In 2015, Josh Speidel, an Indiana high school basketball star, was involved in a car accident that resulted in a coma and a traumatic brain injury.
On Tuesday, the Vermont recruit started on Senior Night and scored the first bucket of his collegiate career, a lay-up that brought the house down.
“It was a really emotional night,” Vermont coach John Becker said on The DA Show. “The days leading up, when it was reality that this was going to happen – it just seemed impossible. It was nothing short of a miracle that he was just able to go out on the court and make a lay-up. This community has embraced all of our players, but certainly Josh. It was an opportunity for our fans to show their appreciation and for Josh to say thank you.”
Speidel scored the first two points of the game for Vermont and received a standing ovation.
“It was a special, special night and really emotional just thinking back to a couple days after the accident,” Becker said. “Going out to visit him and being in a coma and going back out a couple months later and him in a rehabilitation hospital where he had to learn how to talk and use his body again – it was just so weak from five weeks in a coma. And just seeing him every day work on the sidelines when we practiced, and then to finally get to this point, it just didn’t seem possible. Through Josh’s hard work and determination, it did happen – and it was really, really cool.”
After the accident, Becker honored his scholarship commitment to Speidel, a former star at Columbus North High School.
For Becker, it wasn’t a tough decision.
“No, no,” he said. “When I went out there a couple days after the accident, we reassured the family that there would be a scholarship waiting for him whenever he got healthy enough to come out to school. It took a year for him to finally make it out to campus, but he did. There’s an amazing network of people that developed at Vermont to support him. Academic people. Athletic trainers. Strength and conditioning coaches. Full-time tutors. It was just amazing to see. No one really knew how much support he would need or what support he would need. It kind of just organically grew as his needs changed. There’s an incredible amount of love and support from people here at Vermont who should be recognized, and Josh’s sheer determination was – and is – an inspiration for all of us.”
When Becker recruited Speidel, it wasn’t for depth. It was for a star player. A program-leading player.
“I thought he was the best player we had ever signed until that point,” Becker said. “He’s 6-8, big, strong, skilled kid. Played in Indiana Elite for a team that won the Adidas Gauntlet that summer. Dylan Windler, who’s now in the NBA, backed him up on that team. Josh started, and Dylan came off the bench. Kyle Guy was on that team. He was really, really good. The night before the accident, he had 33 points and 18 rebounds and was seriously in the discussion for Mr. Basketball in the state of Indiana.”
Senior forward Anthony Lamb leads Vermont (24-7) in scoring (16.5 points per game), rebounds (7.3) and blocks (1.3). Lamb and Speidel would have been quite the low-post duo.
“Who knows if we would have gotten Anthony if Josh came,” Becker said. “But God, to think if they both had come, sometimes you play the what if game. [Speidel] was really, really good.”