How a possible 29-year-old man played a season of high school hoops
One morning last spring, Gregory Dole received a call from a friend with whom he’d played high school basketball in Tanzania nearly two decades ago.
Deng D’Awol asked Dole for help finding a school in Canada that would be interested in a 16-year-old basketball phenom he’d discovered in war-weary South Sudan.
“Deng told me, ‘There’s this amazing kid I want to help get a scholarship,'” Dole told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. “He told me this kid is the best player he’s seen in Eastern Africa. He told me this kid reminds him of a young Kevin Durant.’ When someone says that, your ears tend to perk up.”
Such sky-high praise typically would have inspired skepticism in basketball circles, but Dole trusted his friend’s assessment. After all, Deng is a 7-foot-1 center who set shot-blocking records at NAIA Wayland Baptist University, played professionally in the American Basketball Association and overseas and now helps coach and train kids in his native South Sudan.
Dole reached out to a longtime high school coach in Windsor. Catholic Central coach Pete Cusumano agreed to not only take the 6-foot-9 center on his team but also house him for the remainder of his high school career. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until this week when Dole and Cusumano learned that Jonathon Nicola may only be posing as a teenager.
Nicola was arrested this week by Canadian border officers for allegedly misrepresenting his age on his application for a study permit for Canada, the Windsor Star first reported Wednesday night. Yahoo Sports confirmed on Thursday that the Canada Border Service Agency has evidence Nicola may actually be 12 years older than he purported to be.
“Mr. Nicola submitted an application for a Canadian study permit abroad with a date of birth of November 25, 1998,” the CBSA said in a statement. “When he recently applied for a U.S. visitor visa, it was determined by fingerprint match, that he was the same individual who had made a previous application to the U.S. using a date of birth of November 1, 1986.”
While the notion of a 29-year-old man posing as a high school junior has to be terrifying to everyone at Catholic Central, school officials thus far are staying tight-lipped. Cusumano told Yahoo Sports on Thursday that he is “not allowed to comment,” citing a directive from the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board.
School board spokesman Stephen Fields told Yahoo Sports he would not comment specifically on Nicola’s arrest because the case is ongoing. Speaking in general terms, Fields cited the “rigorous system” the school board has in place requiring international students to present valid government documentation — passports and study permits — before they can be enrolled.
Among the few at Catholic Central to address the saga publicly was Richie Akinsanya, a senior point guard on the school’s basketball team. Akinsanya tweeted in support of Nicola on Wednesday night, writing “If you were in a war torn country and were given an opportunity to get out, you’d take it in a heartbeat too.”
When Nicola arrived at Catholic Central in late November after finally obtaining his study permit, his towering height, size 16 shoes and 7-foot-4 wingspan instantly attracted attention. Cusumano cautioned that Nicola had scarcely played any organized basketball in South Sudan yet even he couldn’t help gushing about his new center’s potential.
“I think this kid will have a chance at the NBA,” Cusumano told the Windsor Star in January. “I have never said that about any kid from Windsor.”
Despite his edge in size and strength, Nicola was far from dominant this past season. He mostly protected the rim on defense and scored on dunks and put-backs on offense for a Catholic Central team that won 26 games but only advanced one round in the Ontario Federation of Schools Athletic Association playoffs.
When Massey coach Keith McShan first caught a glimpse of Nicola before his team’s Dec. 3 matchup with Catholic Central, he likened the massive center to former Ohio State star Greg Oden, a 7-footer who always looked older than his actual age. McShan insists that he harbors no grudge against Catholic Central for using a potentially ineligible player even though his Massey team lost twice to the Comets during the regular season.
“There’s no bitterness,” McShan told Yahoo Sports. “At first I was shocked, but now I just feel sorry for the man. He had to fake being 17 to leave his war-torn country and come to Canada. I felt sorry for him that he had to go to that extent.”
Nicola’s case is certainly not the first example of an athlete lying about his age.
Just six years ago, 21-year-old Haitian immigrant Guerdwich Montimere claimed to be 17-year-old Jerry Joseph in order to be eligible to compete in basketball for Permian High School in Odessa, Texas. The practice also used to be common among Venezuelan and Dominican baseball prospects, who would lie to scouts about their age to make it seem like they had more upside than they actually did.
The only difference with Nicola is that his alleged lie may not have been athletically motivated. Residents of conflict-stricken South Sudan face ongoing civil war, food shortages and unfathomable poverty.
One of the lingering questions in the Nicola case is whether anyone involved besides him knew that he was merely masquerading as a teenager.
It seems difficult to believe Cusumano would knowingly risk tarnishing an ultra-successful coaching career one year before retirement by playing 29-year-old. Dole says he too was shocked by this week’s revelation and insists that he received no compensation for helping place Nicola at Catholic Central.
As for D’Awol, he did not immediately return messages left Thursday by Yahoo Sports. Dole said he spoke to D’Awol as soon as he saw the news about Nicola and his former high school teammate was just as flabbergasted as he was.
“I was like what the heck is this?” Dole said. “He said he has no idea. He swears up and down that even Jonathon’s mother was telling him, ‘My boy’s 17.'”
While Dole’s full-time job is unrelated to basketball, he is well connected in international basketball circles thanks to his travels in Africa, Brazil and elsewhere. He says he receives sporadic requests from contacts across the globe for help getting their players to schools in Canada and the United States.
Nearly a decade ago, Dole helped Brazilian-born NBA guard Leandro Barbosa come to the U.S. and showcase his talents for NBA scouts.
The journey of a 6-foot-9 center once implausibly hailed as a young Durant is now unlikely to have such a happy ending.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
