Westinghouse senior Jamarcus Ellis is Chicago's top player this season.
Westinghouse senior Jamarcus Ellis is
Chicago's top player this season.
Getting a late start
--1-23-04--
By Frank Rusnak
It is not uncommon to
go to any park in Chicago and see youngsters dribbling basketballs bigger than
them and honing their skills before they are potty trained. This wasn't the case
with Westinghouse's Jamarcus Ellis.
Ellis played baseball growing up and didn't begin to play basketball until the fifth grade, he said. Even then, he wasn't completely serious about the sport.
"He was a very special player. And he still is." Chris Head |
In seventh grade the light bulb went off in Ellis' head; and advice from an elder basketball star and a growth spurt didn't hurt his decision to focus on hoops.
A 6'5" senior for coach Quitman Dillard's Westinghouse Warriors, Ellis is considered the best player in the city this year.
While his numbers this year -- 18 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals per game -- are slightly down from last year, Dillard still doesn't hesitate to call Ellis the best player in the entire state.
"He's a leader and he plays hard from the beginning until the end," said Dillard, in his second year as head coach at Westinghouse. "There's no doubt in my mind he's a first-team all-stater and due to the fact that he plays on both ends of the court he's the best player in the state; that's what separates him from everybody else."
Former Westinghouse star and current UIC senior Ced Banks also saw something that separated Ellis from the pack.
"I was playing basketball [in fifth grade], but not for the school, for the park district," Ellis said. "When I graduated out of eighth grade Ced asked me if I wanted to play for Westinghouse. I just gave it a try and I said, 'Yeah.'
Despite a large growth spurt in seventh grade he retained his ball-handling skills that he said always came natural to him.
"When I got to Westinghouse I just started feeling that I really love basketball; this is what I want to do," said Ellis, who is nicknamed Tom Tom, as well as Tone Tone.
As a freshman he dominated on the sophomore level. The following year, then-Westinghouse head coach Chris Head brought his first underclassmen up to the varsity team.
"He was a very special player. And he still is," said Head, who continues working IHSA games as a referee despite not coaching at any high school.
Ellis joined a talented nucleus of seniors at Westinghouse that year, including point guard Jamaal Brown and forward Darius Glover.
Brown is expected to go to Oklahoma State next year after finishing his stint in junior college. Similarly, after Glover is done with his stay at junior college he has given Florida A&M a commitment.
"I felt special," said Ellis, about being promoted to varsity. "I felt that I had a gift and I could really go somewhere in life by playing basketball. I felt good as a person because I knew I would have to make people challenge me as I challenge them."
The Warriors challenged each other, and opposing teams, enough to win the Class AA state title, over Springfield Lanphier.
When he looks back on that 2001-02 season now, Ellis calls it the perfect season. When he feels down, needs motivation or a little bit of good luck he slips on his state championship ring.
Last year, as a junior, Ellis averaged 21 points, 13 rebounds and six assists as the lone-returning starter from the state-championship team.
This year, he has some more state title aspirations with a more experienced team.
Ellis said: "My goal is to win conference, city and State."
Pretty high goals for a late bloomer.
(Update: Ellis' team went on to defeat Simeon 60-48 for the city title, giving Westinghouse its third Chicago Public League championship in the last five years.)
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