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Because of his failing eyesight, David Bradds has to use binoculars to watch his son, Belmont star Evan Bradds, play basketball.(Photo: Michael Dann / OVC)

Evan Bradds' career at Belmont has been something that would make any parent beyond proud.

Bradds' throwback style of play has made him something of a modern day phenom who has been among the nation's highest percentage shooters the past three years.

It's been a career a parent wouldn't want to miss and one Bradds' father, David, has thoroughly enjoyed watching.

Even when he barely couldsee it.

David is suffering from failing eyesight. He lost count long ago of the number of surgeries he's had, but he knows that detached retinas in both eyes have robbed him of most of his ability to see at this point.

Evan, who has 1,896 career points and needs 24 to become Belmont's all-time leading scorer,will be back in action at 6 p.m. Wednesday when the Bruins(22-6) visitGeorgia (19-14) in the first round of the NIT.

The last time Evan played, David, 47, had to use binoculars to watch him atMunicipal Auditorium in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament earlier this month.

It's a small arena, but that's the only way David could follow the action.

"I can see people moving aroundout there on the court, but not much more than that," David said. "I can't really make out who the players are."

Evan Bradds is 24 points shy of the Belmont career scoring record.(Photo: File / The Tennessean)

David's eyesight became so poor that he was forced to stop driving a car just before Christmas. And he had been able to drive for onlythree months before that during a stretch in which his eyesight had improved temporarily.

David, who played college basketball at Dayton (1987-91) and helped the Flyers advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament as a junior, isn't looking for any sympathy.

"You know what, there are (soldiers) out there fighting for their lives; I'm doing all right," David said. "I'm going to be OK."

The bottom line is that David, who first started experiencing issues with his eyes two years ago,feels too blessed to complain.

He has a son who is carrying on the family's basketball tradition. David's father and Evan's grandfather, Gary, was an All-American at Ohio State (1961-64) who went on to play in the NBA.

"Evan plays nothing like me," David said. "He plays like my dad. I love watching the way he plays."

Evan is thankful his dad still travels from their home in Jamestown, Ohio, as often as possible for his games.

"Obviously, it means a lot; any time your dad's there it's awesome," said Evan, who is averaging 20.6 points and shooting 63.4 percent from the field.

"He's been (to) a bunch of games even since he started having problems with his eyes," Evan said. "When his eyesight is bad, he always has someone with him,like my cousin who was with him at the OVC tournament;he explains to tell him what's going on."

David hasn't allowed his vision problems to affect his desire to help Evan with his game.

"After the games, he's really good with numbers, so he will look at the stats sheet and see what happened," Evan said. "If we didn't shoot the ball well, he will ask what happened there and then ask me what kind of defense they used and we'll talk about it from there."

The good news is that David underwent cataract surgery last week, which improved his vision.

David hopes to make it to Georgia's Stegeman Coliseum for Wednesday's game.

Reach Mike Organ at morgan@tennessean.com or 615-259-8021 and on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.

NIT

BELMONT(22-6) at GEORGIA (19-14)

When: 6 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Athens, Ga.

Radio: 104.5-FM

More:
As eyesight fails, Belmont star's dad still watches and teaches - The Tennessean

This entry was posted on March 18, 2017 at 3:44 am and is filed under Eye Sight & Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |