Four battle-tested seniors broke from the Clay High School basketball huddle, knowing their roles and the stakes.
Down by 3 points with 7 seconds to go in the state championship game against Valparaiso, Lee Nailon threw in the ball to Michael Lee who scurried down the court while Chad Hudnall and Charles Bond did a cross to cause as much havoc as they could.
All their efforts were to set up a shot by Clay’s fifth player on the court, unassuming sophomore Jaraan Cornell.
He was never a seeker of the limelight but didn’t flinch at it, either. “There were times during his career that I had to ask Jaraan to be a little more selfish,” Colonials coach Tom DeBaets recently said. “But, yes, he was always going to be our No. 1 option on that play.”
When the play was drawn up during Clay’s timeout, nobody second-guessed it. The four seniors trusted their younger teammate — the guy they called J Cool because of his unflappable and easy-going way. They trusted him with the improbable dream they had carried since they were little boys.
You probably know the rest. Lee got Cornell the ball at the top of the key and he hit the 3-point buzzer-beater to tie up the game and send it into overtime. The Colonials then dominated in the extra period to win, 93-88.
March 26, 1994. The Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. The Shot that made Jaraan Cornell a hero and household name in Hoosierland.
Great memories. Great kid.
And now he is gone at the age of 48. Cornell died at home on June 6. Clay High is gone and now one of its biggest stars is, too. He is the second starter to die from that 1994 championship team. Hudnall, who went on to become Clay’s baseball coach, passed away in 2013 of bone cancer.
“You’re not supposed to out-live your kids,” DeBaets said. “And these were (wife) Annie’s and my kids.”
He was asked to speak at Cornell’s funeral on June 23. “But I had to say no,” he admitted. “All I would be able to do is cry up there and nobody wants to see an old man cry.”
There already have been plenty of tears since the tragic news.
DeBaets will remember Cornell as the best all-around player he has ever been around. He led the Colonials to two more Northern Indiana Conference titles, was third in the Mr. Basketball voting and was later a third team all-Big Ten player twice for Purdue.
After being a solid college player, Cornell came back — and gave back — to South Bend. He coached the girls team at Clay, worked with youngsters at Heroes Camp and recently was part of the Boys & Girls Club staff.
He never boasted of his past glory. He never brushed anyone off. He never lost his smile.
And he learned to be a leader. “I always had a practice plan and would have it timed down to the minute,” DeBaets said. “But Jaraan would sometimes change the routine when he would say, ‘Coach, can we do that one more time. I think we can do that better.’”
What player does that? The kind who wants to make everyone better.
“He became the best player and the best worker,” DeBaets said.
DeBaets will also remember what a fun and humble kid he was. “You never heard anyone say a bad thing about him.”
Yeah, they called him J Cool. “He was always wearing sunglasses and I sometimes had to say, ‘Jaraan, you’re inside. Take those things off.’”
He might have looked like a self-appointed star in those shades but he never acted like one.
As an upperclassman, he did like to take a peek during a lull in practice at the life-size player pictures of the 1994 championship team hanging in the Clay gym. “I’ll look at the pictures for a second and remember something about that team,” he said just before his senior season.
He might have thought about The Shot. More times than not, he probably thought about his teammates.
As they think about him now.
Funeral arrangements
A viewing will take place at 10 a.m. June 23 at Faith Alive Ministries (Faith Apostolic Church), 909 N. Bendix Drive, South Bend. Funeral service will follow at 11 a.m.
Condolences can be shared with his family at boydandsonfuneralhome.com.
Contact Bill at bry14zzo@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Jaraan Cornell best player South Bend’s Tom DeBaets was ever around