FARMVILLE, Va. -- The Longwood University men's basketball team covered a number of general topics when they had meetings in late August, just prior to the academic year.
There was little reason to believe it would be a momentous day for Stephen Shockley, a reserve senior guard for the Lancers.
“We were basically getting together to go over class procedures and when we were going to get our workouts in,” said Shockley, who was a walk-on as a freshman.
But then Mike Gillian, the veteran head coach, mentioned one of the themes of the program: when you put the team first, the team will pay you back.
“He went on to say the best example we have of that is Stephen Shockley,” said the Heritage High School graduate.
Gillian then produced a scholarship form for Shockley, who had been a reserve guard his first three seasons in Farmville. Shockley had not been on scholarship his first three seasons with the Lancers, but a scholarship had opened up last summer.
“I did not see it coming. I was overwhelmed with excitement in the locker room when he pulled it out,” recalls Shockley.
The 6-0 guard from Leesburg then signed the paperwork to be eligible for the scholarship for the 2012-13 academic year.
“I signed it right then and there the day before classes started so it would be for the full year and I would not have to pay for classes,” said the combo guard.
“He had hoped for it all of these years, but it was a little surprise,” said his father, David, a former football player at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.
In his first three seasons, Shockley played in 41 games for Longwood, with 52 points, 19 rebounds and 19 assists after he was mostly a shooting guard in high school.
“He has done a great job and he has worked hard,” Gillian said. “He has been a great teammate. He came here because of Longwood (academics) with the hope of being on the team. At the time (when he was a freshman), we needed another guy. Once he was on (the team) he was on. He helps coach our two young point guards. He knows all of the terminology.”
This year, he has come off the bench in nine of 17 games with 13 points in 37 minutes, including two points and an assist in the first Big South Conference game in school history at home Jan. 5 in a loss to Coastal Carolina.
“Being in the conference and not being on far-out road trips and having teams at our skill level is a great opportunity for us,” said Shockley, sitting in a classroom at Willett Hall after the Jan. 5 loss to Coastal Carolina.
While Shockley does not have impressive stats, his experience as a Division I player should serve him well in the future. He has been playing basketball since a very early age and gave up baseball to focus on basketball when he was a freshman in high school.
“I have always wanted to coach. Some of my biggest role models growing up were coaches in high school that were also PE teachers,” Shockley said. “The impact they had on me, I want to have that impact on others.”
He is a physical and health education teacher education (PHETE) major and this semester will do his student teaching at Burkeville Elementary, Crewe Primary School in Nottoway County and Cosby High School in Chesterfield County. David Robinson, a junior guard for the Lancers, played at Cosby.
Shockley grew up as a fan of the University of Maryland and former head coach Gary Williams and also followed the Georgetown Hoyas. He attended Georgetown games at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. as a kid and that made his appearance with the Lancers against Georgetown in December even more special. He played 10 minutes in that game and made one of four shots from the field in a loss to a team that was No. 21 in the country at the time.
Shockley comes from an athletic field.
His father is in the athletic Hall of Fame at Loudoun Valley High School and was teammates at JMU with Pulaski County High graduate Gary Clark, a standout wide receiver for the Washington Redskins from 1985-92.
Another JMU teammate was Scott Norwood, who grew up in Northern Virginia and appeared in the Super Bowl with the Buffalo Bills as a kicker.
Stephen's older brother, Paul, played basketball at Division III Frostburg State University in western Maryland, graduated from George Mason University and now works at a resort in South Carolina.
At Heritage High in Leesburg, the younger Shockley averaged 16 points per game as a senior and was an all-district player. At Longwood, he has been a Scholar-Athlete Award winner and received the Longwood All-Academic Team Award.
Shockley had a strong junior year in high school, but his team was not as strong his senior year. One of the few schools that showed interest was Division III Shenandoah in Winchester, along with small-college programs with satellite campuses for Penn State.
He applied to Virginia Tech, George Mason and James Madison and had thought of trying to be a walk-on at JMU. Shockley had some contact with Longwood assistant coaches and decided to enroll in Farmville, in part due to the strong program for future teachers.
Shockley played in 10 games as a freshman for the Lancers and averaged 3.0 minutes and 1.6 rebounds per contest. As a sophomore, he played in 11 games and averaged 2.2 minutes and 1.0 points per outing.
Last season as a junior, he played in 20 games and averaged 6.1 minutes, 1.3 points, 0.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists per contest.
His work ethic was rewarded when Gillian pulled out the paperwork for a scholarship on a Sunday night in late August. “We probably should have had a video camera in there because it was awesome,” Gillian said. “Everyone stood up and cheered.”
Editor's Note: Special consultant David Driver is a Virginia native and has covered college sports in the state for more than 20 years. He has been a staff writer for newspapers in Arlington, Springfield and Harrisonburg and has contributed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, Stafford County Sun and The Potomac News in Woodbridge. He was also the first sports editor for the daily Baltimore Examiner. He will continue contributing special feature content to longwoodlancers.com throughout the upcoming 2012-13 academic year as well. A former Division III baseball player at Eastern Mennonite University, David can be reached at www.davidsdriver.com.
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