Jamari Traylor was one the best success stories in KU basketball history. He spent time homeless growing up in Chicago and in juvenile detention facilities, but earned a scholarship to Kansas and graduated with a liberal arts degree. One of KU coach Bill Self's all-time favorite players, Self shed some tears during Traylor's emotional senior speech in 2016 at Allen Fieldhouse.
An invaluable high-energy role player off the bench, Traylor's game transcended pure stats. He dived on the floor for loose balls, set mean picks, drew charges, boxed out his man and fought for rebounds, and stole extra possessions. Above all, he was a winner. He was part of four Big 12 championships, two Big 12 Tournament titles, a Sweet 16 and an Elite Eight berth. Traylor's teams went 116-30 during his career.
The 6-8 forward started 27 of 143 games, averaging 3.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 14.8 minutes per game, while shooting an impressive 53.2 percent from the field and 63.2 percent at the free throw line. He ranks No. 14 all time at KU with 126 career blocks.
He also ranks among the Big 12 leaders in multiple career categories. He is No. 6 with 143 career games, No. 25 in career block percentage (6.2), No. 23 in career defensive rating (94.7), No. 6 in career Defensive Box Plus/Minus (7.3) and No. 24 in career Box Plus/Minus (8.2).
After going undrafted in 2016, Traylor has since played in Austria (he was the top rebounder and led the league in blocks), Greece, and most recently in Japan.
Here is the story I wrote on Traylor for the 2016 February issue of Kansas City Sports & Fitness Magazine during his senior season. It was one of the most inspirational stories I've ever written on a KU basketball player during my 20 years of covering the program.
By David Garfield
Jamari Traylor is about survival, perseverance, hope, and triumph of the human spirit.
The 6-8 Kansas senior forward grew up in the South Side of Chicago, where his father, Jesse, was ultimately taken from his home and imprisoned for life on federal drug trafficking charges. Traylor, who was very close to his dad, became an angry and defiant teenager, finding time in juvenile detention centers and even enduring the harsh realities of life in the bitter Windy City cold as a homeless person living in cars and stealing food.
In his darkest moment painfully trying to sleep one night, Traylor wondered if he’d ever survive.
He clung to hope, though, and finally found salvation with basketball and meeting a caring and supportive coach and mentor named Loren Jackson at Fenger High School. Traylor followed Jackson to Julian High and then IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where he blossomed as a player and averaged 20 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks per game in 2010-11.
Traylor credits Jackson for changing his life.
“My dad was in jail and I didn’t really have a father figure,” Traylor said. “He was my coach and was just around all the time. He kept me in the gym, kept me off the streets, kept me from staying in trouble. He made sure I did my homework -- everything. There were times if I didn’t do my homework, he wouldn’t let me practice so stuff like that helped helped me out a lot because I wanted to play basketball so much.”
An unheralded recruit, Traylor signed with Kansas yet had to sit out the 2011-12 season as an NCAA partial qualifier. He was able to practice after the fall semester, but did not suit up for games or travel with the team.
Four years later, this former homeless kid with the hardened past overcame the odds and graduated recently with a liberal arts degree in December. For Traylor, it was arguably the greatest accomplishment of his life.
“(It’s) definitely (great),” he said with a smile. “I never had a graduation ceremony actually, so this will be my first one in the spring, so I'm excited about that.
“... I ended up getting a degree because of (Jackson’s support in high school),” Traylor added. “I appreciate him. He’s always there for me.”
You can bet Jackson, the KU coaches, friends, family and teammates with be there that magical spring day in Lawrence to see Traylor -- donning cap and gown -- proudly walk down Campanile Hill with his fellow graduates.
KU coach Bill Self marvels at how far Traylor has come during his time at Kansas.
“There's a lot of success stories, but the ones that you probably hold truest to your heart are the ones that the deck is stacked against them a little bit, and his deck was stacked against him,” Self said. “The first time that we saw Jamari was by accident. We go down to IMG to look at somebody else, and Kurtis (Townsend, assistant coach) says, 'Hey, check him out, he looks pretty athletic.' He wasn't a highly-recruited kid by any means. Texas Tech messed with him for a bit and there were a few other schools, but he really didn't have much of a résumé because he really didn't play in high school. I think he played one semester maybe, or one year, because he was never really eligible because of his home situations with him being homeless for a while.
“Certainly, that put him behind the 8-ball. But he just kind of fought through it. He went down there (IMG) and did everything he was asked to do to get eligible, and come to find out what he was asked to do did not meet NCAA qualifications. It was not because he got bad information, I just think the person that helped him had no idea that everything he did wouldn't count because they couldn't give him those extra two semesters because he was homeless for a year, and I think everybody assumed that would probably be the case.”
KU “lost the appeal for him to be eligible” as a freshman.
“But he's hung in there, and he's been great since,” Self said. “To think that he came in a situation where the NCAA obviously didn't let him play because of a rule, and basically to see him stay after it and finish up (his degree), I think speaks volumes of his character and his want-to. He's a terrific young man.”
Traylor, who ranks tied for 16th in Kansas history with 107 blocks and was 11th in the Big 12 last season with 1.1 blocks per game, has grown into a “terrific young man” who’s worked hard in the classroom and on the court, where he’s made his name during his career as an invaluable high-motor energy player primarily off the bench.
Last season in Austin on Jan. 24, 2015 during KU’s 75-62 victory over Texas, Traylor was involved in a 31-second sequence of non-stop, inspiring hustle plays that had Self gushing, especially over the last one. With Kansas leading 23-21 in the first half, Traylor had his shot blocked before sprinting downcourt and blocking a Longhorn's shot at the goal. He fell down and then raced the floor while crashing into a cameraman after trying for an offensive rebound. Traylor got up and then fearlessly dived at midcourt for a loose ball, which he tapped to teammate Frank Mason III, who picked it up and made a layup while getting fouled.
“I thought that was the best play I’ve seen since I’ve been at Kansas,” Self said about Taylor’s dive. “I don’t think there’s ever been a better hustle play than that one.”
Then last month in No. 1 KU’s thrilling 109-106 triple overtime victory over No. 2 Oklahoma on Jan. 4 in Allen Fieldhouse, Traylor made two game-changing blocks early in the second half which sparked KU’s rally and had the crowd roaring. First, he soared and grabbed Jordan Woodard’s missed layup with both hands before crashing hard on his back.
A few minutes later at the 16:12 mark and OU leading 54-44, Traylor sprinted downcourt and swatted Khadeem Lattin’s attempted dunk off the backboard from behind while falling down in what many basketball observers called the block of the year.
Just another day in the office of Jamari Rishard Traylor.
“I’m a kid from Chicago, and that’s how we play,” he said. “We just play hard.”
This blue-collar work ethic and endless energy has endeared himself to his coaches, teammates, fans and the college basketball elite like ESPN’s Dick Vitale, who broadcasted that KU-OU game for the ages.
“He’s giving it everything he has,” Vitale said about Traylor’s blocks. “I love kids that give everything they have, play with passion, play with pride, play with feeling, play with intensity, play with emotion.”
Entering February, Traylor was averaging 2.7 points and 3.5 rebounds in 13.4 minutes per game, while shooting 50.0 percent from the field and a career-high 79.2 percent at the free throw line. But his game transcends pure points in what he gives the team. Whether it’s blocking shots, setting mean screens, boxing his man out and crashing the glass, diving for loose balls, drawing charges, or stopping his man in the low post, Traylor makes winning plays.
“I just go out there and do what I need to help the team win,” said Traylor, who patterns his game after relentless Denver Nuggets power forward Kenneth Faried. “I know on this team, I’m probably not going to be the guy that scores a lot of baskets because we got some guys there, but when I get my chance, I do what I do and trying to do my best to limit my man scoring and rebound and just go hard.”
KU sophomore guard Devonte’ Graham certainly appreciates Traylor’s passion and love for the game.
“He makes plays that other guys couldn’t or wouldn’t think about making,” Graham said. “Like making the block on Lattin’s dunk, pinning the shot on the goal and falling straight on his back, those are things that win games. We need it and he’s our guy to do it.”
“It’s tremendous,” senior teammate Perry Ellis said about Traylor’ motor. “The plays he makes, we notice them and coach notices them. They’re just big-time plays and they really get us going. He brings energy and effort every possession and it makes us all better.”
With six big men on the roster, Traylor’s playing time has dipped this season after averaging 20.4 minutes per game last year. However, he’s never been happier in being a team player and leader while wanting to do everything he can to support the Jayhawks.
"I feel like I've been here a long time,” Traylor said. “I know what coach expects of me. I want to help the younger guys out. There's a lot thrown at you when you first come in. I remember my first practice I didn't know a thing. Thomas (Robinson, former KU All-American) helped me out and I want to do that for these guys."
Self has certainly loved coaching the selfless Traylor the last five years.
“He's not the most skilled player that we've ever had, and certainly not the biggest. He's kind of at an in-between size, 6-7, and having to play against big guys,” Self said. “But he always gives us great effort; he's very, very bright; he understands how to play; and other guys really enjoy playing with him, so he makes the game easier for others.”
From stays at juvenile detention facilities and being homeless in Chicago, to bouncing back and earning a college scholarship, to sitting out his first season, to now earning his degree and contributing for one of the top teams in college basketball, Traylor has certainly persevered through extreme adversity and shown true triumph of the human spirit.
Graham is amazed over Traylor’s journey.
“His story is just unbelievable,” Graham said. “Coach explained it to everybody early in the season just the things he’s been through and and how he’s just overcome so much and how hard he works and just how good of a spirit he is and how positive he always is. He’s just an unbelievable person and for him to overcome all of that to graduate from here and just the things he’s doing with his life, is just (wonderful).”
As Traylor chases national championship dreams, he knows the cheers in Allen Fieldhouse will echo in his mind forever. Traylor remains grateful to be at Kansas and have so many people love and care about him during what’s been a life-changing experience.
“It’s definitely been great,” he said. “Growing up, I really didn’t know where I’d be and everything so to be here in a great university like this and being able to play (at KU) with great coaches and with great fans and everybody embracing me with open arms, I just feel this is a second home for me.”
Traylor paused and smiled.
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