Syracuse, N.Y. — The mystery started when Evan Dourdas was 14 years old with a small bald patch on the back of his head.

Dourdas' father had taken Evan to get a haircut.

"We were at the barber shop in Shoppingtown and I noticed there were very small patches on the back of his head where he didn't have hair,'' Peter Dourdas said.

A short time later, Dourdas' eyebrows and eyelashes fell out.

"We took him to a couple dermatologists,'' Dourdas' mother, Kathy, recalled. "And then more hair on his head started to fall out.''

Finally, the Dourdas' went to a doctor who provided a diagnosis. Evan, 13 years old and about to enter his freshman year at Jamesville-DeWitt High School, had alopecia areata.

"When I first got it, I didn't know what it was,'' Evan said. "It's really a random thing. I didn't know anything about it.''

Alopecia is an autoimmune disease that results in hair loss from all or parts of a person's body. The immune system mistakenly attacks the hair follicles, which is where hair growth begins. In most cases, people who have alopecia first notice hair loss before the age of 20. Alopecia can result in a person losing patches of hair. The hair can grow back in these areas.

But some cases result in alopecia universalis — a complete loss of all body hair. That is what Evan Dourdas had.

"Some people would say it's just hair, don't let it affect you, but it affects you in ways that you'd never know,'' Dourdas said. "It's way different. I used hairspray and cover-up powder to hide the patches. I kept my hair long to cover my eyebrows. I didn't want people to see that I didn't have eyebrows.''

Evan Dourdas is now a freshman at Syracuse University. He's a walk-on on the SU basketball team. He is also completely bald except for his eyebrows, which unexpectedly grew back just recently.

He wants to use his status as a member of the high-profile Syracuse Orange basketball team to raise awareness about alopecia and to serve as a role model for youngsters who have the disease.

"I was 13, 14, 15 years old and I didn't know anyone I could talk to who could relate to what I was going through,'' he said. "I had people to talk to, but no one I could relate to.''

Dourdas remembers seeing hurtful messages about him and sometimes directed toward him on Twitter when he was playing at Jamesville-DeWitt High School. Those taunts were usually from students at other schools. Within the J-D community, Dourdas received support and acceptance.

Jamesville-DeWitt's Evan Dourdas works at the top of the key against Christian Brothers Academy during the first round of the Bottar Leone Holiday Classic on Dec. 29, 2013, at Christian Brothers Academy.

"I had a lot of support,'' he said. "My freshman year, I didn't worry about getting bullied or anything, I just didn't want to have to go through the whole process of telling everyone. My brother, James, was a junior at the time. He was the behind-the-scenes guy, letting everyone know what was going on.''

These days, Evan comfortably talks about alopecia, but as a high school freshman, he tried to hide the disease's effects. He used his Justin Bieber-styled long, black hair to hide the bald patches.

His mother or father would spend 20 to 30 minutes to help him get his hair ready for school each morning. They would sprinkle on a powder and then apply hairspray. They would sweep his long hair over the bald spots and spray it in place.

"There were times when he didn't want to go to school if there was gym or if it was windy or raining,'' Kathy Dourdas said. "It was an emotional roller-coaster. It was heart-breaking to see him like that. He didn't want to participate in anything. It was a tough time.''

Kathy noticed that her happy boy wasn't smiling as much anymore. Peter noticed that the kid who was a standout on the basketball court through 8th grade wasn't playing as well.

"He was always worried about his hair,'' Peter said. "His hair was long because he didn't want people to see he had no eyebrows, so his hair was always in his eyes. He'd say 'If I run, my hair's going to blow back and everyone will see that I don't have eyelashes and eyebrows.'''

Evan would call Peter during the day and ask him to come to the school to fix his hair. Kathy said Evan stopped going to sleepovers except for two places where he felt secure. One of those places was SU coach Jim Boeheim's house.

"He was very close with both Jimmy and Buddy,'' Kathy said, referring to Boeheim's sons, who both play basketball at J-D. "He's been friends with them since he was little.''

Things continued like that for a year for Evan. Then, in the summer between his freshman and sophomore years at J-D, he decided that he'd had enough.

"I was in a summer league game for J-D and I didn't play well just because I had too much cover-up in my hair,'' Evan recalled. "I was sweating and I was worried about it falling apart.''

Evan talked to his brother, James, and to J-D coach Bob McKenney. He was thinking about shaving his head. They were both in favor of the idea.

So Evan called his dad and said, "Let's do this thing.''

Even though shaving his head was a major step in taking control of the disease, Evan still struggled to cope.

"I took it all off and then put a hat on,'' he said. "I didn't leave the house for a couple days. It was a tough time.''

Now, Evan's secret was out in the open. He had rid himself of the stress that came with hiding the bald patches, but now he had to deal with a new kind of scrutiny.

"My sophomore year, I came into school and people didn't recognize me,'' he said. "Teachers didn't even know who I was. It was just a long process. My brother helped me out and my teammates, especially Jafar Kinsey. He made sure I was staying strong. He kept an eye on me, especially during games.''

Kathy said when her son shaved his head, "the real Evan came back.'' He still had his down moments. When she needed to boost his spirits, she would remind him that he was lucky he wasn't a girl.

"I told, Evan, imagine the girls that have this,'' she said. "No eyelashes, no eyebrows and no hair. That's everything to a girl. At least with Evan, he can go bald and it's in style.''

Evan wouldn't have to imagine what it was like for a girl to have alopecia for long.

Syracuse freshman walk-on Evan Dourdas and Sophia Ferris at the Carrier Dome.

Patricia Ferris teaches health at a middle school in the J-D district. Evan Dourdas had been in her health class. She was his homeroom teacher as well.

Two years ago, Ferris' daughter, Sophia, came home from a slumber party at a friend's house.

"She was missing two half-dollar sized spots of hair,'' Sophia's father, Michael, said. "It was completely overnight. We actually asked her sleep-over people if they had scissors out.''

By now, Evan was a junior at J-D and playing varsity basketball. The Ferrises took Sophia to a J-D game to watch Dourdas play. After the game, Sophia went up to Evan and talked with him about her condition.

"He told me that if I had friends that cared about me, it wouldn't be a big deal,'' Sophia said recently. "He said it didn't matter if you were bald, you still looked pretty.''

The next day Dourdas drove to the middle school to talk to Patricia Ferris. He wanted to know everything about Sophia's condition. She has alopecia areata, which differs from alopecia universalis. Sophia loses hair in patches and undergoes steroid injections directly into her scalp to promote hair growth.

"It's painful,'' she said almost matter-of-factly. "I get them about every two weeks.''

When Dourdas found out that he had earned a spot as a walk-on on the Syracuse basketball team, he went to see Sophia. He presented her with a ball that he signed "My Hero.'' He invited her to the team's Orange Madness at the Carrier Dome.

Evan Dourdas gave Sophia Ferris a basketball when he found out that he had earned a spot as a walk-on on the Syracuse basketball team. He signed the ball "My Hero.''

Sophia showed up wearing a No. 25 jersey. That was former SU center Rakeem Christmas' number, but Dourdas has taken it as a freshman this year.

"We had to search high and low for a No. 25 jersey,'' Michael Ferris said. "You'd think with Rakeem it would be easier to find, but they pulled them after Rakeem graduated.''

Even though he is a walk-on and rarely plays, Dourdas has discovered that just being on the Syracuse basketball team puts him in the public eye. And because alopecia is relatively unknown, most people think he has cancer.

"I get asked that question a lot,'' Dourdas said. "Probably like 15 times a week.''

Dourdas gets it.

"Not many people know about alopecia, so they just assume it's cancer,'' Dourdas said. "If I saw someone with no hair and no eyebrows, I'd think the same thing.''

It's hard though, said Dourdas, when he gets a letter or a message on Twitter from a kid with cancer.

"I've had a lot of little kids messaging me on Instagram or Twitter and saying 'I have cancer, too,''' Dourdas said. "They ask me for autographs and stuff. I usually respond and say 'I don't have cancer, but I'm very sorry you do.' I tell them I'll try to get them whatever they want in terms of autographs or whatever.''

Dourdas wants to raise awareness about alopecia. He remembers not having anyone he knew with alopecia to talk to. He has found a partner in Sophia Ferris. The two are planning a fund-raiser, perhaps in conjunction with the Jim & Juli Boeheim Foundation.

Sophia Ferris' letter to Syracuse freshman walk-on Evan Dourdas.

"I think it's great,'' Peter Dourdas said. "I think he can make a difference. Even though he's not playing, he can make a difference being where he's at right now. It might not be cancer, but it's a dreadful disease.''

Last December, Sophia had to write an essay for an English Language Arts class. The assignment was to describe an everyday hero. Of course, she wrote about Evan.

Here is part of what Sophia wrote:

"My everyday hero shows a lot of heroic traits. Evan Dourdas is inspirational, kind, and thoughtful. The first time I met Evan he showed that it is ok to be different because everyone is different. Evan told me when times get tough, don't give up no matter what anyone says.

"That is why Evan Dourdas is my everyday hero.''