Wyoming's Larry Nance Jr. grows beyond a disease's constraints

Eric Prisbell | USA TODAY Sports

LARAMIE, Wyo. — Watch Larry Nance Jr. amble around the basketball court and it looks as if success was preordained.

The Wyoming senior not only possesses strong bloodlines but also shares the name of his father, Larry Nance Sr., the former 13-year-NBA veteran who dazzled fans with almost freakish athletic ability. The 6-foot-8 Nance Jr. displays that attribute as well as a striking number of his dad's on-court mannerisms.

But what few outside this high-elevation campus know is that the preseason Mountain West Conference player of the year can compete at the college level only because of a medical diagnosis during his sophomore year of high school that changed his life.

Few know that every seven weeks he receives an infusion of the medication Remicade for two hours to enable him to have the energy to play basketball. Barring dramatic medical advancements, he will receive these infusions for the rest of his life to treat Crohn's Disease, a serious and chronic inflammation of the digestive tract that can cause abdominal pain, cramping, among more serious digestive issues.

"That's not an easy process he went through," Nance Sr. said. "He went through some serious adversity. And he has come out really strong."

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After playing soccer until eighth grade, Nance Jr. decided to choose one sport and felt it would be odd for a Nance to focus on anything other than basketball. But he was short on skill, motivation and energy. He was a backup on his freshman high school team. As a sophomore, he was relegated to a backup shooting guard role on the jayvee team.

"The only reason I was on jayvee was because I wasn't a freshman anymore," he said. "I was very, very bad."

Nance Jr. remembers being slow and averse to contact. A self-described average shooter, he was content staying in the corner tossing up three-pointers. He couldn't handle the ball and had no interest playing point guard.

Nance Jr. couldn't help but wonder why he seemed to be the only person in his family who wouldn't grow. His sister was 6-5, his mom 6-2 and his dad 6-10. Nance Jr. recalls his driver's license listing him as 6-feet and 130 pounds.

On and off the court, Nance Jr. felt increasingly lethargic. He couldn't gain any weight. And his stomach continued to gnaw at him. The pain had grown progressively worse since the seventh grade. At times, it hurt to eat.

His competitive edge and overall energy became virtually nonexistent. When a friend asked Nance Jr. to play in a tournament, he wound up just walking up and down the court. At home, he would sit in a recliner with a hoodie on and not want to move. He recalled coming home from school at 3 p.m. and often sleeping until 7.

"I just thought he might be lazy," Nance Sr. said. "Maybe basketball wasn't fun for him."

His mom, Jaynee Nance, suspected a possible iron deficiency. Medical tests led 30 minutes down the road from the Nances' home to the Cleveland Clinic, which is renown in its treatment of Crohn's. The examination revealed that Nance Jr. wasn't lazy.

He had Crohn's Disease. He was filled with ulcers.

"We were so guilty after we found out what was wrong," Jaynee Nance said.

Doctors told the family that Crohn's stunts one's growth. If the growth plates are still open, he could catch up growth-wise. If the plates were closing, then he'd be unlikely to grow anymore.

The family faced a choice with medicine. Steroids would enable Nance Jr. to manage the illness but not necessary excel in spite of it. Another option would be the infusion of the expensive medication called Remicade every few weeks.

After the first infusion of Remicade, Nance Jr. started growing, and kept growing. He remembers growing nearly an inch in the first two weeks. What's more, 50 percent of the ulcers were gone in the first week.

"He was a new person with the infusion," Jaynee Nance said. "An amazing turnaround."

Nance Jr. said he gained 12 pounds during the first two weeks. During the next 14 months, he grew seven inches.

"It was a miracle for me," Nance Jr. said. "It completely flipped the script on everything."

The growth spurt yielded the "worst pain ever," Nance Jr. said. It felt like constant migraines in his knees, constant aching and throbbing. He didn't grow proportionally, and he felt awkward his entire junior year and some of his senior year. He was 75 percent arms and legs. He said he looked like a shorter version of Kevin Durant, "except without the dribbling, jump shot or any of the skill."

But he welcomed the pain. He wasn't the only Nance who wouldn't grow anymore.

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Nance Jr. played AAU only before entering his senior year. College prospects are typically awarded stars by recruiting sites based upon their perceived talent. He was not even on a list, he said, even with his surname sure to garner attention.

Wyoming coach Larry Shyatt, meantime, had known Nance Sr. because when Shyatt had been the head coach at Clemson he invited Nance Sr. and other former Tigers standouts to campus for a function. After taking the Wyoming job, he called Nance Sr. and said, "I understand Junior is pretty good. Can I fly in for a home visit?"

During a three-hour visit at their home, Shyatt remembers the younger and elder Nance showing interest. Jaynee Nance, however, knew how far Wyoming was from home.

The distance didn't deter her son. Ten days later Nance Jr. called Shyatt and said he was coming.

Nance Jr. wound up visiting with future teammate Jack Bentz. He knew nothing about Wyoming except for remembering a SportsCenter highlight a few years earlier. During the visit, the weather changed from 60 degrees to snow at night.

"I went from the skinniest, worst basketball player you could ever imagine coming from my family," Nance Jr. said, "to the starting high school center, a Division I recruit and it kept going."

Now Nance Jr. is averaging 16.2 points and 7 rebounds for Wyoming, which has a 16-3 record. Shyatt and assistant Allen Edwards believe Nance Jr. has pro potential because of his evolving offensive game and exemplary defensive instincts. But there's something else that distinguishes Nance Jr. most in Shyatt's eyes.

"Any basketball story echoes in a thimble compared to what this family is all about," Shyatt said. "Not poisoned by the AAU and the shoe companies and the street runners and the agents. Like a piece of clay that could be molded, you just don't have those guys out there anymore. He has a chance."

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Nance Jr. knows he has a chance at an NBA career because of the diagnosis as a high school sophomore that changed his life. A person who once endured pain to eat now has a virtually insatiable appetite, gobbling down two Burger King Whoppers for a mere snack.

He used to watch grainy video from 1984, when his dad's performance in the NBA All-Star Game Slam Dunk Contest left the younger Nance slack-jawed. Now, all the dunks Nance Sr. performed, "Larry can do them so easily," said Nance Sr., who has made three 20-hour drives from the Cleveland area to Wyoming during his son's career. "I don't even know how I won with that crap. He makes it look so easy."

After he was diagnosed with Crohn's, Nance Jr. researched other athletes who have excelled while dealing with the illness. He immediately became a huge fan of David Garrard, the then-Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback who played 12 years in the NFL and who was diagnosed with Crohn's in 2004.

Nance Jr. bought Garrard's jersey and adopted the Jaguars as his favorite team. He one day wants to meet Garrard and talk about his foundation. Garrard has served as a shining example of possibility.

"You can do anything with this disease," Jaynee Nance said. Garrard's story "was an inspiration to Larry. There's no reason why he can't be that same inspiration to someone now."

LARRY NANCE JR.'S HIGH-FLYING MOVES