‘I just love to play, Coach’
Treymaine Eagle Thunder-Alger and Darian Schmidt spark Highmore-Harrold
By James Giago Davies
Native Sun News Correspondent
nativesunnews.today
FAULKTON— “Remember blacktop.” Words that mean nothing to us, but words that mean everything to two Native boys who grew up best friends, in an alien world that embraced them, and nurtured them, and prepared them to give back to their family, their community, their people, more than they had ever asked for or received. Two boys, connected to each other, in ways only they will ever understand.
It started with Snickers, a bald eagle that lives high in a cottonwood tree along Bear Creek, just west of Jeff Turning Heart’s place on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. Every now and again he will drop a feather, like every eagle does, and an eagle feather is a sacred and beautiful thing to Lakota.
“Wopila,” Turning Heart says softly as he approaches, and he leaves Snickers an offering, sometimes just a few feet from Snickers, and the eagle doesn’t fly away. Turning Heart is connected to Snickers in ways only they understand.
Turning Heart is many things. After Billy Mills, he is the greatest distance runner South Dakota ever produced. He might be the best fry bread cook on the planet, and he is a resource officer at Tiospaye Topa, and a friend and mentor to hundreds of Lakota kids. He is also a high school basketball referee, and one night last December, a chance referee gig at Fort Pierre started a chain of events that would send Snickers’s eagle feather east to the town of Faulkton, and touch the lives of a dozen people.
“They called me on that Friday,” Turning Heart said. “They said, hey, Jeff, we need your help over in Fort Pierre. Who’s it with, they said, Highmore-Harrold. I thought it would be one of them farm games, but it turned out to be a ninety mile an hour game.”
Highmore-Harrold was in town to play Stanley County, their only trip West River this season, and Turning Heart was surprised by the team Highmore-Harrold put on the floor: “They got a kid, Treymaine Eagle Thunder-Alger. I think he’s adopted. Man, is he slick. If he went to LNI, he would probably walk out of there MVP.”
Treymaine Eagle Thunder-Alger on the court.
The Pirates are coached by Justin Bonnichsen, and they have two dominant players. One is Eagle Thunder-Alger, and the other is 6-5 power forward Jharett Bloomenrader. They also have a crafty little floor general, Darian Schmidt, and although Turning Heart didn’t know it at the time, Schmidt had a similar background and life experience to Eagle Thunder-Alger.
Highmore-Harrold beat Stanley County, 77-70, and as Turning Heart talked to the players after the game, he got an idea that he should call Native Sun News Today down in Rapid City and tell them about Eagle Thunder-Alger.
“This guy is like a tall Cecilio Montgomery,” Turning Heart told NSNT. “He’s like a foot and a half over everybody when he jumps.”
The idea formed, to drive up and catch the Highmore-Harrold at Faulkton game, picking up Turning Heart on the way. It was a clear, icy cold night with a sliver of a moon. Faulkton is an older school building, but they take pride in what they have. On the wall of the gym is a large banner, reads “Faulkton Trojans.” On the other end of that wall, are five more banners, of teams that once were, but have now all been consolidated into Faulkton, banners that hauntingly beckon to a proud and forgotten past: Chesbard Comets, Onaka Pirates, Orient Hawks, Seneca Blue Jays, and Polo Bears.
The Trojans have a hustling little point guard named Tyler Ogle, and although they are not the team the Pirates are, after Eagle Thunder-Alger is forced to the bench on two quick fouls, they take control of the game. Eagle-Thunder Alger opened the game with a steal off Ogle and a lay-up, and it is easy to see why Turning Heart sang his praises.
While he rides the pine, the Pirates keep the game close because Bloomenrader is an awesome rebounding spectacle. Most players dream of getting 12-15 rebounds in just one game. That is an average night for Bloomenrader.
“Jharett is a fierce competitor that does whatever you ask him,” Bonnichsen said. “He plays extremely hard, rebounds extremely well, and he has a chance, I think he’s within 140 rebounds, of getting a thousand rebounds, and that’s unheard of. He has already scored his 1000th point last year. He’s a game wrecker, he’s a game plan wrecker. He plays with a lot of emotion, a lot of heart, a lot of passion, he just wants to win.”
Darian Schmidt on the court.
Darian Schmidt has spent years feeding the ball into Bloomenrader, and it is clear, by the way Schmidt moves, the crafty way he works the floor, that he is Lakota. He was not schooled to play rez ball, he just has an instinctive feel for it.
Both Treymaine and Darian came to the town of Highmore about the same time. Treymaine was from Crow Creek, and Darian was from Rosebud. They were placed with foster families, and a deep bond formed between them and their foster parents. There is love, and respect, they are family.
Barry and Mary Alger have spent their whole lives in Highmore. Barry follows the team closely, he knows the strengths and weaknesses of his boy’s game intimately. He laments about why Treymaine gets so many fouls calls of late, and like any concerned parent, he worries the bias may be racial.
It was not easy to become the adoptive parents of Treymaine. “It took five years to get through the process, Mary said. “We met the birth family. They got to know us a little bit, and decided that we were okay people, and after five years (Treymaine and his older sister Theresa) came free for adoption, and we filed for adoption, since their birth mom and a couple of the grammas said that was okay with them.”
Treymaine has been a fixture in his community for years: “He has been Mr. Social, and when he goes to school, although he doesn’t particularly like the classes, especially this year, he’s always been a social kid. He’s really musically talented, he is a good drummer. He is incredibly gifted, he has a keyboard, and he taught himself on that.”
Mary said Treymaine is also “really, really good with kids.” Last year he was a teacher’s aide for the junior high.
Darian and Treymaine live just blocks apart, and Mary says Darian is a regular visitor: “When Darian comes to our house, he opens the refrigerator door, gets the food he wants, makes his microwave popcorn, and its fine with me because the kid is very neat and he doesn’t leave a mess for me.”
Mary said Treymaine is the same way, but unlike Darian, his social activities can cause him problems: “Treymaine got a girlfriend in the Eighth Grade and they stuck together for about three years, but it was rough.” Mary feels his current girlfriend is much better for him, and he stays around home more now where for a time he ran around a bit, “slept on some couches.”
Like most kids, Treymaine’s main socializing tool now is gaming, and Mary frets he games too much but is happy at least he is home: “He has a kind heart and he’s helpful and when he does a job, he does it well. Right now he’s working as a cook, just a little bit of part time work, at the nursing home here, and he actually likes that.”
Once Treymaine returned to the game against Faulkton, their full complement on the floor, the Pirates took control of the game. Trailing 31-35 after three, they went on to win, 51-44. Bloomenrader had 20 rebounds. After the game, Turning Heart tied the Eagle Feather to Treymaine’s hair. It was clearly a special moment for Treymaine, and the entire Pirate team came over, as did coaches and family and fans.
Mary said Treymaine plans to put his eagle feather on his graduation cap. “For me,” she said, “it was the most incredible thing to see him get that honor.”
James Giago Davies is an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe. He can be reached at skindiesel@msn.com
Copyright permission Native Sun News Today
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