Marcus Hayes: Khaliq Gant, Cornell's catalyst and inspiration

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - It took a broken neck of a selfless man to get Cornell here.

Khaliq Gant dislocated two vertebrae when he dived for a loose ball during a basketball drill on Jan. 24, 2006. He awakened after 7 hours of surgery paralyzed from the neck down, bone from his hip having fused his spinal cord, a titanium plate stabilizing his neck, facing a possible lifetime in a wheelchair.

One dive, one collision with teammates, closed the door on Gant's career.

That accident opened the door for Cornell's greatest success, which continues tonight for the 12th-seeded Big Red in the Sweet 16 against No. 1 seed Kentucky.

Gant spent a week in intensive care at a regional hospital near Ithaca, where a nurse named Wanda Foote ran the unit. Wanda had a skinny, clumsy, 7-foot son named Jeff, who was ready to leave a disintegrating St. Bonaventure program.

Wanda, impressed with Gant's stream of visitors, told Jeff to try Cornell. Jeff transferred. There, he began to blossom from a walk-on at St. Bonaventure into an NBA prospect.

Gant, meanwhile, went home to Atlanta to spend 6 months in rehabilitation at the renowned Shepherd Center. There, he relearned how to feed himself and vowed that he would walk again.

Cornell coach Steve Donahue has said Foote's progress is the reason for Cornell's best team. There would be no Foote, Gant acknowledged, without his own tragic price.

"Me getting injured had some serious negative effects, obviously, but, on the whole, it was a positive situation," Gant said. "I learned a lot about myself through the injury. Not being able to walk, and move, for almost half a year was an incredible learning experience. It really taught me a lot about myself, my family, my teammates. And I think, obviously, the result of Foote being there is something that is another positive. Life works out that way."

Really, Gant never left the team.

When he returned to school that August, against all odds, he walked onto campus . . . and saw a new team blossoming before his eyes. That team won the Ivy League title in 2008, its first in 20 years. It won again last year, when Gant would have been a senior. It won again this year, and, thanks to Foote - 65 pounds heavier, immeasurably more confident, a deft passer and a proficient scorer - won the first two NCAA Tournament games in its history.

"Since that day it happened, our record is ridiculous. Jeff Foote has helped us greatly," Donahue said. "And, Khaliq Gant would never regret anything that happened."

Incredibly, Gant, a 6-3 guard, never coveted their success.

"I haven't thought that, 'Oh, if I wasn't injured, where would I be now?' " Gant said.

Cruelly, he and Cornell might never have done what it did without his absence.

Yes, it is an unusually gifted team for an Ivy club. Ryan Wittman, a 6-7 shooter, has NBA genes. And Gant recalls the commotion at Cornell when springy point guard Louis Dale visited the school:

"There was a buzz about this kid who could do a 360-dunk, who was 5-11," Gant said. "There was a palpable change when those guys came onto campus."

But there was no Foote. An unrecruited late bloomer in high school, Foote never was part of Donahue's master plan, or anyone else's. Once Foote fell into Donahue's lap, the coach developed him masterfully.

Gant could only watch, lifting light weights as his teammates moved heavy iron, pedaling a stationary bike on the sidelines at practice while they sprinted themselves to exhaustion, never forlorn, always hopeful - and always a living example of resilience.

"He's been a tremendous inspiration for the whole team," Foote said. "The tragedy that happened to him - you draw a lot of inspiration from him, working so hard, just to get back to where he was."

He went to practices. He traveled with the team. He lived among them last season, when they shared adjacent apartments. He could have graduated in December 2008 with his communications major and business minor, but he stayed an extra semester because the team - his team - wasn't done yet.

Gant took his turn at midcourt on Senior Night last March. The din was so loud he couldn't hear his name announced. A banner proclaimed "KHALIQ, HERO FOR ALL TIME."

He remains a part of the team. Now a wine consultant on Long Island for E.&J. Gallo Winery, Gant visited Ithaca four times this year. He slept on the couch at the guys' new house.

"I feel very much a part of this success," Gant said. "I feel like a proud father to all these guys."

No one more so than Foote, with whom he still is in contact daily. Texting and talking, they fire quips from their favorite movie, "Liar, Liar," rip on players and Donahue and, you know, all the things 20-something jocks everywhere rip on.

"I have a special connection with him," Gant said. A shattering serendipity brought them together, but they might have found each other, anyway. "That probably had something to do with it, but he's a great kid. He's very personable, a funny guy. I think we just clicked as friends."

Still, Gant is human, right? He walks, but with a limp. He still can't run. He might never again jump.

He will attend tonight's game, and Saturday's, too, if Cornell wins. He won't go into the locker room: "Those guys have enough distractions. Those guys don't need any more motivation than they already have."

Maybe . . . but maybe it hurts too much to go to the locker room. He's human, right? He might have been an active, vibrant part of something very special, and that's got to hurt.

Right?

He says he has been an active, vibrant part.

"There are no feelings of jealousy. If anything, I'm very happy. Just thinking about the game the other day, I was tearing up, thinking about how proud I am. Definitely, no jealousy. Just happiness," Gant said.

"I dealt with the fact that my career was over a long time ago. Four years ago, when I was injured, things changed a lot for me. So, I've moved past that. Obviously, things worked out very nicely for everyone, really."

Obviously. And incredibly. *

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