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Back on Track: Move to uncle's home in a new city and a transfer to a different school pull teenager out of the decline he fell into after the death of his father
Journal Photos by Bruce Chapman
Jake McSwain takes a practice shot (above) and talks with his uncle, Steve McSwain (upper right). Steve McSwain and Beth McSwain (lower right) cheer at a game.
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Published: February 23, 2009
KERNERSVILLE
Several months after his father died of heart problems, Jake McSwain was struggling.
He was skipping school, watching his grades slide and on the verge of dropping out of Pinecrest High in Southern Pines.
Jake's mom, Beth, considered boarding school as an option, at Jake's suggestion. The two were hoping that someone there could give Jake -- a 6-8, 290-pound 15-year-old -- a dose of reality.
"It was actually my idea because I knew I wasn't doing well in school," said Jake, adding that he thinks he lost his drive to succeed after the death of his father, John McSwain.
"I tried to act like it didn't bother me."
That's when Steve McSwain stepped in and took the first step to making good on a promise he'd made to his brother John, that he'd ensure Jake graduated from high school and went to college.
"My wife (Cat) and I decided that Jake would come live with us here in Winston," Steve McSwain said. "Beth agreed to the move, and we thought we could get him enrolled at Bishop McGuinness and it would help him deal with everything that had happened."
Beth said that sending Jake away from Southern Pines in the fall of 2007 wasn't an easy decision. But the move has worked.
"Jake just struggled a lot when John died, and he was the youngest of our four children, but he was the only one still in the house," said Beth, who still lives in Southern Pines. "To see where Jake has come since then, it's just been amazing."
Jake, now 17 and a starting junior center on the boys basketball team at McGuinness, said that moving in with his uncle has worked out well. He's part of a good team (25-2 heading into tonight's first-round game of the sectional playoffs) and is thriving in the classroom with a 3.1 grade-point average.
When he was at Pinecrest, Jake said, he started skipping school often, and his grade-point average was barely 1.0. He admits that he made some bad choices with friends back home.
"It wasn't that I didn't care, I just really wanted to not talk about what happened," he said. "The rest of my family were kind of different in the grieving process and talked a lot about it, but I was kind of in a fog."
McSwain wasn't eligible to play the full season at McGuinness in 2007-08 because of transfer rules, but he practiced with the team, traveled to games as a manager and finally played in four late-season games.
This season, he has his weight down to 260 pounds, and he's making up for lost time, averaging 8.3 points and leads the team in rebounds (5.1 rpg) and blocked shots. He also was nicknamed "The Secretary of Defense" in the McGuinness school paper, The Villain Nation.
But McSwain almost lost his chance to be in this position. Playing in a pickup game last summer, he tore the anterior-cruciate ligament in his left knee. The doctor who examined the knee told Jake that the injury was season-ending but Jake had his own plan, Beth said.
"I remember he said, ‘It's not a season-ending injury for me, I'm playing,'" she said.
Unwilling to let the injury derail him, McSwain is toughing it out and wearing a knee brace. He'll have surgery after the season.
"It's a little sore after practice and games, so I'll ice it, but it's no big deal," McSwain said.
Steve McSwain, 40, who runs construction and real-estate companies, is a big believer in family, and he said that taking Jake in wasn't a big deal. It didn't matter that the McSwains had twin boys who were about a year old at the time. That wasn't going to stop them from trying to help.
"We grew up in a family that kind of just put things out there," said Steve, who had a frank discussion with his brother right before his second open-heart surgery. "We don't beat around the bush."
Steve asked John if there was anything he needed to take care of if things didn't go right in surgery.
"And he just said to make sure Jake gets through high school and college," Steve said.
John survived the surgery, but he died shortly thereafter.
Steve said he sees his brother's personality in Jake all the time, especially when N.C. State is playing basketball or football. Jake grew up attending N.C. State games with his father, and he rarely misses a televised Wolfpack game.
"He's tried to make me an N.C. State fan," Steve said.
Jake said: "I'm trying to sway him toward N.C. State, and he has become more of a State fan. He's not die-hard like me, but that's OK."
Coach Josh Thompson of McGuinness said that McSwain's move into the starting lineup this season is an incredible story. Thompson said he sees an improved maturity level in Jake, which he attributes to his being part of an organized group where teammates have to rely on each other.
"People don't really understand how much progress he's made off the court and on the court ...," Thompson said. "With everything that he's gone through and the character he has now -- it's incredible.
"I don't know if there are a lot of 15-, 16-, 17-year-olds that could deal with what Jake had to deal with."
Jake still visits his mom during holiday breaks, and his older sister, Lynne, goes to UNC Greensboro. Beth McSwain has made it to nearly all home games and calls herself a Bishop McGuinness basketball groupie. She volunteers to work the concession stand during girls' games, then watches her son play.
Jake's grandfather and Beth's father, Art Weiner, also tries to watch as many games as possible. Weiner, a former wide receiver at North Carolina and former teammate of Charlie "Choo-Choo" Justice, makes the trip from his home in Greensboro.
"We have a pretty good cheering section for Jake," Beth said. "It's hard to miss us in the stands."
Part of the reason might be the family's height. Weiner is 6-4, and Beth McSwain is 6-0.
Jake McSwain said that his dad's memory motivates him.
"I don't want to mess up because then it kind of lets down the whole family," he said, "so I think about him a lot.… I knew I could always do it, and now I kind of have a reason to do it, and I'm on the right path."
McSwain is also grateful for the sacrifice his uncle has made.
"Steve's made a big impact on my life," he said. "I mean, they just had the twin babies (Jack and Austin), and it was kind of a burden on them to have me there, but that's what family is all about."
The twins, who just turned 3, also have had an influence on Jake, according to Thompson.
"Jake's uncle has young kids, and I think that's helped Jake," Thompson said. "I mean, they are probably still a little young for Jake to be considered a role model, but I think Jake feels a sense of responsibility toward them."
With a little more improvement on the court, McSwain might have the chance to play in college. His family is just happy that he's thinking about college.
"I definitely want to go to college, and I'm already looking at a bunch of them," McSwain said. "College wouldn't have even been in the picture for me if I wouldn't have come here and got my grades up."
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com
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