Grant’s Richardson stays positive despite untold hardships

“Why me?”

“Life is so unfair.”

That would probably be my reaction if I suffered the same unfortunate fate as Shane Richardson. It might be yours, too.

And who could blame us? Who could blame Richardson?

What a tough blow he took back in the fall. Another of far too many in his short 18 years.

The Grant senior point guard was preparing for his final season of high school basketball. He had started as a sophomore and as a junior for the Bulldogs and averaged 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists last year.

He was working tirelessly this summer to get even better.

Richardson was determined not only to finish his career with a bang but to also put himself front and center on the radar of college recruiters.

Then, he blew out his knee.

A couple of months before this season tipped off, Richardson heard a pop while he was playing in a pick-up game. Doctors discovered that he had torn the anterior cruciate ligament as well as both meniscus cartilages in his right knee.

“The doctors told me, ‘You’re pretty much done,’” Richardson said. “I was crushed. I mean, it’s my senior year.”

Here’s where the complaining and whining and self-pitying might have set in for you and me.

But Richardson went in the opposite direction.

“I figured what good is all that going to do? Getting mad and upset wasn’t going to change anything,” Richardson said. “I just decided to work as hard as I could so that I could come back.”

Sadly, Richardson, who completed his rehab early and returned to the team in late January, but was able to play only sparingly through Grant’s final game on Monday, has had to come back before. In fact, he’s had to come back from worse. Far, far worse.

And perhaps that’s how he was able to handle the abrupt end to his high school career with such grace and maturity.

Considering that Richardson has come back from a three-year bout with childhood cancer as well as the loss of a parent, a knee injury seems almost minor in comparison.

“I’ve had a little too much happen to me so far,” Richardson said matter-of-factly. “I’m hoping that at least for the next few years everything is calm. I’m hoping that I have no more problems.”

Richardson’s problems started when he was just 3 years old.

He was outside and fell down, hurting himself.

When his parents looked him over, they noticed a bump on his back that didn’t appear to be related to the fall.

“We went to get it checked out and I had some tests. The doctors told my parents that I had leukemia,” Richardson said. “Not a lot of people survive leukemia.”

Richardson’s parents, Pamela and Raymond, both deaf and thinking they had dodged their biggest bullet with Shane when they were told at his birth that his hearing was fine, were terrified.

Richardson spent the next three years fighting the cancer. He would spend months at a time living at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago while he underwent intense treatments.

“I don’t remember everything, but I do remember being in the hospital a lot,” Richardson said. “I got a lot of shots …. in my back, on my arms and fingers. And after every shot, I got a teddy bear.”

Richardson collected dozens of teddy bears — until he was declared cancer-free in 1999 when he was 6 years old.

It was then that Richardson picked up sports. Sports connected Richardson and his father, Raymond, at the hip.

“My dad was an amazing athlete,” Richardson said. “He loved sports. He played football, basketball and baseball and even played a little semi-pro football.

“We did a lot together and he was so excited about watching me play. He wanted me to go really far.”

But Raymond Richardson would never see even the beginning of Shane’s high school career, let alone anything beyond it.

In 2005, Raymond began to have some serious heart problems, so serious that he was suddenly in need of a heart transplant.

He got the transplant and was in the hospital for three months. But Raymond still had problems. The transplant didn’t take as expected, and he died.

Shane was just 13 years old.

“It was hard,” Richardson said. “My dad died a month before basketball started and everyone was asking me if I needed to take some time off. But it actually helped me to play.

“I didn’t tell anyone this, but it helped to play because I felt like I was playing for him. I decided to dedicate every game of my career to my dad. I just wanted to make him proud.”

Richardson believes to his core that he’ll still have the opportunity to make his dad proud through basketball.

Before his injury, he played well enough in summer AAU games to get the attention of some Division III coaches. A few, including those from St. Norbert and Concorida of Wisconsin, are still in contact with him today.

“My hopes are even higher now than they were before (the injury),” Richardson said. “Being injured has made me work really hard to get back. It’s made me want to be even better than before.

“I keep getting better and I know I’ll be playing in college next year. I feel good about where I’m at right now. I feel like I’m a really lucky guy.”

Ever the optimist, Richardson has essentially made his own luck.

Somewhere, Raymond Richardson is beaming.