Kason Harrell is a man of faith and believes in the value of discipline and extra practice.
Rewards are earned, not entitled. What happens in lonely gyms stays in lonely gyms.
The former Hempfield basketball standout felt he had done all be could do in his pursuit of a professional career.
The rest, the outcome, was out of his hands.
But now he can rejoice. A new journey is about to begin.
Harrell signed a contract with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Indiana Pacers’ affiliate in the NBA G League, and will begin training camp Oct. 28.
Fort Wayne offered four contracts to players after tryouts last month.
“It feels great,” said Harrell, a 6-foot-2 point guard. “I remember as a kid me and my dad signed a contract between the two of us that I would make it to the pros. It’s amazing that this moment is here. I gotta give all glory to my Lord Jesus Christ.”
Instead of posting a picture of my contract, I decided to use another picture instead after consulting with my agent. Excited for this next step with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants! ??#AllGlorytoGod ????????? pic.twitter.com/S05T4xpas5
— Kason Harrell (@ChurchBoy_32) October 15, 2019
Harrell graduated recently from Purdue Fort Wayne, where he was a go-to scorer and fan favorite.
He averaged 15.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in his final season. He was an All-Summit League honorable mention. Harrell is eighth on the Purdue Fort Wayne scoring list with 1,349 career points.
Last month, he worked out for the Mad Ants — and the Maine Red Claws (Boston Celtics) — and waited to see if his performance was worthy of contract consideration. It was, and Hempfield’s all-time leading scorer will get his shot.
He has been working out with Gym Rat Performance Training, a local outfit with its main operations at Amerifit Gym in Green Tree.
“It just goes to show what happens when you trust God and work hard,” Harrell said. “Even when it didn’t look promising, I just trusted God and kept grinding and grinding because I knew that he would make a way for me. Now, I’m going to keep grinding to make the team and continue to improve daily.”
