Tariq Johnson's story has been well-documented.
A highly-successful player at Kent Island High School in College Park, Md, and Mount Zion Prep in Stevensville, Md., he had scholarship offers from sea level schools like James Madison, Siena and Wagner. There's a chance he might still be playing basketball had he chosen one of those schools.
But he loved the coaches, players and the allure of Wyoming at 7,220 above sea level. So he became a Cowboy. Of course he was unaware that he had a rare heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which surfaced at this higher elevation. As a Poke freshman he was on the verge of becoming a starter three years ago. Tragically his condition forced him to shelve his basketball dream.
We all felt terrible for him, and worried how he was going to handle it.
Not to worry.
This piece is about what he did after his extremely promising basketball future was gone.
This is about life after basketball for one of the finest young men I've ever had the pleasure of knowing at Wyoming.
I have a feeling many young hoopsters might have taken a bad route, even a tragic one, after hearing the kind of news Tariq (tuh-REEK) did.
He chose the positive route, and has been making the right choices ever since.
"I really hadn't thought about life after basketball," Tariq told me. "This couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening. Everything leading up to my getting here pointed to basketball being a major part of my life. It WAS a major part of my life."
After hearing the news, he and his family sought second and third opinions from doctors. Unfortunately the opinions were all the same.
"It took me awhile to process what I had heard from the doctors," he says. "I had to come to grips that it WAS real. My basketball career was over."
"Once I got by that, I realized that there's a lot out there, and my life is far more important than the game of basketball."
Doctors told him that Wyoming's elevation compounded his condition. "There are several guys I know who played and are chancing playing with my condition, because they are playing at lower elevations," he says. "I actually got a few calls from schools about transferring to play at lower elevations.
"Not only was it too much of a risk, but Wyoming is my home. I love it here, it's super genuine. The energy and love I received from my friends and teammates was amazing. I decided it was far more important for me to stay here and open another chapter of my life than start over by playing basketball somewhere else."
Most certainly the love and support of his family, friends and teammates helped him. "The support was so special," he says. "I even received support from our student-athletes in other sports. It was amazing and really meant a lot to me."
Maybe his course of study, psychology-- he is an outstanding student and will graduate ahead of schedule this May-- helped him deal with the sudden change in his life. I'm sure his upbringing was a big factor as well. But Tarig didn't bog down with self-pity. He decided to stay here and remain involved with the basketball program. He wanted his education and he wanted to be a member of his Wyoming 'family'.
"I wanted to be with my teammates, so I did whatever I could to help from the sidelines. That was a challenge for me. It was really hard, being there for every practice, every trip, every game, and not playing. I knew I could have made a difference for our team. It was really tough mentally.
"But I knew I had to find the next step in life, and that was the most important thing for me. Playing basketball had been a huge part of my life and it was not going to be in my future. I thought about things like coaching, especially strength and conditioning, personal training, nutrition, and getting involved working with professional teams.
But always in the back of his mind was going an entirely different direction. He was interested in modeling and acting.
He certainly has the looks and personality to do it, and he has made some connections through family members and social media.
"My aunt—Mashari Bain—is an actress, and she has given me some great advice and feedback. That has been very important to me. I've been able to talk with a few of the top agencies, and I think that's the direction I'm going to go."
Instagram is the social vehicle he has utilized to get himself out there.
"Some agencies reached out to me after seeing me, and I have some things lined up. I've gotten some photo shoots, and have also been casted in a couple of television shows. One will begin shooting in late November or December and the other in January or February. I'm figuring out how I can balance the rest of school with those schedules, but I'm excited and really looking forward to it.
"I want the entertainment industry to be my future," he continues. "It's something that I genuinely love. My goal is to work with the biggest modeling agencies. You never know what it might lead to, modeling and acting complement each other."
He certainly has good size for modeling (6'5"), and his seven percent body fat can't hurt. After basketball was taken out of his future he poured himself into weight training. It has paid off for him. I can see him modeling designer suits and clothes, and that's his goal. "I think that would be a lot of fun. I've always loved dressing up anyway," he laughs.
After graduation Tariq plans to move to the Los Angeles area and pursue that career in earnest.
With that said, psychology has always been of interest to him, and that's why he decided to major in it. "I love learning about the human mind. I'm interested to know how and why others think like they do, I'm interested in how and why I think like I do. It's just super interesting to me. I've found out a lot about myself thanks to my major. I've enjoyed finding out about myself.
"At some point, I think I'd like to write a book about my experience," he continues, "how I handled it. I think that would be fun too. I think I have a lot of good things ahead of me."
I would agree. I can't wait to see him on the cover of GQ!
