Detroit — On a day where both were beaming with pride over making state basketball history, both Kelvin and K.J. Torbert did have a different recollection of one big basketball milestone while K.J. was growing up.
A senior guard for East Lansing, K.J. Torbert on Monday became the 46th winner of the Hal Schram Mr. Basketball award, named by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan in conjunction with the Detroit Free Press.
The honor came 25 years after Kelvin won the award in 2001 at Flint Northwestern before embarking on a career at Michigan State, making the Torberts the first father-son combination in state history to each win the award.
K.J. Torbert said he got into basketball when he was 3 years old largely because Kelvin was still playing professionally in Europe, and he has regularly watched videos of his dad making highlight-reel plays at Northwestern and Michigan State.
There were also countless driveway battles and drills conducted, but the two just happen to have a different perspective of what’s usually a watershed basketball moment, when son beats father for the first time in a pick-up game.
“Probably I was like 12,” K.J. Torbert said of when he first beat Kelvin. “Just one-on-one.”
Kelvin good-naturedly laughed that off as nonsense.
“He gets a trophy and starts fibbing,” Kelvin Torbert said with a laugh. “He wasn’t beating me when he was 12. But he will beat me now. I’m not going to argue that.”
Signed with Bowling Green, K.J. Torbert finished with 3,625 points in the voting to win going away. The runner-up was Cameron Ryans of Grand Rapids Northview (1,962 points), followed by James Martin of Muskegon (1,675 points), Jaylohn Allen of Wayne Memorial (1,271 points) and Greg Grays of Birmingham Brother Rice (719 points).
Going into the state tournament, the younger Torbert was averaging 25.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists for an East Lansing team that is still alive in the state tournament as it pursues a second straight state title.
East Lansing will play Ann Arbor Pioneer in a 7 p.m. quarterfinal on Tuesday at Lansing Eastern.
Achieving Mr. Basketball was on K.J. Torbert’s mind all offseason and throughout his senior year, mainly because he badly wanted to have him and his dad in the record books.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to win it so we can be the first father and son to do,” K.J. Torbert said. “It feels good.”
K.J. Torbert said he fell in love with basketball getting to work out with his dad, especially when Kelvin visited Michigan State and K.J. got to get shots off on the Breslin Center court or at the practice facility with some of his dad’s former college teammates.
“I’ve watched his high school highlights,” K.J. Torbert said of Kelvin. “Just how explosive he was around the rim and seeing how good a player he was.”
Kelvin was one of the country’s top recruits during his senior year at Northwestern, and getting to experience another Mr. Basketball ceremony in the family brought back memories of his ceremony.
“I’m older man, so 25 years ago, I barely remember last week,” the elder Torbert quipped. “But I do remember the ceremony. It was a lot tougher for me because (Northwestern) was put out of the tournament. I wasn’t playing. For him, I think it’s better and sweeter for him. He’s still got a chance to win a state championship. He’s got his teammates here and they’ve got that love for him. It was a lot harder for me because I had my coach and my brother, so it was a struggle for me to get here and enjoy it. But it was definitely a memorable moment.”
On Monday though, Kelvin Torbert got to see something better, just like any proud father would in his shoes.
“It’s special,” he said. “You love to see it. I think all fathers can relate to me when they say they want to see their kid do better than you. That’s something my Dad always told me and that’s something I try and live by now. Him doing great things means a lot to me.”
Keith Dunlap is a freelance writer.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: East Lansing’s K.J. Torbert joins dad to make Mr. Basketball history
Reporting by Keith Dunlap, Special to The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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