A Boston child with contagious joie de vivre and virtuous ambition, Terrence Clarke was one of those prospects destined to climb the steps on the evening of the 2021 NBA Draft to shake hands with Adam Silver. But a few months earlier, on an April afternoon, the 19-year-old youngster suddenly lost his life on a Los Angeles road. A terrible tragedy that has truly marked the Boston basketball community. And for good reason, Terrence not only represented one of the greatest hopes to come out of Beantown for many, many years, but he also intended to become a real standard-bearer for his city of hearts. Story.
21st Nov, 2021. Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and other Celtics players hang out inside the BCYF Vine Street Community Center, located on Dudley Street in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. It was in this gym that Terrence Clarke fell in love with the orange ball and truly began his ascent. And it is in this same gymnasium – renovated and renamed in his honor – that a poignant tribute is paid to him after the horrible tragedy of April 22, the day Terrence crashed at the wheel of his Genesis GV80 after running a red light at full speed. In the middle of the floor, the logo inscribed on the ground now takes the form of a blue heart, with the inscription TC5 and a basketball inside it. A banner is also hung in his honor and there is also a memorial at the entrance to the center. Jaylen Brown takes the time to say a few words at the microphone, her voice necessarily a little shaky. “Terrence is one of us, we will continue to honor his name and he will live forever” declares the Celtics All-Star, in front of dozens of kids and Clarke’s family, but also Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and local community leaders. All are there to participate in this ceremony, proof of the place that Terrence had taken in Beantown and the many hopes that were placed in him to represent the city in the best possible way.
Terrence Clarke’s story is the story of a talented kid who wanted to become a true source of inspiration for the next generation made in Boston. Born in September 2001, TC grew up in the Roxbury district, considered “the heart of black culture” in the city. It was while watching the old NBA Finals between Larry Bird’s Celtics and Magic Johnson’s Lakers that he began to show a real interest in basketball. And then it was Rajon Rondo’s exploits alongside Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett that truly inspired him to follow the path of the orange ball. A path that led him first to Rivers School in Weston, Massachusetts, then to Brewster Academy (New Hampshire), which is nationally renowned for its elite basketball program. Winner at heart, endowed with very serious athletic qualities with his 2m01, with talent in his hands, Terrence truly begins to make a name for himself and becomes that five-star hope that his hometown has long been waiting for.
“Boston is a great city. I really want to do this for myself, but also for my community because Boston has never really been on the map. Nobody says, ‘Oh, the best [jeunes] basketball players come from Boston’. I want to be the person who changes that. »
— Terrence Clarke in September 2019, via boston.com
If Boston has the most successful NBA franchise in history (tied with the Lakers), if Boston has seen countless legends in the green jersey of the Celtics, Beantown is paradoxically not known for being a breeding ground for young talent as can be in the Eastern States Chicago, Washington DC and of course New York City. Perhaps the biggest name associated with the Massachusetts town is former Knicks center Patrick Ewing, who attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in the late 1970s and early 1970s. 1980. But Patoche was not born in Boston and then Cambridge is located on the other side of the Charles River which separates the two cities. For Terrence Clarke, local role models are Wayne Selden Jr., Jalen Adams and Shabazz Napier, also Roxbury natives who later turned professional. Not phew you will agree. Because if these guys have all succeeded in making basketball their livelihood, none manages to win in the NBA to send dreams. The first two are not drafted and decide to make a career abroad, while the last – double NCAA and MOP champion in 2014 with UConn – goes from franchise to franchise despite his fine university exploits.
All that to say that Boston, this city that truly breathes basketball, perhaps needs a standard bearer more than ever. And Terrence seems to be the Chosen One, he who is considered the best high school student in Massachusetts and one of the best in the whole country in his age group. What scare him? Not at all. Quite the contrary, Clarke seems to embrace this responsibility. “I want to be that guy for everyone in the city” he declares with the passion that characterizes him, a very symbolic phrase that will later be inscribed on the margins of the land located inside the Vine Street Community Center, following the tragedy of April 2021. Trying to climb the most high as possible to inspire youngsters, such is the mission that TC has set itself.
“One of the main reasons I play basketball is for young people. As a kid from Boston, we never really had someone come out of Boston to do it. [réaliser une grande carrière NBA pour inspirer la nouvelle génération, ndlr.]. I want to be the first to do this for the city, for young people, to be a source of inspiration. I am like this. I’m from Boston, I was born and raised here. It’s my city, I love this city, it’s my home, I want to do everything for it. »
It is in this very honorable but necessarily perilous mission that Terrence Clarke befriends those who represent Boston on the national and international scene, namely Celtics All-Stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Having already developed some relationships with several NBA players (Donovan Mitchell in particular, also passed by the Brewster Academy) through the various basketball camps in which he was able to participate, TC is getting closer to the Jay Brothers during his high school years. He contacts Jaylen via Instagram hoping that the latter does not follow his private message. Terrence recognizes himself in Brown’s athletic and spectacular play, and working with the Celtics winger would clearly be a springboard for him. So why not give it a shot? After all there is nothing to lose. Not only does Jaylen respond to him, but he takes him under his wing, seduced by Clarke’s ambition. This is the beginning of a real big brother – little brother relationship between the two. Brown gives him valuable advice both to develop his skills and to grow as a person. Terrence wears clothes from the 7uice brand (created by Jaylen Brown) and often squats in Jaylen’s house. And the latter offers him several times tickets to subdue the Celtics at TD Garden.
“Terrence and I had a unique relationship. He was the little brother I never had. He was always at home, going through my closet, playing video games. I was like, ‘You don’t have class? What are you doing here?’ He was still hanging out there. »
– Jaylen Brown
A little brother for Jaylen, but also for Jayson Tatum. JT and TC meet for the first time after the former’s rookie season and the two get to know each other more and more over the next three years. They train several times together, while exchanging a lot on the phone. Clarke even has the privilege of being invited to Tatum’s birthday party.
Clearly, the Jay Brothers take their role as mentors to heart. And this support is priceless for Clarke, especially when he goes through some difficulties like during his freshman season at the famous University of Kentucky. Victim of an ankle injury and playing for a Wildcats team which is carrying out one of the worst campaigns in its glorious history, Terrence is having a complicated university experience, especially in a COVID climate which is not there for fix things. Enough to bring down his rating when he was considered a lottery pick when he left high school. However, that didn’t stop him from entering the NBA Draft with stars in his eyes and dreams in his head. This is how he signed with the Klutch Sports agency of Rich Paul and LeBron James on April 21, 2021.
The rest, unfortunately, we know.
“He was a great kid. He was very talented, but above all he always had a smile on his face, he was always in a good mood. It is a painful loss for everyone. »
– Jayson Tatum
Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker and even Brad Stevens all share their pain at a press conference after the Celtics’ meeting against the Suns on April 22, 2021, the date of the terrible tragedy. A few days later, a tribute is paid to Terrence Clarke on the giant screen of the TD Garden, lights off and before a minute of silence obviously filled with emotion. And on July 29, during the big night of the Draft where Terrence should have fulfilled his dream, it was the NBA that magnificently honored his memory at the Barclays Center in New York.
With the next pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, the NBA selects Terrence Clarke from the University of Kentucky. # LLTC5 ???????? pic.twitter.com/fJYvShrgK3
— NBA (@NBA) July 30, 2021
So many tributes that show that TC was not really a youngster like the others. But where his loss is probably felt more than anywhere else is in the neighborhood of Roxbury where it all started for him. For it was in Roxbury – notably inside the BCYF Vine Street Community Center – that he in turn became an inspiration to the next generation. His bright personality, his work ethic, his willingness to represent his people and help the kids in his community have made Terrence Clarke a model to follow for them, perhaps more than the big NBA stars who certainly make people dream but who do not have the same closeness. Terrence was both just a kid from Roxbury and the hope of all Boston. He was both a young man of 19 who didn’t take himself too seriously but who at the same time worked hard to go as high as possible. And in the end, he is the one who both left too soon but still accomplished his mission.
“The impact that kid had on the younger guys, the younger generation, was incredible. I think it’s created a new generation of hungry young basketball players in Boston, and they’re all chanting the name T. Clarke.
They play for him. It’s terrible, but his legacy will live on. »
– Brandon Ball, former coach of Terrence Clarke
Terrence Clarke was the pride of Boston. He wanted to represent the city wherever he went, with the ultimate goal of inspiring all young basketball players from Beantown. Unfortunately, TC was mowed down mid-flight on that terrible April 22, 2021, leaving behind a lot of regret and sadness. But above all, he leaves a real legacy that is destined to last. Rest In Peace, Terrence.
Text sources: on3.com, CBS BostonWCVB Channel 5 Boston, boston.comSLAM, NESN, Boston Globe, The Athletic, masslive.com