and six months in rehabilitation. She would never play college basketball, but she would go to college.
     "She was the most dominant athlete we ever recruited. Street and Smith's [a preeminent basketball guide], ranked her 86th in the nation. She was a McDonald's All-America nominee. Players behind her went to big Division I programs," Burke said yesterday afternoon before her team's pregame shoot-around.
     "Then, weeks after signing with us, this tragedy."
     Burke knew she would never get the player she had recruited, but she never wavered in her commitment to honor the athletic scholarship she had promised. So from the moment Malcolm arrived on campus in January 2003, everything was paid for. Tuition, room, board, books, fees. At Bryant, that's a $38,000-per-year package.
     "Her mom is an awesome lady, and she said we will understand if you walk away. I told her we were not going to walk away. Pam will be taken care of. Bryant will be there for her. This gave Pam something to be part of," Burke said.
     Thus began one of the most heartwarming stories in Rhode Island's storied sports history. While her teammates practiced, Malcolm did rehab on a side court or operated the clock. She attended team meetings and those dreaded 6 a.m. practices. She went on the road. She shared her teammates' joy when they won and their pain when they lost.
     The first year was the toughest.
     "My whole life I was an athlete. Everybody in town knew me as that. Then I came here, and nobody knew me," she said. Bryant students didn't know what to make of the new girl in the wheelchair who arrived at midyear, and at first they didn't bother to ask her story. Lauren Glenney, her best friend from home and a basketball player, was also a Bryant freshman in 2002-2003 and helped her adjust. "I slept over a lot," she said with a laugh.
     They have roomed together since their sophomore year.
     "Without Lauren it would have been a lot different," Malcolm said.
     "College wouldn't have been as much fun without her. I'm just as lucky," said Glenney.
     Malcolm abandoned her wheelchairs when she was strong enough to walk with crutches. One chair is on a friend's porch now, the other in a friend's dorm room as a regular chair.
     "The difference in her between the wheelchair and crutches is like night and day," Glenney said.
     Malcolm and her family rode a range of emotions as last night's ceremonies approached.
     "Scared, nervous, anxious, excited, overwhelmed. I didn't think it would be this big," she said.
     Her mother Joyce struggled to remain composed as Burke recounted the accident, Malcolm's determination, her impact as ""he ultimate teammate."
     "I cried all day because I knew if I broke down, she would break down. I wanted to hold it together for her," she said. "The whole Bryant experience has reaffirmed my faith in humanity, that there really are people who keep their word. To Mary, it's not all about recruiting the best players and winning. It's also about human beings and keeping commitments."
     Malcolm's presence at midcourt - "It was really unbelievable, amazing, a really good feeling" - was the prelude to an unforgettable scene. She was introduced moments later as part of the starting lineup. As the other players took their positions for the opening tip, she walked with her crutches to the baseline near the Merrimack bench. Thanks to an arrangement between Burke and Merrimack coach Elizabeth Briggs, Merrimack scored first.
     Then Bryant senior Megan Peper put the ball in play to Glenney, who dribbled to Malcolm, positioned just to the right of the basket, and handed her the ball. Steadying herself on her left crutch, Malcolm focused on the glass backboard, pushed the ball up with her right hand and watched. The ball caromed perfectly off the backboard and fell through the basket.
     Standing ovation.
     Bryant called a time-out so Malcolm, cheers raining upon her, could leave the floor. The Merrimack players gathered around her to offer their good wishes, and then the Bulldogs wrapped her in their loving arms.
     "I felt pretty confident when I was shooting it . . . I was relaxed once I made it," she said. After Bryant's 70-55 triumph, her teammates presented her the game ball.
     Pam Malcolm will graduate in May with a degree in psychology. She hopes to go to graduate school for social work.