Overcoming Obstacles

Injuries, vagabond lifestyle shaped Brian Crowe into Cowboys’ team leader
MEEKER — He may have moved from house to house because of his family situation, but Brian Crowe felt right at home on the basketball court.
Crowe, a senior on this season’s Cowboy team that finished third at state, has lived with different local families since deciding to stay in Meeker and finish high school after his dad moved away.
“He has sort of bounced around over the last two years,” said Coach Klark Kindler. “And families have been taking him in. He’s lived with four or five different families.”
Crowe, a 5-8 point guard, led the 25-2 Cowboys in scoring this season and earned a spot in the all-state game.
“When we needed someone to make a shot for us, he hit a lot of big shots,” Kindler said. “We’ll miss his leadership.”
Crowe came to Meeker in the spring of his eighth-grade year, Kindler said. He played varsity basketball all four years of high school.
“He missed six weeks of his sophomore year because of a bus accident,” Kindler said. “Two years ago, we were coming back from a tournament, and a car veered into our lane and we were hit head-on. He was the only one who was hurt bad. Everyone else kind of walked away. We had kids who needed stitches, a couple of minor things like that, but he was the one who got hurt bad. He had to have some glass taken out of his head. He tore a bunch of tendons in his fingers, and he broke his shoulder, I think.”
With his home situation as well as the injuries he suffered in the bus accident, Crowe has had his share of challenges. That’s why he found solace on the court, Kindler said.
“I think basketball was kind of a refuge for him,” Kindler said. “It was the kind of thing that kept him in school and kept him going.”
Crowe — and the way the community rallied behind him — proves there’s more to the game than wins and losses, Kindler said.
“In high school basketball, it’s the relationships you develop,” Kindler said. “It’s the lessons you learn, how to deal with disappointment, how to deal with success.”