Arbutus native Nick LaGuerre said he remembers that he "cried for days" after his mom told him he was going to play basketball as a 9-year-old. He also recalls how scared he was at the thought that his health might force him to give up the sport when he was a senior at Lansdowne High School.
Now LaGuerre is a Division III All-American after a standout career at St. Mary's College, with the promise of playing the sport professionally overseas.
"I don't know where he'll go, but there is no doubt in my mind that he will play overseas," said St. Mary's coach Chris Harney, who just finished his 10th season. "Based on the guys I have had before who have played overseas, Nick is one of the best."
LaGuerre tied a career-high with 36 points in his final college game and was named Capital Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year. The 6-foot-3 point guard led the conference in scoring, averaging 22 points per game.
Harney saw more than what he accomplished on the court.
"He is the greatest kid ever, and I mean that," Harney said. "I have coached a lot of kids and I have not coached a kid like him ever, as far as just his character. I mean, he's such a good person, as well as a phenomenal basketball player."
LaGuerre was selected by the National Association of Basketball Coaches to play in the Division III Reese's College All-Star Game in Salem, Va., on March 21. Three days before that, he became the first player in St. Mary's history to be named an NCAA Division III All-American, making the NBAC coaches' second team.
Going from the 9-year-old who didn't want to play basketball to being one of the Top 20 Division III basketball players in the country didn't come without a challenge.
In November of 2010, LaGuerre was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. He had lost 12 pounds and had frequent thirst and urination.
His blood sugar, which is supposed to range between 80 and 160, had skyrocketed to 700 and he was admitted to the hospital.
LaGuerre said he was told that if he wasn't so healthy and so active that he "probably would have been in big trouble," he recalled.
"I was scared because I was thinking I might not be able to play anymore, but once I got to the hospital and stayed overnight they were telling me everything was going to be fine," he said. "I just had to trust them and what their word was and it ended up being OK."
LaGuerre carries a backpack with needles and snacks everywhere he goes and has learned so much about the disease that he shares his message with elementary school children.
"Some kids I talk with have a disease and whatnot and I tell them I have a disease and I'm doing fine, so you can be fine just as I am, so I try to kind of instill that in them because I know at a young age it could be scary," he said. "I just try to be a little comforting."
According to Harney, LaGuerre does more than just speak.
"He's done a ton of stuff down here in the community," Harney said. "He's delivered turkeys during the holidays to needy families. He's really, really involved in our community. We sell out our home games and I would say 60 to 70 percent of our crowd is local community down here and they love Nick."
Harney also acknowledged that he loved some of the candy LaGuerre carried in his backpack.
"His biggest issue with the diabetes was me," Harney said, laughing. "He would bring the Skittles all the time to the away games and I love Skittles and I was always eating the bag and he sees the wrapper and I would like put my hands out and say, 'I don't know', and I've got the rainbow colors in my hands."
Harney recalls the first time he saw LaGuerre at a basketball camp at Goucher College.
"He got it (the ball) stolen from him and I was like, 'That explains that, he's not a point guard and I started taking a pencil to write a note on the roster sheet next to his name,'" he said.
"I looked up and the kid that stole it from him went the other way to lay it up and Nick blocked it off the backboard and the ball went beyond half court," Harney said. "He blocked it so hard off the backboard. I had never seen that before."
Harney was able to rest his pencil.
"He didn't turn it over the rest of the game," he said. "He was breaking guys down and throwing no-look passes and I was like, 'This kid is a superstar,' and I told him that."
Harney also told LaGuerre something else.
"I told him he was going to St. Mary's next year and I'm going to be at every one of your games," Harney said.
From his freshman season on, LaGuerre's scoring numbers increased. In his senior year his 22-point average led the conference and was 13th in the nation.
LaGuerre led the team in three-pointers (59), free throws made (142) and was second in assists (81), steals (44) and blocked shots (17).
He was selected as one of 10 finalists for the Josten's Trophy, which is awarded to Division III basketball players who excel on the floor, classroom and community.
LaGuerre, who majored in economics and minored in dance, was just the second Seahawk to be named a finalist.
Those accomplishments didn't seem possible when he started playing basketball.
"At first I didn't like it because I was terrible," said LaGuerre, whose first love was baseball. "I was so bad and at that time I was always real competitive, and I didn't like to be bad in anything."
His outlook changed when he played on the Arbutus Middle School eighth-grade team for coach Ben Fusco.
"He had a tireless work ethic, leadership and ability to listen and follow directions," said Fusco, who also taught LaGuerre math in sixth grade. "He was a lockdown defensive player for me. From the defense, we could already see that he was going to be special."
LaGuerre blossomed on offense that year.
"My eighth-grade year, I had like 22 points and at that point it was like a record at middle school and I was like, 'I might be OK. I might be decent.'"
At Lansdowne, LaGuerre got to play with his older brother, Patton, when he was a sophomore because he was good and because coach Greg Karpers recognized it would be special.
"I told him, 'You are not going to have that opportunity ever again,'" Karpers recalled.
"He didn't miss one practice for four years of high school. He was always very even-keeled. He never got too high or too low and as a point guard that's what you need. He was an extension of me."
Brent Arrington, a teammate of LaGuerre's at Lansdowne and a close friend, spent a day with him last week during spring break. They played some one-on-one before going to Lansdowne High, for a photo shoot.
LaGuerre credits Arrington for making him more competitive. Arrington credits LaGuerre for not being changed by his success.
"That's the type of guy he is," Arrington said. "He's really humble. That's a good thing."
Fusco, his former Arbutus coach, likes the hometown-kid-makes-good story.
"It's so great for a kid from this area to shine as brightly as he has," he said.