By Erik Harris
CLAY — The 2015 Bryant-Jordan Student-Athlete regional winners were announced recently, and two of Clay-Chalkville’s finest made the cut.
Point guard Hasan Abdullah and running back Terelle West, both of which starred in their respective sports, have been nominated by the seven principals of Class 6A, Region 6 as recipients of this year’s awards.
West, who signed a football scholarship with Middle Tennessee State University following his senior season, has been named the region’s Achievement Award winner. Abdullah, a recent Naval Academy basketball signee, received the region’s Scholar-Athlete Award.
“I see this award as a culmination of all the hard work that a kid has done for not just a season of their life, but for especially their four years of high school,” said third-year Clay-Chalkville High School Principal Michael Lee. “They’ve put in the work in the classroom, they’ve put in the work on the field and they’ve also gone out and they’ve been examples and leaders for others.”
Region 6 is made up of seven schools: Clay-Chalkville, Pinson Valley, Gardendale, Shades Valley, Huffman, Center Point and Woodlawn.
“There are a lot of deserving kids who were out there, regionally, that could’ve been in the same spot (West and Abdullah) were in,” Lee said.
Winning the Achievement Award showcases the adversity West has overcome in his life to become a model student-athlete at Clay-Chalkville. West’s father was murdered when he was 9 years old. That was one of three significant family deaths he suffered before turning 14.
That didn’t stop him from becoming the Cougars’ career leader in rushing yards (3,536), before his senior year was cut short due to a torn ACL and MCL. It also didn’t stop him from becoming a “special guy,” as Lee described him.
“I don’t think anybody has any doubt in their mind that he’s going to be successful whatever he does, because he’s a fighter, he’s a hard worker and he’s got a lot of character,” Lee said. “Terelle’s just a humble kid with a lot of character.”
Abdullah’s stellar play on the hardwood coupled with his 4.34 grade-point average and gobs of community service hours made him a sure-fire recipient for the Scholar-Athlete Award.
Lee referred to the point guard as a “Tim Duncan-type guy” that leads quietly from the basketball court, classroom and community. Earlier this year, he qualified as a semifinalist for the Coca-Cola Scholar scholarships, which is annually awarded to roughly 100 students from around the country.
“Hasan’s a kid who has a good ACT score, he has a high GPA, but what a lot of people don’t know about Hasan Abdullah is what a great person he is and the community service that he does and the (times) that he gets out and works with young kids,” Lee said.
West and Abdullah had to fill out resumes that were studied by those who give out the Bryant-Jordan Awards, but much more goes into the decision process than what can be read on a piece of paper.
Coaches, principals and school staff members were used to evaluate the character and maturity of the qualifying student-athletes. They look deeper than a kid’s GPA and athletic achievements to extend these awards.
“We look at community service, we look at the things that they do above and beyond what a normal person would be,” Lee said.
Anyone who understands that criteria and saw West place his homecoming king medal around the neck of former teammate and cancer patient Carlos Osio last Oct. 17 gets the picture.