Paraclete basketball star to play in Iowa

Cox headed to Luther College for basketball

LANCASTER — Three of the Paraclete boys basketball team’s five starters — Dylan Cox, Luke Cramer and Amari Robinson — signed their National Letters of Intent to play at the collegiate level on May 17 at Paraclete High School.

Cox chose to attend Luther College, an NCAA Division III program in Decorah, Iowa, because of the care and time the coaching staff, including head coach Mark Franzen, took to get to know Cox and his family.

The coaches emailed him every week and not only asked how he was doing, but how is parents, Alan and Sarah Cox and his sister, Naomi Cox, were doing, as well.

“They showed that they really cared about me more than just basketball,” Dylan Cox said. “On top of that, they were very interested in my game and told me that I’ll be a very big asset to their team and their program. It just made me feel really comfortable, especially when I went and visited the school. I just realized that’s a really great community that I could really be a part of and help grow and they’ll help me grow.”

Dylan said he likes the coaching staff and was impressed that they took a trip from Iowa to meet with him.

“They showed they really cared about me,” he said.

Paraclete coach Newton Chelette, who also has coached NCAA Division I basketball, also liked what he heard from Franzen.

“There’s no doubt in my mind, after talking with and meeting with Dylan’s coach in my office, that he really believes that Dylan’s going to fit in and have a great career,” Chelette said.

The Norse finished last season with an 8-17 record, so Dylan has an opportunity to have an immediate impact for the school.

The shooting guard averaged 11 points per game, was third in assists and fourth in rebounding for the Spirits, while earning all-Gold Coast League second-team honors.

“Dylan came in as a young guy shooting 3s,” Chelette said. “By the time he graduated this year, he was kind of a triple threat — he could put it on the floor and score, he could shoot the 3 and he could create for others. That’s how you build your basketball career — you take what you can do and you work on the things that can make everybody else better.”

Dylan Cox found his love for basketball at an early age. At first, it came from his dad, Alan, and it grew into something he loved all on his own.

Alan said when he found out he and his wife, Sarah, were going to have a boy, he knew he’d be a basketball player. Dylan was 23 inches long when he was born, which added to Alan’s confidence. And when Dylan was a young boy, shooting with both hands in the family’s driveway, it was solidified.

“Basketball is like my love. It was like my first girlfriend,” Alan said. “I love this game and so I wanted my boy to play it and I wanted him to play it with heart and play it the right way and he’s done that.”

Dylan is undecided on what he will study

at Luther College, but he knows he wants to be involved in basketball no matter what.

“If pro basketball doesn’t work out, I still want to be part of the game, like I love it that much,” he said. “So I was thinking something with broadcast journalism or communications.”

Dylan said he wouldn’t have this opportunity to play basketball in college without his parents, saying he’d like to thank them most of all.

“My mom, she was doing everything behind the scenes, as far as (me) coming home at 11 o’clock at night and there’d be dinner made for me when I was training in LA or something,” Dylan said. “My mom was always there paying for training and stuff. My mom was just the person helping me while I went and chased my dreams and stuff.

“My dad was the one driving me, taking me at 5 in the morning to games. He was just doing all of the above. It wasn’t for them. They knew I loved it that much and cared for it that much that they would do that for me.”

Sarah also made sure her son had his priorities straight, especially when it came to Dylan’s education.

“My mom, I remember in seventh grade, for instance, I had two C’s and she didn’t let me play basketball,” Dylan said. “That was like a big thing, but she knew that would make me work that much harder. Not only did that end up helping education-wise, because the next year I had straight A’s, but basketball-wise that went from me averaging five points a game my sixth-grade year, to averaging 20 points a game my eighth-grade year.

“It might sound little, but that helped me in the biggest way.”

Dylan also wanted to thank his Paraclete coaches including and not limited to Troy Coutee, Ron Whipple, coach Nick, coach Brian, coach Demetrius and Brandon Ruffin, a Lancaster grad and professional dunker who coached with the Spirits for a short time.

“There’s just so many coaches to thank, like a ridiculous amount,” Dylan said. “Every coach a part of this program helped me so much.”

Dylan also wanted to thank Chelette, who started mentoring him when he was in the eighth grade and the Spirits would weight train at Alan’s gym, Frontline Fitness, in the offseason.

“Coach Chelette, since eighth-grade year, my dad started helping him weight train the team,” Dylan said. “He always helped me get involved and kind of get up to speed as an eighth-grader with how fast the game was and stuff. He helped me in so many ways as far as skill development, because he played the same position I did in high school. So it was kind of cool having a coach that already played at that level and he definitely helped me develop so much as a player. And the life lessons he taught me is crazy.”

Dylan also wanted to thank his teammates and fellow graduates Cramer and Robinson, who were only with the Spirits for two years and one year, respectively.

“I would love to thank Amari and Luke, because coming into this year, none of us were really that close,” Dylan said. “But the bond we created in a short time was crazy. I never thought I’d have guys like that, that I would be able to call my brothers for life. Me and Amari and Luke talk every single day, almost all day, talking about what we’re going to do later. I have a crazy bond with those two, we help each other a lot through everything.”

All three of them are going across the country with Cramer in Maine, Dylan in Iowa and Robinson in Michigan.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Dylan will be successful,” Chelette said. “All three of these guys have the same work ethic. They put their effort in training, they put their effort on the court.”