Overcoming Adversity: Jon Gauer
The job of a basketball scout can be very interesting not only due to the on court duties that you have to fulfill but also the interaction with people from all walks of life. Over the numerous years that I have been in this business I’ve met people that I’m as close with as I am my own family and numerous youngsters that I look to as little brothers. Which brings us to the story of Jon Gauer, a young man who I crossed paths with a few years back as he was playing with the Juice All-Stars 16U team during the summer. He had a very impressive skillset mixed with outstanding athletic ability, while at the same time being able to score the ball at a very high and consistent rate. He would go on to transfer to Fayetteville Academy where he would put together an impressive Junior Season and would begin his senior season putting together impressive performance once again. Then I began to notice as I was keeping up with game to game stats that he recently had some game where he didn’t not suit up, which was very surprising considering how well he performs on the court and in the classroom.
He informed me that it was due to a medical concern and he would have to undergo some more testing before he would be cleared to play. The season continued on and you could see in his eyes how bad he wanted to be on the court but he continued to be the best teammate as he sat on the bench next to the coaches. Although he wouldn’t get cleared for the season he would still be very active on the squad, constantly giving support and even some of his own coaching to teammates.
So what next for Jon Gauer? Well he is planning on attending Campbell University where we know he’s going to do amazing things, being a 4.0+ student in high school, it will be no surprise to see him to do great things in college. For many kids the term ‘‘Ball is life’’ is what they live by, they spend hours on their game every day and fail to take care of business in the classroom and we see the sad stories of old glory days on the court of an elderly man who is now struggling to make ends meet because he had no backup plan. Well this is not the case for Jon, he was an outstanding player and his career very well may not be over, but he has become an even better person. At the end of the season he was awarded the Basketball Elite Cumberland County High Character award for his all of his efforts after having his season cut short, he handled his situation better than many would have and truly showed us all that life is bigger than a sport.