Pitt guard Ishmael Leggett has been vocal about his tight-knit relationship with his father since he arrived at Pitt.
Leggett, now heading into his senior season of college hoops, has been playing basketball since before he was even two years old, in large part due to his father putting the ball in his hands early on.
“Whenever I started walking is really when my pops put a ball in my hand,” Leggett said in an interview for an Alliance 412 video. “I have the videos, it was me and my pops, [I was] probably one and a half, and I had my headband on, I had my matching jersey set, and he would count me down from ten and it was like a game-winner situation…”
Leggett’s father, Detrick, suffered a stroke behind the wheel of the car he was driving to Ishmael’s basketball practice back when he was a freshman in high school. His father crashed into the car in front of them, and was left paralyzed and unable to speak. Detrick now has severe expressive aphasia.
This past season, in the ACC Tournament, Leggett’s father was able to make it to a Pitt game for the first time. He watched his son shine, scoring a season-high 30 points and earning a huge win over Wake Forest. After the game, the two shared an intimate moment, surrounded by the rest of Leggett’s family as well as several Pitt fans.
