Brian Starr’s ascension to the professional ranks was an unlikely one.
The polar opposite of an entitled superstar, Starr is vastly different from many of today’s athletes who clamor for the spotlight.
He also emerged from humble surroundings, where everything had to be earned.
He wasn’t the type of player who was wooed by fancy prep schools and Academy programs and treated like royalty. In fact, Starr rose from the unknown (he was lightly recruited out of high school), with his sudden evolution catapulting him to the list of the nation’s best passers at Colby CC during the 2015-16 season.
Savoring the true role of quarterback and spearheading his team with rare, elite level passing ability, Starr was putting up unprecedented numbers. Starr averaged team-bests of 14.3 points to go with 7.1 assists, piling up seven games of 10+ assists. During a thorough 111-69 thrashing of Southwestern College, Starr doled out a career and program record 16 assists. Starr erupted for a 37-point scoring free, snaking his way to the rack and finishing through contact, during an 85-81 loss at Coffeyville.
After never really being equated with the same lofty aspirations, rankings, high expectations and hype as some of those surrounding him as a promising young point guard, Starr rapidly morphed into a…well…Star(r).
He became a sought after recruit virtually overnight, an unsung kid who didn’t have the social media fanfare or the AAU backing or the invites the exposure-heavy tournaments.
Brian’s toughness and gung-ho style was a byproduct of how he grew up, constantly proving himself and relishing every challenge that came his way. There was nothing handed to him and nothing came easy.
While he didn’t have the career he may have envisioned at Division-1 Towson University (Md.), it didn’t deter him from prolonging his unlikely career overseas.
Again, adversity has been a redundant theme in Starr’s life and tough upbringing. Never has it fazed him to any degree. Each time, he’s circumvented any pitfalls and rose above with his will and desire to fight another day.
A major component of Brian’s rise was learning under a coach he quickly developed a rapport with in Kevin Jolley.
Since retiring from a well-traveled overseas professional career, the former Quinnipiac University forward has proven to be able to elicit blood from a stone out of unsung talent as a young coach.
As a player development guru and an assistant coach, Jolley has been able to impart his wisdom on young and prominent talent of Starr’s type.
Jarringly similar to Starr, Jolley was another quintessential overlooked, under-utilized guy who had moderate success in college but really thrived as a professional over the waters.
A consummate team guy who discovered the sheer skill set, dish-first quarterback style and drive in Brian, Jolley has been instrumental in pushing his evolution.
It’s made for a considerable redemption story. Starr is a classic case of someone who has overcome odds to not only become not only a professional basketball player but a leader of character for young people to emulate.
Despite a long and agonizing process of trying to find the right agencies, Starr moved on his own to find the best possible fit in prolonging his career. He trekked all the way out to Belarus, in Eastern Europe, where he was employed as a guard for Borisfen of the Belarusian Basketball Federation.
During his rookie season, Starr averaged a team-best 19.5 points and 4.3 assists while helping propel Borisfen to a regular season title and a berth in the Vysshaya Liga playoffs.
A memorable post-season ride took them to a an appearance in the championship game, where they fell to Tsmoki-Minsk.
Lauded for his exploits as a quick-impact rookie with the scoring aptitude to take over games, Starr was also named the 2018-19 BBF MVP and the Defensive MVP of the post-season.
Now back home in Kansas City, Starr’s vision is to put together a better season while attaining a big ticket contract in his sophomore season.
Starr’s gaze has also shifted to broadening opportunities for talent throughout the Kansas City area and beyond this summer, hosting a camp alongside his agent, Anastasios D. Karadais of Pregame Sports Management.
“The camp will really be run very similar to a combine,” Starr explained.
“There is going to be agility testing. Vertical testing. A 40-yard dash, we will gauge guys times and really assess their production in a lot of different areas. We will weigh guys in and then compete in highly intensified 5 on 5 scrimmages.”
The idea for the camp came about during the season, when Starr noticed a lot of Karadais’ players weren’t producing and some were lost for the season due to injury. He saw the immediate impact Starr had and inquired about his connections with potential professionals who could thrive at this level of play.
“The first two times (Karadais) asked me, both of the guys I referred to him were signed. When he asked me the third time, that’s when I mentioned the idea of doing a camp. It will be a great opportunity for guys who are ready to live out the dream of playing professionally.”
