Area players drafted by the NBA
Since 1990
2011: Norris Cole, 1st round, Dunbar High School, Cleveland St.
2009: Derrick Brown, 2nd round, Chaminade Julienne, Xavier
2007: Daequan Cook, 1st round, Dunbar, Ohio State
2004: Romain Sato, 2nd round, Dayton Christian, Xavier
2001: Andre Hutson, 2nd round, Trotwood-Madison, Michigan St.
2000: Jason Collier, 1st round, Springfield Catholic Central, Georgia Tech
1996: Vitaly Potapenko, 1st round, Wright State
1990: Negele Knight, 2nd round, Dayton
Norris Cole was surrounded by about 80 relatives and friends for his NBA draft party Thursday, and even a couple of cousins who couldn’t attend managed to join the festivities through a Skype connection.
Dunbar High School coach Pete Pullen, who won back-to-back state titles with Cole running the show, knows why so many people would want to be present for the player’s big moment.
“He’s a great young man,” Pullen said amid a celebration after the Cleveland State point guard wound up with the Miami Heat after being selected in the first round (No. 28 overall) by the Chicago Bulls, then traded twice.
“The Miami Heat called me four or five times just to see if they could find anything bad about him. Even though everyone was going to the principal’s office (at Dunbar), it never was Norris. I told them it sounds ungodly, but he was never in trouble and always has been just a great kid.
“With all of this support, I know he’s going to go out there and do his best. He’s a fighter, so I know he’s going to be productive.”
Support for Cole wasn’t just evident in the crowd gathered on draft night at the family’s home in North Dayton.
Mementos from his playing career adorned the walls, including two quilts with pieces of his uniform tops from various sports stitched together with small banners collected through the years.
There also were framed jerseys and newspaper clippings and pictures galore.
Cole — who was named the Horizon League player of the year this season and graduated in May with a degree in health sciences — said credit for any character he exhibits comes from his upbringing.
His parents, Norris and Diane Cole, raised him in a strong Christian environment. Within minutes after his son was drafted, the elder Cole quieted the uproar and asked a pastor to lead the group in a prayer of thanks.
“He was the main role (model) in my life,” Norris said. “Not a lot of guys get to grow up with their dad, but he’s been with me from day one.
“My mom and him put the work ethic and morals and values in place, and I stayed the course with them and believed everything they taught me. And it’s going to be all right for them (financially). They’re not going to have to worry about anything else.”
Looking at the beaming faces around him, which included those from three generations of Coles and, on his mother’s side, the Wallaces, Norris said: “This is my hometown. My family was born and raised here, the Coles and the Wallaces. We’re a close-knit family, and that’s the way it’s always been. I wouldn’t have it no other way.”
Norris Cole Sr. believes the star-laden Heat could be a perfect fit for his son. “They need someone to run that powerful engine they have, that powerful machine. Norris is the man. The critics say he wasn’t good at any one area, but he can do all of them,” Cole Sr. said.
The Heat are certainly counting on that. Team president Pat Riley told reporters he liked Cole because of his “speed, acceleration and ability to be a game-changer and pace-changer.”
The club also was impressed with how well he competed in a pre-draft workout among a half-dozen other prospects. “There wasn’t anybody we’ve had in a number of years who took it more seriously,” Riley said.
No matter what he accomplishes in Miami, Cole already has elevated two programs. He’s the first draft pick from CSU in 25 years, and he and Oklahoma City guard Daequan Cook give Dunbar two NBA players since 2007.
“It’s great pride for the program of Cleveland State,” Vikings coach Gary Waters said. “Everyone questioned whether it could happen at Cleveland State. Norris always believed it could happen, and now all kinds of kids will be coming here because of him. It’s the start of developing a program that can go to the next level.”
Said Pullen: “It shows the players I have now what they can accomplish with hard work — not so much the NBA level, but that basketball can get them a college degree like Norris has. A college education is what they need.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
About the Author