How Much Money Did the Ball Family Donate to Ball State in Today's Dollars
MUNCIE — The mental preparation it took to shoot a half-court shot for free tuition was nothing for Lemuel Turner compared to meeting Ellen DeGeneres.
Lem, a freshman finance major at Ball State University, was told to walk out, wave to the oversupply, give Ellen a gentle hug and sit downwards.
"I tried to give her the gentlest hug always," he said.
Turner has been watching the Ellen DeGeneres prove for years. His mother always had it on after school. So, when the video of him sinking a one-half-court shot in Worthen Arena during freshman orientation started going viral, he emailed her a link.
He wasn't expecting a response, but a producer from the show called him while he was eating dinner on campus.
Two sentences into the chat, his phone died. He found his phone charger and immediately plugged into the nearest outlet in the dining hall.
"I was crouching in the corner trying to salvage this opportunity," he said.
Someone on Ellen's squad asked him what his car situation was before he went on the show. He told them nigh his 2000 Saab at abode, and how it'due south starting to autumn apart. He didn't bring it to Ball State because he knew it wouldn't make the four-hour bulldoze from Vernon Hills, Sick.
Lem swears he had no thought he was about to win a new Ford Focus, he just figured they were asking for groundwork about him.
He was relieved that he didn't have to brand another half-court shot, merely still wasn't pleased that he air-balled earlier making the third free throw on Idiot box, the shot that won him the machine.
The truth is, Lem isn't new to basketball.
A 'basketball family'
He played for his high school team and even considered standing at a Division III schoolhouse before choosing to play volleyball at Ball Land. His Facebook cover photo is of him dunking.
Lem is from what he calls a "basketball family unit." The kind where he and his three brothers never got extra sleep during the summer considering their male parent, Lionel, had them awake and running drills by 7 a.thousand.
Lionel ever expected to have at least one kid playing basketball in college, Lem said. It was a tough conversation when Lem chose volleyball, a sport he originally joined to aid improve his basketball skills.
But winning costless tuition and fifteen minutes of higher basketball fame eased the pain, Lem joked.
The Turners' already have 3 children in college, with Lem's two older brothers, Lorenzo and Luke, attending a community college earlier transferring to a 4-year schoolhouse. Lem's younger brother is close, a inferior in high school.
Lem said he has an academic scholarship that brings his tuition downwards from the $23,000 out-of-state price tag to the in-state rate of about $8,000 per semester. He too has a partial athletic scholarship and applied for financial aid. But saving a few g dollars has taken a load off of his family's shoulders.
It would exist tough for any family, but Lem said it's especially difficult since both of his parents are deaf, unable to hear or speak.
"There's non really much of a job market for deaf people," he said.
Lionel has been working at a post office since earlier Lem was built-in. Lem'due south mother, Luz, recently became a professional photographer, working weddings and taking family portraits.
Lorenzo is also deaf, but Luke, Lem and Leo can hear. The family unit uses sign linguistic communication to communicate, which was all of the children's native language. Lem said he didn't begin learning English until preschool, and went to voice communication therapy in elementary school.
"Nosotros had always been reading, we just didn't know what the sounds were," Lem said.
Since neither parent could hear what the boys were saying, Lem said they used some strange words when they were young. For example, they used to recall "pretzel" was the word for "ketchup," Lem said. They mixed up Luke with Nick, Leo was BeeBe and Lem was Namel.
At present Lem is considering switching his finance major to English language. He hopes to be a famous blogger one day. Or, if he sticks with a finance major, a financial advisor for low-income families.
"You lot e'er see lot of homeless people (in the Chicago surface area) and yous always think about what they could have done. … I want to be the person who stops it before they are evicted."
The double-takes
In an hour at the student Recreation and Wellness Centre, iii people came up to shake Lem'south hand and congratulate him. Countless others did a double-accept and stared. He usually answers their unspoken question, "Yes, I'grand the guy."
He got a haircut, but information technology hasn't helped much.
Aside from Ellen, Lem said he has been contacted past Buzzfeed, Play a joke on News and ABC News in New York. The video made ESPN's Top 10 Plays. Lem said he turned a few interviews down, including one that required him to be in Indianapolis at vii a.k.
"I'chiliad a college student," he said, "We don't get upwardly that early on."
Fifty-fifty subsequently all the publicity, Lem said his closest friends are still his volleyball teammates.
"A lot of people know me, but I don't know a lot of people," he said.
Driving around in a brand new Ford Focus probably won't help Lem exist more inconspicuous.
Lem doesn't have his new car yet, but he's in contact with a local dealership. He is opting against the electric motorcar, he said, because he hasn't been able to observe a charging port in Muncie. He will still get a Ford Focus.
The first thing he plans to do with it: Prowl around campus and enjoy the conditions.
The second thing: Surprise his parents with a trip dwelling.
Contact families & educational activity reporter Emma Kate Fittes at (765) 213-5845 and follow @EmmaKate_TSP.
Source: https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/2015/09/18/half-court-shot-ball-state-student-won-tuition-car-fame/72406248/
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