As Legend girls basketball chases history, they want everyone to remember that “you are enough.”
That’s the mantra of the Cayson Pearson Memorial Scholarship Fund, started in honor of a former Green Mountain basketball player who died by suicide in January. The Titans decided to use their publicity from advancing to the Denver Coliseum, where they are set to play Regis Jesuit in the Final Four, to promote the fund’s cause and message.
“These girls wanted to take advantage of their minute in the spotlight, and do something bigger than themselves,” explained Legend head coach Darren Pitzner, who used to coach at Green Mountain. “The money raised by that foundation is going to go to future young ballers, future college athletes. I’m proud of our girls to be able to recognize what it means to support that important cause (through social media and word-of-mouth).
“Cayson was such a dedicated baller, so it’s important for all the ballers here and everywhere to understand that their coaches love them, their family loves them, they have so much to live for. Anything you’re going through, people are here for kids and to talk them through it. … We want kids to know how important they are.”
Pearson, a 2022 graduate of Green Mountain, died on Jan. 5. It marked a tragic end to Pearson’s decade-long battle with depression. In his family’s grief, they wanted to create an organization that would honor his legacy in the years to come.
The Cayson Pearson Memorial Scholarship Fund will give out five scholarships annually, with the first quintet to be awarded in the spring. Three of them are for $500 for a local middle school or high school player to help offset the cost of club basketball. The other two, for $2,500 apiece, are for a local high school senior headed to play college basketball.
The family is holding a fundraising event April 6 — which would’ve been Pearson’s 20th birthday — with a fun run and knockout tournament at Green Mountain. Applications for the scholarships are ongoing.
Pitzner is a friend and colleague of Pearson’s mom, Jacquie Pearson, who is the president and founder of JP Sports, which has run youth basketball leagues and tournaments around the Denver metro since 2001. Pitzner works as a referee assignor for JP Sports and thought putting the scholarship fund at the forefront of Legend’s postseason run would be a fitting way to help the family.
Jacquie Pearson, who is still sorting through her grief, called the Titans’ support “heartwarming, and really touching.”
“When Cayson was in his good space, he was the most amazing kid you could meet,” Jacquie Pearson said. “His smile, his light lifted everyone up. But then he would come home and just go to this dark place. He wrote a poem we didn’t find until after he passed about the night, and how he hated the night and having to fight his demons at night.”
Depression and suicide remain a major problem in America as the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-14 and 20-34, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To create awareness, all of the Titans’ posts on social media mentioning their playoff run have also been accompanied by mention of the Cayson Pearson Memorial Scholarship Fund.
“Pitzner makes us focus on the fact that everything we’re doing is for a bigger cause,” Legend junior guard Ava Gavi said. “Winning (our first league title), that’s for everybody at the school. We have to stay humble, we have to play for others. That’s what (the promotion of Cayson’s foundation) is all about. Everything we do is about more than ourselves and the game.”
With Cayson’s story a motivator, Legend (24-2) is also focused on shoring up details on the court ahead of the Final Four rematch against Regis Jesuit, which the Titans beat 68-53 in the Continental League championship on Feb. 16. The Raiders feature one of the top players in the Class of 2024 in senior Hana Belibi, a Harvard commit who is averaging 17.8 points.
Legend’s only true loss this season came in a 52-42 defeat to top-seeded Cherokee Trail on Jan. 8. Its other loss was a win-turned-forfeit due to a player eligibility issue. Cherokee Trail is on the other side of the Class 6A bracket and faces Valor Christian in the Final Four.
“We came out scared in that game,” junior guard Maley Wilhelm said. “But afterwards, we knew what we needed to do to develop into a better team, and not play so scared (in those big moments) to play and beat a great team.”
After blowing out teams all season — the Titans crushed their first 10 opponents up until the loss to the Cougars, and their wins have come with a 38-point average margin — Legend believes its appearance in the Final Four is evidence they were the real deal all along.
They have the leadership in senior captain Katie Lamb. They have dynamic guard play in Wilhelm, Gavi and junior Grace Stanley. They have a dual-threat in the paint in junior forwards Mason Borcherding and Aubrey Cook. They have suffocating, full-court defense that is capable of breaking an opponent’s will.
And now, they have an opportunity in front of them to win the school’s first basketball state title.
“We heard so much talk on Twitter all season that we didn’t play good enough competition,” Borcherding said. “But we couldn’t do anything about our schedule. And yeah, we were blowing out teams.
“But us being here, and winning in (the Great 8 over Horizon), proves that we’re supposed to be here. Hearing all that talk about us not being worthy to be here (deep in the tournament), we’ve proved that wrong.”
