Former professional basketball player and LBCC standout Schea Cotton spoke with a group of students about his playing career and the tough lessons he learned from it on Tuesday February, 28 at CSULB.
The movie screening of Cotton’s film “Manchild: The Schea Cotton Story” and subsequent Q &A session was one of the final events of LBCC’s Black Heritage Month Celebration.
Students from both LBCC and CSULB flocked to the Beach Auditorium on the university’s campus to learn about Cotton’s life as a professional basketball player and the heartbreak and lessons learned from not reaching his ultimate dream of joining the NBA.
Cotton was a former LBCC student who led the men’s basketball team to a 33-3 record after averaging 25.8 points and 5.8 rebounds and was named a Junior College All-American. He encourages athletes and students at LBCC to continue despite the setbacks that occur.
The film, produced by Cotton’s production company, highlighted the beginning of his career as a middle school basketball prodigy who quickly became a household name due to his size and stellar athletic ability. It then talks about the mental and emotional hardships Cotton faced once that future was taken away from him.
Though he was at one point the No. 2 high school prospect in the nation and committed to UCLA to play basketball, an issue regarding the NCAA’s policy of SAT testing meant he was ineligible to play at the collegiate level.
While Cotton was eventually able to play at the University of Alabama for a year and internationally in countries such as France, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic, he was never able to work his way up to the NBA.
At the Q & A session after the film, Cotton described how helpless he felt in the midst of his dreams unfolding.
“I was numb, I was confused, I was torn up. I was dying inside,” said Cotton.
In the film, Cotton detailed a time where he tried to take his own life after he was denied eligibility for UCLA, but his girlfriend at the time changed his mind.
Still, he dealt with feelings of resentment and hopelessness for being denied his goal.
“Going through trials in your life doesn’t mean you’re not gonna get to your goal, it means you’re getting closer to it,” said Cotton.
His vulnerability about the situation opened a conversation about men’s mental health and how it’s important to seek help.
“In the last 10 years I’ve started to unfold my own happiness little by little but I’m still working through my challenges today,” Cotton said.
Students in the audience were able to ask Cotton about his career overseas, playing against NBA players such as Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant, and his experience as a black man living in different countries.
“Honestly, I experienced more racism here than in other countries I played for,” Cotton said.
Nowadays, aside from being the CEO of his own production company and speaking about his story at schools around the country, Cotton spends his time educating young basketball players on the importance of finding a path to success away from basketball and not allowing it to shape their entire life.
“What will you do when your talent is taken off the table and you have to recreate yourself?,” Cotton said.
Towards the end of the event, CSULB Men’s basketball coach Dan Monson spoke about how his team started this past season 3-9 before Cotton volunteered to go in and offer support to the team.
“We ended up winning 11 straight games and winning the championship. So I would be remiss to sit back here and not personally thank him,” said Monson.
Many students took their time to thank Cotton for sharing his story, including CSULB student Tania Morales.
“Recently with midterms it’s been kind of hard for me in regards to feeling down, not sure how my scores are gonna result so I kinda wanted motivation in order to help me with future exams and to motivate me to not give up,” Morales said.
