A former child prodigy, Jaeh Thomas is now his team's
third option. But basketball still "runs through his veins."

Thomas adjusts with situations

--3-25-04--
By Frank Rusnak
    West Aurora’s Jaeh Thomas has gone from a child basketball phenom to a grown man raising a kid of his own in a three-year stretch that he never would have predicted to happen as it did.

    As a 15-year-old freshman, he was a care-free basketball prodigy. The only underclassman starter, Jason, as he was known back then, helped the Blackhawks to the Class AA Elite Eight in 2001. He was the state’s top talent for his age and ranked nationally.

    Now, as a senior, Thomas was not even his team’s first option on offense. A Division I scholarship, which at one point was a forgone conclusion, is no longer so sure of a thing for the 6’2” guard who averaged 9.4 points a game this year.

    The changes for Thomas range from his 8-month-old kid, to marijuana, to four future Division I transfers coming to West Aurora.

    “I would’ve never known that so many people were going to transfer to my school,” said Thomas, who was born and raised in Aurora. “For the sake of the team, I’ve had to take a backseat to a lot of people. I never knew that I wouldn’t still be ranked in the top 10 in the nation. I don’t want to blame it on the transfers coming to the school, but that’s a big part.”

    As a sophomore, Thomas was joined by transfers Dameon Mason (now a freshman at Marquette) and Shaun Pruitt. In his junior year, in came Michael Binns (now in his first year at New Hampshire’s Brewster Prep School) and Justin Cerasoli. Pruitt and Cerasoli are seniors with Thomas, committed to Illinois and Seton Hall respectively.

    “It’s just crazy,” Thomas said. “Every year I’ve just had something new.”   

    His son, Jaehshon, is another change he talks about, along with not starting because of team punishments.

    “After practice I don’t get to go where I want to,” Thomas said. “I will go with my girlfriend and my son home and that’s a big change. Also, I never had to sit out so many games in my high school career, getting suspended [the first five games of this season] over weed.”

    While he has gone through his tribulations, he has had a shoulder to lean on in Cerasoli, who Thomas said is like Jaehshon’s God Father.

    “Jaeh and I have known each other since the fifth grade,” Cerasoli said. “We’ve been like family. He’s had some unfortunate instances, but he’s still a great ball player.”

    While Thomas said before the end of the season he hasn’t received any phone calls from colleges, he hopes that his performance at the Class AA Elite Eight has helped his stock. His team-high 24 points on Saturday, March 20, helped the Blackhawks top Carbondale for third place in the state. Only two players at the Elite Eight had better individual scoring games than Thomas' third-place game: Peoria Central's Shaun Livingston (Duke) and Carbondale's Justin Dentmon (Illinois State).

    “From a personal one-on-one standpoint I have always enjoyed Jaeh,” West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman said. “He has never been a problem on the court.”

    “There have been peaks and valleys and it’s peaking again,” said Jaeh’s mom Paula Thomas, who has not missed one of his games since the fifth grade. “Basketball still runs through his veins. If they thought maybe he wasn’t putting enough into it, that’s still all he does is eat, sleep and drink basketball. If anyone thinks he’s lost anything, he hasn’t and it’s still there.”

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