These days, Shaheed Medlock ranks among the top defensive specialists in area high school basketball, perhaps in the state. He has already been courted – pardon the pun- by some of the more renowned college programs in the country, having taken unofficial visits thus far to Indiana, Chicago State, Purdue, and Yale. The 6’5” Ware County High School senior can play the 1, 2, and 3 positions adeptly, but it’s his lockdown ability on defense that makes him a commodity on the court.
“You do and you don’t have to have certain types of intelligence to play basketball,” says WCHS head coach Tre Hill. “I think Shaheed can pick up opponents and what they do, and he is kind of crafty in what he does. He can set his defender up. We’ve got an inbound play, and right before the referee gives the guy the ball, Shaheed turns to say something to a teammate and slips in under the basket. He handles the ball well enough to bring it up, and he’s a good enough passer that he can create some things for some other guys.”
Heading into Christmas break, Medlock averaged 8 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals per game. That’s in addition to maintaining a 4.0 grade point average. He was also named MVP of the All-Tourney Team at the Tattnall Square Academy Christmas Tournament in Macon. Medlock will undoubtedly soon take his talents – athletic and academic – to the next level. But it remains to be seen where Medlock will take those talents and by which ones he will ultimately be most remembered.
“Shaheed is an outstanding student, but he is also an outstanding young man,” says WCHS principal Bert Smith. “He makes it a point to speak to administrators with a smile and a handshake each morning when he arrives on campus. He definitely makes a positive impression on the people he is around. Because of his academic achievements and character, I know Shaheed will continue to succeed on and off the basketball court.”
Medlock practices what he preaches on the academic front. He has never brought home a “B” on his high school report card. He also recently completed his second college math class, as well as an honors history course. He is a National Honor Society member and a representative on the WCHS Student Council. So while his defensive prowess might turn heads initially, Medlock’s intellectual prowess is what truly impresses.
“There was a big thing that happened this summer involving academics and athletics: my selection to go to the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University,” says Medlock, the son of James and Lisa Medlock. “We had a business competition, and my team made it to the finals. It’s something where a lot of student-athletes might have just focused on the basketball, academics is the most important thing over athletics. It’s ‘student’ before ‘athlete.’”
“Shaheed put himself in college math and advanced classes; I didn’t tell him to do that,” says James Medlock, Shaheed’s father. “He meets with his counselors on his own and gets his homework done before we ever get home. Shaheed is just a very responsible young man. He is not interested in earrings, tattoos, and sagging pants.”
James Medlock’s own athletic prowess led him to the college gridiron, where the former Waycross High standout lettered all four years as a running back at Purdue University. He eventually settled his family in Chicago, where Shaheed and his brother Sharieff were born. The boys attended Curie High School in the Windy City, where Shaheed played just one season before moving to Ware County.
“We had a great chemistry together,” says the younger Medlock of his sibling. “Sharieff was the scorer, and I was, on defense, always guarding the best guy on the other team. He was the numbers guy, and I was always the guy setting screens and whatnot.”
Sharieff went on to play hoops at Chicago State University before transferring to Florida State College at Jacksonville, where he currently plays. Over the past several years, the younger of the brothers has honed his talents partly through AAU competition and at such showcase events like the John Lucas Camp. Additionally, he has kept company with NBA talents such as Roshown McLeod, Jordan McRae, and Jabari Parker, all of whom have been clients of his dad’s personal security company.
Following in his brother’s footsteps at Chicago State is one option for Shaheed Medlock, or he could go to their dad’s alma mater, Purdue. He has been to each campus, as well as that of Yale. But talk to him long enough and the conversation generally cycles back around to Indiana, and basketball usually isn’t the lead topic.
“Business camp at Indiana gave us a project to see who could create the best plan for a disaster application,” he says. “We didn’t do the computer science part of the app; we came up with the business concept of the app and how it would be marketed.”
Computer science and entrepreneurship each harken as potential majors for Medlock, who has his sights set on developing a social media website. He lists math as his favorite subject because it is a discipline that plays a major role in negotiating. Noteworthy influences have come from Molly Morrison, his “Gator mom”, and Mr. Drew Shealy, his college math teacher. Medlock also credits his coach.
“Coach Hill means a lot to me,” he says. “He is an open-minded coach, not a coach that thinks he knows everything. He is always in the gym putting in effort, putting his team before himself. It’s not just about basketball with Coach Hill; it’s about teaching young men life lessons.”
Gator fans can surely appreciate the fact that those life lessons are not lost on Medlock and his teammates, who have dedicated this season to the memory of Kysheem Hill, a teammate who passed away this past summer.
“Kysheem was always a premier player with a great attitude and a great will to play for his team,” Medlock says. “We wear a KH patch, and we pray before every game. When I give my motivational speeches to the team, we always say we are playing for Kysheem. Playing basketball is just a real competitive and fun game to play because it can get you into college, get you a free education, and you can inspire others younger than you to do the same. You can be a role model to others and teach them what they should be doing: to do things right.”
Academic Athlete/Southeast/January 2016
Shaheed Medlock
Ware County High School
Waycross, Georgia
Story by John DuPont
Photography by Jennifer Carter Johnson
Hardwood CEO
