By Charlie Leffler
In the Muslim tradition, the hajj is a sacred pilgrimage. For the Cardinal’s Hajj Turner, the college journey has been no less arduous or rewarding.
Hajj Malik Turner was named after his distant cousin El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, who is better known to the world as Malcom X. Like the person from which he was named, Turner has set an example for many to follow as a symbol of unity and overcoming adversity.
Life held high expectations for Turner as a senior at Charlottesville High School in Virginia. Hajj shot 59% from the field while averaging 21.5 points, 14.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game to lead his team to the district championship. He had single game highs of 42 points and 22 rebounds and was a second team all-state selection. He was also the district player of the year as both a junior and a senior.
“Hajj was a pretty athletic high school player,” said Scotty Davenport who was an assistant coach with Louisville when Turner was recruited. “I don’t think we ever thought he would be a tremendous shooter, but a very athletic kid when it comes to rebounding, being able to outrun people, etc.” But then all too quickly Turners world came crashing around him. During the Virginia All-Star game practice Turner injured his right knee. While it was not believed to be bad at the time, the injury was worsened during a pickup game at Louisville before his career even began.
Standing on the floor of Cardinal Arena during this year’s media day, Hajj could point to the spot where his world stopped turning. “I hurt my knee in this gym on the old floor,” said Turner, “just cutting the wrong way. It was really just a freak accident, just coming down wrong.”
On July 22, 1997 Turner underwent surgery to repair the tear in his right knee. As a result he sat out the entire season as a medical redshirt. As he agonized through rehabilitation Hajj he kept his hopes up because he believed that he would have many playing days ahead once he had fully healed. But a year later the injury was still not better.
On September 26, 1998 Turner entered the operating room once again. This time to repair his torn anterior cruciate ligament and the medial meniscus in his right knee.
Turner was able to return and practice with the team in the second half of the 1998-99 season but had to wear a knee brace the entire time. Yet, he was still unable to take to the floor and play the game that he loved.
In the 1999-2000 season Turner believed that he would be able to contribute to the Cards. But his injured knee was not the same as it had been when he was in high school and he was greatly hampered. Turner finally hit the hardwood in his home state when the Cards took on Virginia Commonwealth, still he was limited to the final minute of the first half. Over the season, Hajj appeared in only 11-games, the highlight of which came on December 12, 1999 when he accumulated four points, two rebounds, a blocked shot and a dunk in six minutes of play against Tennessee State.
Hajj became depressed with his basketball efforts. He felt that his time on the floor was a waste. “It was worthless,” said Turner going into the 2000-01 season. “It was because of the situation in which I was playing. I didn’t log any quality time last year. It wasn’t any more positive than the first two years because I didn’t contribute at all.”
Yet, even while he was not able to contribute as a player, Turner was putting up great numbers as a student. He earned Athletic Director Honor Role status for his fifth consecutive year.
Through it all Turner learned to adapt to his situation. “I’ve just been living, handling the situation that’s been handed to me whether it’s been good; like my grades or my family. Or whether it’s been with basketball which has been bad for three years. I handled it as it came.”
“The hardest part’s been fighting off the doubt that was accumulating within me,” said Turner, “also the doubt that I felt was accumulating from the public and my peers. I felt like everybody was doubting me because I was doubting myself.”
After being so highly touted coming to Louisville, Turner had reached a point where the public was also voicing their uncertainties in him. “People would tell me to my face or I’d hear it on radio shows, ÔWash-up’, you know all that stuff like that,” said Turner. “I respect everybody’s opinion and I never once got mad at anybody saying that because if I saw somebody in the same situation I would have said the same thing. I just used it more as motivation. I know that sounds clicheish but I’ve been trying to use everything as motivation.”
But through the process, Hajj grew mentally and emotioinally stronger. “I never thought about quitting,” said Turner, “but I was just kind of doubting myself so much. Like my days and nights and all my conversations would be consumed with these feelings of doubt and it really stressed me out. But all those times it was stressing me out it was also teaching me how to deal with it.”
In a situation where most people would have folded and given up, Turner fought back. He knew that he may never be able to fully contribute as a basketball player, but that did not keep him from contributing as a student or a member of the community.
Even though the injury had hampered his basketball skills, Turner tried to do the most with what he had. “I’ve had more time to become more acclimated with the normal student body. I’ve embraced that opportunity. I got involved in different organizations, met lots of teachers and students that I probably wouldn’t have met if I was just thinking basketball. When I got injured it helped my social life and it helped my people skills and I think it helped my grades also.”
“There’s no positives,” Davenport said when speaking of Turner’s injury, “but I think if you look at it as athletics teaching life’s lessons, Hajj is a tremendous example. I think he would have been a tremendous student no matter what. But I think the understanding that ÔI have to be the whole person’, Hajj is an example that everybody should be measured by.”
“I’m not saying what happened to me wasn’t a tragedy,” said Turner. “In the big scheme of things, stuff that can happen to you and things that happen to people; this is small cookies.” Yet, Turner knew that now he may be able to contribute to the team in ways that he had previously never imagined.
“There’s going to be times when people are going to be down. And if I can just sit and tell people what I’ve been through then they can see me smiling about it. I want to be in a position where if somebody’s down I can get on them and tell them not to be down. There’s not a whole lot of situations that will take them lower than where I was.”Turner’s positives strides were rewarded in the spring of 2001 when he earned his undergraduate degree in Pan African Studies with a 3.75 GPA. He was also only one of five recipients of the John McLendon Memorial Scholarship which has allowed him to continue his education at U of L. This year, with a new coach, Turner’s role on the team was laid out for him. “Hajj is going to have to do it with heart and hustle because his game needs a lot of tweaking,” said head coach Rick Pitino. “He’s not the best shooter as far as form, he’s not the best ball handler. Hajj is a great athlete playing the game of basketball. He’s not really a great basketball player as much as he is a great athlete coming off an injury. So, Hajj has got to give everything that his body will allow it to give in order to play here.”Turner gained further respect among his peers by being named co-captain of this year’s basketball team. “It’s probably one of the biggest honors I have achieved this year on or off the court,” said Turner. “It just shows the confidence that my teammates have in me.” The fact that it was his teammates who designated his status was much more rewarding. “We had a team meeting one day and people wrote down who they wanted to be captain and everybody had to make a choice, and I was moved by that. I’m up to the responsibility.” “I’ve never worked this hard and I’ve never been around a team that’s been this close with each other,” said Turner. “Just that alone, that people are depending on me and I’ve got a lot of people I can depend on, it should make for a more positive ending.” Though he has not journeyed to Mecca, it appears that Turner has made a peace with himself and has his eyes locked on what he wants to do with his life. Through all of his adversity, Turner has done the most with what he has been given and in that has set a shinning example for everyone to follow. “What Hajj has done is prepared himself well, academically and athletically, to open as many doors as possible,” said Davenport. “Be it on the floor or off the floor, in administration, in the coaching side of it, whatever. I think Hajj would be a tremendous teacher, I’ve said that to him. I think he can relate very well to all types of students. If you position yourself in high school to do well in college and in college to do well in life, ect. He’s done a tremendous job.”
