Bad news tends to follow Davidson’s KiShawn Pritchett. He always overcomes — with purpose

In about three months, KiShawn Pritchett will fly to Africa to start a new job working with impoverished children in Rwanda.

It’s an exciting time for Pritchett, a former Davidson basketball standout who graduated in May.

But Pritchett is understandably cautious about the journey on which he’s about to embark. With the coronavirus pandemic still looming, he knows plans can change from events entirely out of his control — and not always for the better. That’s something he’s become used to.

Pritchett’s time at Davidson was filled with triumph and tragedy. A highly recruited star coming out of Mooresville’s Lake Norman High, Pritchett dealt with chronic knee problems during his career, missing two entire seasons.

When he did play, Pritchett, a 6-foot-6 guard, was among coach Bob McKillop’s more dependable and solid players on Wildcats teams that played in the postseason twice.

Away from school and the basketball court, Pritchett faced personal tragedy that sent him into a depression during his senior season. And as Pritchett prepares to leave for Rwanda, he is now dealing with another even more serious health issue — this one with his father — this summer.

“My life’s been a whirlwind in the past year,” Pritchett said. “It’s like, whenever I hear good news, more bad news is coming.”

He’s prepared for whatever happens. As Pritchett’s mother Shawnea McMullen told The Observer:

“That’s life,” McMullen said. “You’ve got to roll with the punches and keep on moving.”

Persevering through tragedy, injury

Pritchett felt the first twinge of pain in his left knee during a preseason practice at Lake Norman High in 2014.

Pritchett was coming off a successful junior high school season, leading Lake Norman to a berth in the state 4A championship game. He had two primary goals for his senior year: to help Lake Norman win its first state title and to become the school’s all-time leading scorer.

In August, Pritchett had also committed to Davidson, just a few miles from his Mooresville home.

But there was something unsettling about the pain he was feeling in his knee during that preseason workout.

“That was a little bit unexpected, because what I was feeling wasn’t caused by a particular event,” Pritchett told The Observer in 2016. “It was nothing specific.”

After playing the first two games of his senior season, Pritchett had arthroscopic surgery for what doctors thought was a meniscus tear. But Pritchett was discovered to have osteochondritis dissecans, a rare disorder that causes cracks in the knee joint. Instead of merely repairing the meniscus, microfracture surgery was required.

Pritchett didn’t play another game for Lake Norman. After spending the following summer rehabbing at Davidson, he still hadn’t recovered enough to play during his true freshman season in college.

Finally, in November 2016, Pritchett — then a redshirt freshman — made his Davidson debut, scoring six points in a victory against Appalachian State. Pritchett broke into the starting lineup later that year, a spot he would not relinquish over the following two seasons.

A physical presence in Davidson’s guard-dominated lineup, Pritchett always played a key role in McKillop’s system, especially on defense and as a facilitator on offense. For his senior year of 2019-20, he was one of five starters returning in what was one of the more eagerly anticipated Wildcats seasons in recent memory.

The pain in Pritchett’s knee, however, had never left.

“There were times during my junior season where I would not be able to walk after games, I was in so much pain,” Pritchett said. “Leading into my senior year, I tried to do little things to stay in shape, but I just couldn’t.”

Pritchett had a fourth surgery on his knee in early November, just as the season was beginning. He hoped that would be enough to get him back on the court.

Other events in Pritchett’s life were making a return to basketball seem less and less likely.

In September — one day after Pritchett celebrated his 22nd birthday — an older cousin of Pritchett’s was found dead in Mooresville.

In December, another cousin — this a childhood best friend from Pritchett’s original hometown of Suisun City, California — was murdered.

“I was dealing with a lot of emotional things,” Pritchett said. “That really hit me and affected me. I had a hard time being around people, and I sunk into a dark place. I tried not to express it outwardly. That’s why people didn’t see me as much.”

As the season progressed, McKillop said privately he didn’t expect Pritchett to return — that what he was going through emotionally from the deaths of his cousins and physically with his knee was going to be too much to overcome.

“I wish I could have been there with my team on the bench the rest of the season,” Pritchett said. “I just wasn’t up to it.”

Said McKillop: “He was always a part of us, even though he wasn’t in uniform. It just became so painful for him for him to get around. He couldn’t get out and play. He was depressed about it.”

Pritchett saw a therapist who helped him start to work through the emotional pain he was feeling.

“That really helped me express my emotions and get my feelings out about what was happening in my life,” Pritchett said. “And the love of the people I have around me also helped.”

Pritchett did make one final appearance in Belk Arena, taking part in the Wildcats’ senior night. The cheers for Pritchett when he was introduced were long and loud.

Following mom’s ‘servitude attitude’

When it became apparent that his basketball days were over, Pritchett (who had always dreamed of playing in the NBA) began to seriously consider how to use the degree in sociology he would soon receive from Davidson.

Pritchett grew up the youngest of seven children. His family moved from Suisun City to Mooresville when he was in seventh grade. He credits the Christian upbringing he received from his mom for his sense of compassion and duty.

“That comes from me, yes,” McMullen said. “I’ve always had a servitude attitude toward people. I’ll help anybody. If I see somebody walking down the street with a bag of groceries, I’ll help them carry them. If somebody in the grocery line needs help paying, I will help you pay.”

Said Pritchett: “I’ve always been a mediator, always been really sensitive. I was always made fun of for being a crybaby. But that’s what led me into being a sociology major: the way things work in our country and the history of why they work.”

In one of his classes, Pritchett was struck by a Harvard study released in 2014 that ranked Charlotte last among 50 major American cities in giving impoverished children a chance to move into affluence as adults.

“That really got me to thinking about what could be done about that,” Pritchett said. “I wanted to see if there were any elementary schools in the (Davidson) area that fit the kind of profile that has low-income kids. I wanted to be dealing with literacy. There’s so much importance in literacy. If students don’t have access to texts or books at home, they come to school significantly behind.

“I wanted to create this kind of program, because I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in today without outside intervention, without people helping me get to where I am.”

Pritchett chose Mooresville’s N.B. Mills Elementary as a school that could use some help. N.B. Mills has a student population of 82 percent minorities; 89 percent of the school’s students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Pritchett’s goal was to start a nonprofit organization this summer that would provide a reading program for rising first-graders at N.B. Mills.

Then life stepped in … again.

As his final semester at Davidson was winding down, Pritchett talked with Wildcats athletics director Chris Clunie about possible job opportunities. Clunie, himself a former Wildcats basketball player who returned to Davidson after working for several years overseas in the NBA’s international basketball operation, suggested he contact Shooting Touch, a Boston-based organization that through basketball works with and empowers underserved youth.

Although Pritchett had already accepted a position as a coach and mentor for middle school boys, he applied for a job with Shooting Touch. Pritchett was hired in June and leaves for Rwanda in October. That has put plans for his program at N.B. Mills on hold for at least a year.

As director of basketball operations for Shooting Touch, Pritchett’s sense of service will be put to good use.

“I’ll be coaching, educating, using basketball as a way to get the community together,” Pritchett said. “We’ll help with vaccinations: there’s a lot of healthcare needs in the community. But I’ll be involved with a lot of educating, including about gender-based violence. There’s really a need for that.”

Knowing he’d be overseas for much of the next year, Pritchett planned on spending the summer traveling around the country, including a visit with family in his native Northern California.

But — in another blow — his father, Nikita, was recently diagnosed with single cell prostate cancer. So KiShawn is instead driving to Alabama to be with Nikita when he has surgery later this month.

He’ll remain in Alabama until August, then return to Mooresville to prepare for his 10-month stay in Rwanda.

“We’ve been praying about it a lot and it’s a great opportunity,” McMullen said. “It’s a big adjustment, going into the unknown. There are a lot of butterflies, not knowing what you’re going to come up against.”

Like his mom said, KiShawn Pritchett will keep on moving.

This story was originally published July 5, 2020 at 6:00 AM.