First-year student-athlete Keijon Honore reaches personal goals at Wesleyan while honoring the life of another
By Cody Clifton | September 6, 2015
Keijon Honore stepped foot on the Virginia Wesleyan College campus this fall just like any other first-year student, only for Honore, he was eerily familiar with his surroundings. It was almost destiny that got him to Virginia Wesleyan, and a great scholarship opportunity that helped.
This story begins four years ago, when Honore was a freshman at Potomac High School. Potomac was set to play in the Virginia Preps Tournament held at Virginia Wesleyan College, and Honore was placed in the starting five for the Columbia blue and white for the first time in his high school career.
"It's actually a coincidence, and I tell them back home," Honore said. "My first career high school start was here, at Virginia Wesleyan. Just thinking back on everything, it just felt right."
Honore was widely recruited, but he kept coming back to Virginia Wesleyan. Head Men's Basketball Coach Dave Macedo was routinely at games to watch the guard while other schools would send assistant coaches. This stood out in the mind of one of the newest Marlins.
"Every game that Coach Macedo could make it to, he made it to," Honore added. "Coach (Rhett) Bonner was there too, but Coach Macedo was there. When I came on my visit, it just felt like home."
Honore worked tirelessly throughout his prep career to make his dream of college basketball a reality. He showed great leadership ability in the community, posted impressive grades in the classroom, and excelled where eyes were on him most: the basketball court.
It's a small, close-knit community where Honore grew up. Other players have come out of that area on the outskirts of northern Virginia and several have returned to their homes along that stretch of I-95. Native sons returning with tales of glory, not unlike the great explorers of years past.
Hollis Johnson was a 1996 graduate of Woodbridge High School and a skilled basketball player who went on to play at the University of the District of Columbia. He was a young leader in the community and maintained good grades at Woodbridge, the ideal student-athlete.
Johnson's story would prove to be a tragic one. The 1996 graduate and former basketball star was shot to death in his apartment building in Chillum, Md. on October 27, 2014. His mother, Pauline, was forced to hear those words that no parent wants to hear: 'your son is no longer with us.'
In October of 2014, Keijon Honore was preparing for his final scholastic season before graduating in June and leaving for college. This would be his senior year, a chance to win for his teammates, himself, his family, and his community.
Meanwhile, Pauline Johnson sat in Woodbridge as overwhelming support in the form of donations in her son's memory came in. Grief-stricken, she determined at this point that the best way to memorialize Hollis was to give scholarships to deserving individuals who embodied the same values that he did.
"There was not a better way to honor him," Pauline Johnson said. "This is a way to keep his memory alive."
Enter Keijon Honore, the young man who was a leader in his community, excelled in the classroom and played basketball…the same sport as Hollis. There was not a better fit for the first Hollis Johnson Scholarship, worth $2,000.
"It was a great honor to receive the scholarship," Honore stated. "I was the first recipient of it, so for me to be chosen made me feel great. It made my family proud and was a humbling experience. It's a great honor to have and I'm thankful to this day for it."
This scholarship not only helps Honore pursue his basketball dreams, which he has, it will help him get his education, an education he can take back to his community.
"I want to be able to give back," Honore said. "I have a little brother back home and I would love to be able to share my knowledge with him, basketball included, and help out the community and make my family proud."
There are a lot of athletes that came out of the Dumfries area of Virginia, a regional area home to both Honore and Johnson. Through this scholarship, Honore will be able to receive an education that allows him to go back home to help his community, their community.
"This is a way to keep his memory alive," Johnson added.
No doubt that Honore will go home one day, as most local heroes do, and with every positive impact he makes on that tight-knit group of neighbors, the Hollis Johnson legacy continues.
Originally posted at vwcathletics.com.