Senior varsity basketball forward Remington Rofer began his wild basketball journey when he made the junior varsity basketball team in his freshman year. According to Remington, he was “gifted with height and decent athleticism,” but he knew that wouldn’t be enough. After he sat on the varsity bench for most of the season his sophomore year, he thought about transferring to another school towards the end of year. But he decided to stay, and he thinks that it was a great learning experience.
Rofer shared, “It really furthered my basketball career. It taught me that perseverance is a characteristic that you can grow, and toughness comes along with that.” He feels that he really has become a ”tough person on and off the court.”
That season he wasn’t seeing much playing time, so he continued to grow his perseverance and commitment. Thankfully, his transformation wasn’t going unwatched. Varsity basketball head coach Jamal Adams ’90 took him aside one day walking down the hall and said that he saw his potential to be one of Loyola’s big names, up there with the likes of Thomas Welsh, Khalil Bedart-Ghani and Parker Jackson-Cartwright. In the offseason, he worked his hardest to become a starter the following year. Finally, in his junior year, he earned that spot on the starting five. Despite an injury that held him back from his full potential, he still managed to give it his best and, as he mentioned, ”Probably broke the school’s record for charges.” He took 25 charges in 27 games. His work ethic reflects in his playing style. Charge through all your obstacles and take it to the rack.
When asked about what keeps him motivated, he remarked, “To prove the people who said he could never play in high school wrong.” His love for the game as well as total and absolute dedication to working harder than everyone else has paid off. He received multiple D2 powerhouse school scholarship offers, yet he decided to take another year before college and commit to the highly esteemed Scotland Campus, a preparatory school in Pennsylvania. He posted on Twitter that he was doing a postgraduate year. Unlike many other prep school athletes, the schools reached out to him.
To other athletes looking to excel in basketball, Rofer says you should, ”Never think you could’ve done more.” He knows that at the end of his Loyola career, he will be, ”One of the hardest working people to ever come out of this school.” His journey has not been easy, but since freshman year he has worked incredibly hard to become the player he is today.
He wishes he could’ve played a full season this year, but coronavirus won’t stop him from attaining his dreams. One day he hopes to look back on his Loyola career on an NBA team. Right now though, all he can do is trust in the process and keep giving it his all like the true Cub he exemplifies.