Taveling Man - Dwayne Curtis to Auburn

Auburn-bound Dwayne Curtis has been a
Traveling Man with his plentiful high school journeys.

By Frank Rusnak
He has logged more miles than an American Airlines travel jet. But as much as Whitney Young's Dwayne Curtis has moved around, his name has stayed on the low end of the radar -- until now.

"People haven't seen his true value," said Whitney Young coach Lamont Bryant, "but Dwayne can play and he's only going to get better."

"It was kind of hard bouncing around, because you have to learn new faces and start all over. It's another cycle every year."

Dwayne Curtis
Whitney Young H.S.

A 6'8" power forward, Curtis, who recently committed to Auburn, has grazed some of the most talented programs in the state in his three years of high school. Beginning his prep career at Proviso East, the Elton Brand-clone then made it out to the South suburbs at Bloom Township, came exceedingly close to enrolling at Chicago Morgan Park, then wound up at Chicago Young.

Always large for his age, Curtis began high school on the underclassmen level at Proviso East, keeping his name hidden. Even so, he truly enjoyed his time with the Pirates and wished he could've stayed. However, a change of address for his mother to Chicago sent him packing. Rather than moving along with his mom though, he stayed with his grandmother in Lynwood. His time in Lynwood was not maximized on the basketball court with Curtis suffering a broken ankle, putting him out for his sophomore year with Bloom.

"After that," said Curtis, "I just decided that I wanted to be with my mother, and she wanted me to come home."

Headed to the city, it was now the choice of what school to select. In Chicago, you can attend any school within the city regardless of where you live, so Curtis had a serious choice to be made. While his brother, Jarod, was a 2001 graduate of Morgan Park, he was very close to enrolling there. Even participating with the Mustangs at various summer events, the deal was almost sealed at Morgan Park.

"I was real close to enrolling [at Morgan Park]," noted the likely computer engineering major. "My younger cousin wanted me to go there too. And that was the year that they had just won City."

Looking back, an ironic turn of events happened at the 2001 Morris Summer Tournament when Curtis, who was playing with Morgan Park at the time, went up against Young. The result of that game is possibly what changed the next two years of his life.

"He knew that with us beating Morgan Park kind of bad, and I think that gave us an edge on other schools," said Bryant.

Shortly afterwards, Curtis found himself with the West-side's Whitney Young. But the Dolphins already had a power forward/center in Marcus White, who wasn't about to lose his starting spot to a transfer in like Curtis. Keeping his name in the background even longer, Curtis turned a negative into a positive and relished every moment of playing with the UConn-bound White who graduated this last year.

"I loved playing with Marcus because it helped me and just made me want to get better than him and work harder," gushed Curtis. "Just seeing him come out on the court made me want to work harder. The day he couldn't make it to practice, I was made."

White took his role with Curtis seriously, showing him the ropes on and off the court. The first to show him his classes and introduce him around, White was considered a good role model by Curtis.

Averaging 12 points and six rebounds last year in reserve duty, Curtis looks forward to filling White's immense shoes that he left behind.

"Anytime you've got a player of Marcus White's talent and you've got a talent behind him, it's hard to see what he's got," noted Bryant. "We can settle him in. We go outside to inside, but now we go inside to outside. The big man is going to take us to the Promised Land. [Dwayne] made a name for himself and he really proved himself. Nobody ever knew about Dwayne, and the kid just hasn't gotten the recognition with moving from school to school, getting his foot broken and playing behind Marcus. Now he deserves the credit due for him."

Credit is something that is not dealt away randomly, yet something that an individual has to earn, and with his stellar summer play Curtis is on track to complete a senior year full of accolades. And being somewhat stabilized won't hurt either.

"It was kind of hard bouncing around, because you have to learn new faces and start all over. It's another cycle every year," said Curtis. "I'm glad that I'm staying at Whitney Young. I got a year to play with everyone around me, so now I understand how everyone around me plays."

Curtis also used his time this summer, outside of summer school, to increase the chemistry with his teammates at local tournaments rather than going to some of the more prestigious camps. And, on the weekends, he found time to play with an Atlanta, GA-based AAU team that him and Young-teammate Anthony Harris latched onto.

"My uncle has relatives in Atlanta and one of his best friends runs an AAU team," said Harris, who averaged 24 points and seven assists last year for the Dolphins. "We didn't have a big man, so I told [coach] about Dwayne."

With the Worldwide Renegades, they traveled to Philadelphia, Virginia, Washington DC and Florida.

All the traveling was something that Curtis didn't mind. After all, he was used to it. He hopes now that the journey will end in one place.

"I really wanted to stay at Proviso [East]," said Curtis, who admits he finds himself thinking often about what it would've been like had he been a Pirate all throughout high school. "All of our goals are to win a state championship. And if it were against Proviso East that would be wonderful."

And the perfect ending to a nomad's travels -- for the trip to come full circle.