There’s a section of highway in Rochester, New York, where Melvin Council is as popular as he’s been in Allen Fieldhouse all season.
Only, in this locale, instead of barking that gives it away, there’s a giant billboard that tells the story. And Council’s face is all over it.
He’s one of two college basketball players on the billboard, put up by Boys & Girls Club of Rochester, of which Council and Arizona guard Jaden Bradley are both alums. And the huge sign celebrates the success that both players have had this season.
Council became the heartbeat of another talented KU team and an absolute fan favorite, and Bradley earned Big 12 Player of the Year honors as the leader of the 32-2 Arizona Wildcats, which won both the Big 12 regular season and Big 12 tournament titles.
“Once Club Kids Always Club Kids,” the billboard reads. “Cheering on our alumni as they compete on college basketball’s national stage.”
Here’s the fun part about the billboard. Until last Thursday night, Council didn’t even know it existed. But after the Jayhawks’ Big 12 quarterfinal win over TCU, R1S1 Sports showed him a photo of the billboard before chatting with him about its meaning.
“I’m on it,” he asked before seeing the image. “Oh, I didn’t even know. Wow. That’s fire. I didn’t even know. That’s a huge accomplishment.”
The fact that Bradley was on there with him only made the moment cooler.
See, all these years later, after playing together at the club and for travel teams in and around Rochester and New York City, Council and Bradley remain close. It’s their tie to their hometown that binds them, and their ability to take their game to college basketball’s highest level that has made this season as special as any.
“We still kept in contact,” Council said. “Right now, we’re not talking because we’re still in season. After the season’s over, we’ll reconnect. But we’re from the same city, both in the same conference now. Big stage. That’s crazy.”
Bradley agreed, smiling when talking about the old days with his old friend and the billboard that features both of their faces.
“He’s very known in the city, I’m known in the city, and it’s just fun to think back on the battles we had growing up together,” the Arizona guard told R1S1 Sports shortly after his game-winning shot to beat Iowa State in the Big 12 semifinals on Friday night. “Watching him grow in his career, watching me grow in my career, it’s just two kids out of Rochester just flourishing right now. I’m proud of him and proud of myself, too.”
Asked what either Rochester native would’ve said if you told them then that they’d be on a billboard like the one they’re on today, Bradley smiled, shook his head and said, “I would’ve said, ‘I don’t know about that.’ We’ve had some great prospects and I’m just proud of all the guys.”
"Everybody from Rochester is real tight. It’s a smaller city, everybody supports each other and is proud of everybody. Melvin and I don’t talk much during the season, but we support each other to the end for sure."
— Arizona guard Jaden Bradley on his hometown connection with KU's Melvin Council Jr.
Council and Bradley are the two most recent. But there’s been a steady wave of successful hoopers who came from Rochester. Most notable on that list are current NBA players Thomas Bryant (Cleveland), Isaiah Stewart (Detroit) and Jalen Pickett (Denver).
While many of those players, including Bradley, who started his career at Alabama before transferring to Arizona, were highly touted and top-rated prospects coming out of high school, something like this might mean the most to a guy like Council.
He didn’t arrive on this stage until he had battled his way through juco ball and stops at Wagner College and St. Bonaventure.
But Bradley, who left Rochester before middle school and went on to make a name for himself on the high school hoops scene in North Carolina and eventually at IMG Academy, where he became a McDonald’s All-American, said none of them view it like anything other than a bunch of guys who got the chance to use the game they love to live the lives they always dreamed of.
“Everybody from Rochester is real tight,” Bradley said. “It’s a smaller city, everybody supports each other and is proud of everybody. Melvin and I don’t talk much during the season, but I’m always watching their games and supporting him behind the scenes. We both have our own stuff going on, but we support each other to the end for sure.”
A couple of years ago, the two guards took that support back home, to host a camp/clinic at the Boys & Girls Club that they grew up attending.
“That’s all I wanted to do growing up, was be one of those heroes who gives back,” Council said last week. “I love my city a lot.”
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