‘I’m forever grateful for FAAM. … It’s a huge part of my identity as a coach and as a person’
Jon Scheyer played high school basketball nearby for Glenbrook North in Northbrook. As a junior in 2005, he led the Spartans to an IHSA championship and, as a senior, was an All-American.
Scheyer still ranks fourth in points scored in Illinois high school history. Playing for Duke University, he was a team captain of the 2010 squad that won the national championship.
Today he is the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils, one of the most storied programs in NCAA history.
But before any of those accomplishments, Scheyer played in Evanston’s FAAM (Fellowship of African American Men) league for three years.
Life lessons from FAAM
Speaking to the RoundTable on May 7, Scheyer said he found his groove and learned many lessons as a player in FAAM. It was such an important part of his growth as a player and as a person that he considered going to ETHS. (According to an email from his parents, even though Scheyer’s enrollment at ETHS would have required the family moving from Northbrook to Evanston, they would have considered it.)
He played on the Sonics from sixth through eighth grade. Bob Reece, a successful local businessman and community volunteer, coached Scheyer and the team won a league championship in 2000.
Scheyer said his FAAM experiences continue to influence him as he guides the young men of Duke basketball. As a visible leader on campus, Scheyer interacts with and influences lots of people, not just student-athletes, every day.
“I’m forever grateful for FAAM,” he said. “Those three years … playing in Evanston, the friendships I developed, it’s a huge part of my identity as a coach and as a person. Even in high school, some of the biggest moments playing against Evanston were based on what I learned in those years in junior high.”
Reese taught him life lessons. Scheyer said during his years at FAAM he learned how to empathize with others and different ways of approaching situations and problems. He failed and lost games, and collectively those experiences pushed him outside of his comfort zone. He learned to work for and earn everything he wanted from basketball.
A coach’s memories
Bob Reece.
The RoundTable also spoke with Reece about coaching Scheyer.
“Jon is a phenomenal success on the court, but he’s an even better guy off the court,” he said. “When he joined FAAM as a sixth-grader, he played point guard on a predominantly eighth grade team. Remember, this is a white kid coming from Northbrook. He earned the respect of those eighth-graders. We won the championship that year.
“You can tell a lot about a kid based on how hard he’s willing to work in practice. Jon never cheated in a drill. He always gave 100% in every drill. He always showed up. I had no idea that he would achieve the success in basketball that he did, but you could tell right away that he was special.”
‘Attitude with joy’
Scheyer talked about sacrifice and expectations. He described how one of his parents would drive to Evanston from Northbrook three days a week for practice and then again on Saturday for games — 30 to 45 minutes each way, depending on traffic.
They did this for three years.
“None of us would be here if it were not for key people in our lives,” Scheyer said. “You know that they sacrificed and put us in that position. I think having that perspective is really important. And then what I try to do is remind our guys that this is what you wanted. It comes with pressure. What comes with this is expectations. It’s incredible sacrifice, but this is what we signed up for. This is what you wanted.
“I think when you remind yourself this is what you choose to do, like I chose to go to FAAM, you have a different attitude, and you go after that attitude with a little bit more joy. You go after with a little bit more relentlessness. Those are the things I learned very early on.”
A special FAAM memory
Scheyer was candid while discussing big losses from those days in FAAM and in high school.
He said at FAAM, he lost out on receiving the Newcomer of the Year award. Out of that experience, something wonderful happened, which is the better memory that has stayed with him all these years.
“The four kids that started with me — Patty, Sergio, de Andres and Thomas — and Thomas’ mom, drove to my house and showed up literally right afterwards, surprised me, and we just shot in my driveway and, like, talked for hours,” he said. “They just picked my spirits up. And that was the coolest thing, probably, from that year.”
Reece said the next morning, Scheyer’s mother called him and said what happened last night at their home after the ceremony was more important than any award Scheyer might have received.
“She said that not only has her son changed as a result of FAAM, but the life of our whole family has changed, too,” Reece said.
A different kind of loss happened in high school. Scheyer said.
“My freshman year in high school, I missed a game-winning shot to take us to a state championship, and that was an awful thing,” he said. “I’ll never forget it, and I just remember being so determined to get back there, and we ended up winning the whole thing two years later.”
That loss fueled Scheyer’s determination, motivation and perseverance to win.
Inspiration from Teddy Roosevelt
I asked Scheyer about the constant scrutiny and criticism that comes with a fishbowl environment. What advice does he offer his team?
Scheyer replied with an inspiring historical reference, Teddy Roosevelt’s “man in the arena” and “daring greatly.” (As an undergraduate at Duke, Scheyer majored in history.)
“You remind yourself, you put yourself in these moments to be criticized, for people to say something’s gonna stay with you forever, to define you based on a singular moment,” Scheyer said. “You put yourself in positions where most of the time, you’re going to end up with a loss, or you’re going to get punched in the face, you’re going to get your ass kicked, excuse my language, but you’re going to get knocked down a lot.
“And so I’ve gotten really good at getting back up. I think I’ve gotten better not getting knocked down as easily, but you still get knocked down. I think the true winners and the champions are the ones that get back up, and that’s what I’ve prided myself on.”
The reference to the man in the arena is from a speech entitled Citizenship in a Republic, which is about dealing with public scrutiny and criticism. Roosevelt gave the speech at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1910. It is as timely now as it was then. The full speech may be read here. The section about “the man in the arena”
Theodore Roosevelt at his Sagamore Hill home. NPS/Sagamore Hill Collection.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
“I think you have to normalize that it’s going to happen,” Scheyer said. “I talk about when it happens, how we’re going to respond, and we focus on the things we can control, as opposed to trying to avoid what we’re afraid can happen to us.”
Lasting friendships
Scheyer also discussed the FAAM friendships that made a lasting impact.
“I was an outsider in a lot of respects,” he said. “I truly learned something I carry with me, literally to this day. I could get emotional talking about it. There’s a few guys that were my big brothers, you know? I played in a league with a guy, Stacey Moragne, who welcomed this kid who was younger than him. I looked up to Stacey like crazy. Stacey is now a (boys basketball) coach at ETHS. The way he accepted me meant a lot. And then Thomas with the Sonics and FAAM, the same thing.”
He added, “A close friend of mine, Austin Brown — Austin’s now one of the best agents in the world in a professional sports world. But those guys … just the relationship that can develop with people that don’t grow up in the same neighborhood as you. I think that prepared me so well for coming to Duke when I was a freshman, getting along with seniors. And then flash forward when I was a junior and senior. I remember how I felt when Stacey Moragne talked to me or when Thomas Nute put his arm around me. I think those lessons I’ve carried with me, even to this day.”
When asked about Scheyer, Moragne said, “I met Jon when he was a young kid, but he was already oozing with talent. All the credit goes to him for how hard he worked every day. He’s not afraid of anything.
Stacey Moragne Jr
I have so much respect for him on and off the court. People don’t realize how difficult it is to follow a legend, but if anyone can do it, Jon can. (A longtime assistant to legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, Scheyer was elevated to head coach in 2021). He’s a different breed. He bleeds blue and he bleeds winning.”
