Meet Lamont Banks in person or glance at his picture and it's easy to get the wrong impression.
Tatted up, long hair, goatee, an imposing 6-foot-4 -- you think street kid, neighborhood tough, roughneck.
You'd be wrong. Banks, the heart-and-soul leader of the defending state Division V champion St. Joseph Notre Dame basketball team, is a mixture of many things on and off the court -- most of them good. He will lead the Pilots into the Prep2Prep Tip-Off Classic at Newark Memorial High on Saturday. St. Joe's plays Berkeley at 3:45 p.m., the middle game of the seven-game extravaganza that begins at 11 a.m.
Banks on the court is just what you'd expect -- a bruiser with a knack for grabbing rebounds and a won't-be-denied inside game.
"As a basketball player he is a stud inside and is developing a very good outside game," St. Joseph's coach Don Lippi said. "We will be depending on him to grab a lot of boards this year. With him in the lineup we have been in three state championships in a row."
EXORCISING A DEMON
College coaches might have noticed Banks and ex-teammate Temidayo Yussuf wrecking house last March in St. Joe's 57-32 Division V state title win against Renaissance Academy of Southern California.
The 220-pound Banks scored 14 points from close range and took seven rebounds, helping the Pilots to exorcise a demon -- that being the memory of the state title game a year earlier when St. Joe's fell to Horizon Christian Academy by one point on a 30-foot buzzer beater by Ethan Underwood.
The Pilots wound up sprawled on the floor in agony after that gut-wrenching loss. They led by nine points with 35 seconds left and by four with 14 ticks left. But then a blizzard of missed easy shots and free throws by St. Joe's and an answered prayer by its opponent snatched away the victory.
"I watched it leave his hand," Banks said of Underwood's shot. "I couldn't believe it when it went in. It didn't register. Some of our players fell to the ground and were crying. I couldn't believe we lost on a buzzer beater. There was a lot of emotion in the locker room. It was not a bright moment."
When it comes to bitter defeats, that one's tough to beat. Lippi used it as motivation, obtaining a picture of the sad moment and hanging it in the St. Joe's gym to make sure his team kept its eye on the prize.
"There are three players on the ground and me and Temidayo standing there with blank looks," Banks said. "The other team is jumping up and down. Every time we'd walk into the gym we'd see that photo and it motivated us. Before the state title game we burned it out in back of the gym. It worked because we won the state title last season."
IT'S CALLED CHARACTER
Banks is not just a winner on the hardwood, but off it as well. He's a champion of the underdog, a tough guy with a heart and even knows his way around the kitchen. East Bay girls, are you listening?
"Lamont Banks is one of the top five kids I have coached in 36 years," Lippi said. "What a wonderful young man. He is a gentle giant around campus as he helps those who are different."
As examples, Lippi said Banks befriended a special needs student who needed a pal and wrote a letter of condolence to the coach's best friend whose wife had just died.
Said Banks of his young special needs friend, Cameron Macewan:
"In the beginning of the year I would see him and he would always be alone so I decided to sit with him because I felt like no one should be left alone no matter if they're different or not."
That's called character. Banks has it.
Regarding Lippi's friend dealing with the personal loss, Banks said:
"I've known coach Lippi's friend since I was in middle school. I knew how much he loved and cared for his wife and I was so sad when I heard that she passed. I couldn't imagine what he was going through and I just wanted to write him and let him know that I would be there to help him in any way he needed and that he was in my prayers."
Wow. Somebody nominate this kid for the state Champions for Character award now, please.
"Lamont has the greatest personality," said Teresa Banks, the teen's mom. "He has a warm heart and it's rare. When I heard about the letter he sent to Lippi's friend it touched my heart. I have a great kid."
RENAISSANCE KID
As if all that isn't enough, Banks also is involved in concert band at St. Joe's and is the first band member to actually teach a class. He is also -- get this -- a budding Food Channel star. You can't make this stuff up.
"I like to cook," Banks said. "My mom would come home from work and I'd be watching the Food Network. I'd watch what they were making and look for a recipe and try it. I like to make cheese cake. My friends don't believe that I bake it -- they're in shock and ask if I buy it. They're amazed when I say no."
Other specialties of the St. Joe's renaissance kid are brownies, cookies, pie, and lemon bars.
"Oh my God I can't believe the things he makes," Teresa said. "He made a pineapple upside down cake and I almost ate the whole thing. I know when he's ready to bake because he'll give me a list to go to the store and get 28 Granny Smith apples and 32 ounces of cream cheese, vanilla, graham crackers, lemon and on and on."
UNIQUE BLEND
And it just gets better. Banks is an interesting mixture of races and ethnic backgrounds. Teresa is white and the player's father, also named named Lamont, is African-American and Native-American (Choctaw and Cherokee).
There's a unique story about Lamont Sr.'s birth. He was a whopping 13 1/2 pounds when he was born to a woman just 5-foot-2 and in her mid-40s. She already had six kids, prompting her to bestow the middle name "Nomore" on her seventh child -- as in "No more kids." So when Lamont Jr. was born, he received the unusual middle name as well.
The younger Lamont Banks grew up in Hayward where his father still lives (the parents are now divorced), along with younger brothers Aaron who now plays football and basketball for El Cerrito High and Frankie who is in eighth grade and is also a promising two-sport athlete. Both stand well over 6-feet and weigh around 300 pounds but are unusually athletic, like Lamont.
RIGHT AT HOME
Asked why he's at St. Joe's after attending public schools in Hayward and the fact that he's not Catholic, Banks said: "A friend, Marcus Harris, told me about St. Joe's and me and my mom drove to the school and took a tour and met Lippi and some of the teachers at the school and we liked it a lot."
Banks talked over the decision with his pal Yussuf, who he knew from his AAU days back in Hayward. Banks was afraid it would be all about religion at St. Joe's and the Catholic faith would be shoved down his throat, but it has not been.
"From Day 1 everyone has been welcoming," Banks said. "The teachers have been helpful and flexible about our sports and our schoolwork and coach Lippi is always willing to help everyone."
Next on Lippi's agenda is the 2014-2015 regular season, another shot a post-season glory and then hopefully sending the amazing Mr. Banks onto the next level.
"We love Lamont and hope a college finds this great individual," he said.
John Murphy is the Web Content Manager of Prep2Prep. Reach him at jmurphy@Prep2Prep.com and follow on Twitter @PrepCat
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