Sometimes, basketball is more than a game.
Sometimes, it’s life – and not in the cliché sense that basketball is life for professional athletes.
Sometimes, basketball is literally the difference between life and death.
For Travis Hammonds, success on the court has led to safety off of it. Growing up in the housing projects of Columbia, S.C., Hammonds’ pre-college life was marred by tragedy.
Before he enrolled at Long Beach State in December, and before he put up 20 points in a win over UC Davis on Jan. 11, Hammonds endured the deaths of two friends and a cousin, all of whom were shot dead within the last five years.
The first happened when Hammonds was in eighth grade and his friend was shot in the head at a gas station after attending a party with an older crowd. Hammonds said his friend was an innocent bystander.
The second happened in his sophomore year of high school. Hammonds’ best friend, who Hammonds said he frequently played football and basketball with, was “chilling at home” with a group of friends.
Then a rival gang knocked on the door, and when Hammonds’ friend answered it, they opened fire.
“When you go to that house, you already know who’s there,” Hammonds said. “He just opened the door and they let fire on him. It wasn’t even meant for him, it was meant for his other friend that was in the house with him.”
The tragedy continues. During the September between Hammonds’ junior and senior year of high school, Hammonds’ cousin, Maxwell Hayes, was caught in an ugly situation outside of ‘El Cheapo’ Gas Station in Columbia.
“He told the cashier that ‘somebody is trying to get me,’” Hammonds said. The cashier let Hayes hide inside until the man, who Hammonds said was riding a bike, passed along.
The man disappeared, and Hayes thought it would be safe to leave. In reality, though, the man, later identified as Ronald Branch by Columbia police, had just made a lap around the gas station. Branch was there waiting for Hayes when he stepped outside.
“[Branch] came around on his bike and started shooting at [Hayes],” Hammonds said. “He was shot two times in the chest and one time in the head.”
Hayes was picked up by an ambulance but died later that day at the hospital.
“That really took a toll on me,” Hammonds said. “Every time before we line up for the star spangled banner [before games], I kiss up to him. I let him know ‘I’ll never forget you.’”
Even without the tragedy, Hammonds’ path to The Beach hasn’t been as straightforward as most. He signed a letter of intent in April of 2013 and was set to enroll in the fall, but his test scores weren’t good enough to make the team.
“When he didn’t make his test score originally, that made us short-handed,” head coach Dan Monson said. “He knew that, and he felt like he let everybody down.”
In the meantime, Hammonds attended Gray Military Academy. He improved his test scores and gave Monson a call when the 49ers were still enduring a nine-game losing streak, asking if he could come to LBSU in Fall of 2014.
Monson had another idea.
“We said ‘hey, we’ll be fine next year,’” Monson said. “‘We need help right now. Do you want to come and help this team? We’ll give you a scholarship and we’ll worry about next year if you come in and do the right things.’ We were 1-9 and needed help.”
Hammonds provided help as soon as it mattered. He became eligible before the 49ers’ game against Southern California on Dec. 19 but didn’t log any minutes until the next game, when LBSU hosted Montana State-Billings.
His first big game came in the 49ers’ Big West Conference opener, when he scored a team-best 12 points in a 46-44 loss to UC Irvine.
He then broke out for 20 points two days later in a game against UC Davis, keeping the 49ers competitive until Mike Caffey and Tyler Lamb led a 30-0 run to start the second half.
“What Travis Hammonds has brought to this team has been remarkable,” Monson said after the game. “This week, he’s had a really good week of realizing what he needs to do to help this team and doing it.”
Since then, the statistics have dropped off for Hammonds. For the most part, praise has been replaced by criticism on the part of the coaches. Monson has been heard yelling “this isn’t your personal playground” at him after seeing him take poor shots. Hammonds has responded, though, and said the coaching is helping.
“I’m thankful for the time and the minutes that I have,” Hammonds said. “I also look at it as a good thing because if you don’t get on me like that, I’m just going to keep continue doing it. And if I keep continue doing it like that, it’s going to hurt our team.”
As someone who enrolled in spring, Hammonds is also experiencing the education portion of college for the first time.
“I’ve pretty much got easy classes,” he said, “other than English. I just hate writing papers. Yesterday we had to write a three-page essay during class, but I killed it.”
Life has undoubtedly been different for Hammonds since he left Columbia, but he hasn’t forgotten what got him across the country. He still honors Hayes before pregame national anthems, and he still acknowledges the impact basketball had on his life in South Carolina.
“Basketball definitely, definitely got me out of a whole lot of situations,” Hammonds said. “Basketball, that’s what saved me. Saved me from a lot of bad things that could have happened. That’s why I cherish the game so much.”