LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Damion Lee played in Louisville for just one season — an eventful season, to be sure, but just one season. If it seems like more, it's because the charismatic forward from Baltimore keeps coming back and keeps giving back.
Lee's story, in reality, holds a unique place in Louisville basketball. The one season he played here was a sad tale. Katina Powell came forward with allegations that strippers had been paid by an assistant coach to dance and have sex with recruits during campus visits years before he ever came to town.
The scandal cast a pall over a promising season and eventually led the school to ban itself from the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
Before anyone knew that the tournament would be taken, I remember talking to Lee during the team's preseason trip to Puerto Rico. He was as insightful and articulate as any player I could remember at the school, and, during that trip, the team developed a catchy mantra.
"Who's got my back?" Lee would say, call-and-response style. And his teammates would answer, "I got your back."
"We started it just to do it," Lee said. "Not really for anything. Just the camaraderie. Because something I'm really about is fellowship and community. And the team bought into it."
Damion Lee and Trey Lewis speak at their University of Louisville Senior Night, March 1, 2016, in the KFC Yum! Center.
By the end of the season, the little saying would be on T-shirts and shouted by 20,000-plus fans from the stands of the KFC Yum! Center.
Lee was back in town Monday to appear at a charity golf tournament to benefit his Damion Lee Family Foundation. On Tuesday, he'll hold a camp with kids from Grace James Academy and he'll sponsor a cooking class at the Chestnut Street YMCA.
"It's just continuing to find ways to give back," Lee said. "Continuing to find ways to pour back into this community, because this place is so special to me."
You might think that unusual. Here's a player who, like teammate Trey Lewis, transferred in to play for Rick Pitino and Louisville for one season, and who lost his shot at the NCAA Tournament in February. At the time, we all thought what we were witnessing was a disaster.
Before that season, with the allegations still fresh, the decision was made not to send Louisville coach to ACC Media Day. Instead, Lee and Lewis traveled to North Carolina to face the music, and the tough questions, alone.
Turns out, the two had no problems facing the music. In fact, they made music. Lewis plopped down at a piano in a ballroom and soon he was playing and Lee was free-style rapping a song that included every team that had players standing around.
It wasn't the last time that season Lee would bring life to a tough situation.
T-shirts worn for the Senior Night game for Damion Lee and Trey Lewis and the University of Louisville, March 1, 2016, in the KFC Yum! Center.
Nor was it the last time Lee would have to write his own song in the midst of adversity.
"I think it's just my journey," Lee said. "It's like people are placed on earth for a reason. And not trying to get emotional, but my journey, and my story, is like I'm the vessel that just has to go through all the things I've gone through. Tore both my ACLs. Broke my hand. Foot surgery. Just had a surgery in August that the doctor said, if I hadn't had it, I'll possibly have just a year or two left in my career and have to get a knee replacement by the time I'm 35. So, it's just life. It keeps going for everyone."
On Lee's arm is a tattoo that says, "Me vs. Me." It's one reason he's grown to love golf, and to try to use it to help others.
"I love the game because out there, it is just me vs. me and you vs. you and how are you going to adjust?" he said. "How are you going to play? You got to pick yourself up and keep going. ... If you're playing golf with three other people, to be completely honest, no one gives a damn what you shoot, because everyone's focused on themselves. You know what I mean? So, everyone just cares about how they shoot, what shot they hit, where they put the ball. And life is kind of the same thing. If you're a 'woe is me' kind of person, no one really cares. There's so many things out there to be positive about, to be grateful for, so that's kind of the way that I approach everything. You have some good days and some not so good days, but I mean, I'm alive."
Mangok Mathiang interviews new Louisville transfer Damion Lee during the team's trip to Puerto Rico in August of 2015.
If you want to know the kind of guy Lee is, consider the end of his college career. His last few games. You never know where your career will go next. He went to Pitino and told him to start giving a freshman, Dieng Adel, more minutes.
"He has more time left," Lee told his coach. "I'm older. I'll figure it out on the back end. ... At the end of the day, it's not about me. Yeah, we went through whatever we went through. I'd like to be selfish and make it all about me. But there's people that have gone through far worse things and people that will go through far worse thing. I'm healthy. I have the opportunity to play basketball. I have the opportunity to make an impact. That's what I'm here for."
Just as Lee was about to get his first NBA shot, he suffered a knee injury and needed surgery. He could've gone home for that, or to Philadelphia, where he had played for Drexel. Instead he came to Louisville. You'd see him around Louisville games, taking pictures.
"I came back here to just ground myself and get a sense of like, 'OK, who am I?" Lee said. "I thankful for Kenny Johnson his family . . . they let me stay at their house during my entire time for rehab. I didn't have to pay for lodging. They let me use their cars. It was just a way for me to get back on me feet. It was just like them being selfless, finding ways to help me. So, for me, if people are doing that for me in this community, how can I not try to give back?"
Lee has kept an eye on the current program. When Pat Kelsey was named coach, he called to get his number and to text him, and after texting, got an immediate response.
Former Louisville players Peyton Siva and Damion Lee before the Damion Lee Family Foundation Third Annual Golf Scramble at The Cardinal Club on July 1, 2024.
"He said, 'Hey DLee thank you man. Whenever you're in town let me know. We'll try to grab some food,'" Lee said. "I'm excited. I know Coach Kelsey has a lot of passion, loves the game, is on the court with the guys. And for a coach like that to be energetic, to be enthusiastic and emphatic, to be on the court with the guys doing stuff, diving on the floor, having that that energy — I'm using a lot of E-words there. But I feel like he'll be excellent for the city."
You could say the same thing about Lee. From just one playing season in Louisville, short-circuited though it was through circumstances he had nothing to do with, Lee still wound up with connections, memories and lessons he continues to cultivate. And, just as important, a story he keeps telling. Not many guys can create a battle cry that is used by a whole city. Lee heard it ringing in his ears on Senior Night, and can still hear it today.
"That response turned into a rallying cry for the whole city, for the season, just everything," Lee said. "... It feels good to be back for a third year. And the plan is to be back every year, to continue to grow and pour back into the city of Louisville."
Lee still has Louisville's back. And it still has his.
To donate to the Damion Lee Family Foundation, which works to promote self-esteem, teamwork, relationship building, communication and leadership skills to give youth an opportunity to be heard and room to grow, visit the organization's website by clicking here.
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