Sometimes Dalen Ridgnal wonders how he ended up here.
Nearing the end of his college basketball career, with all five years paid for by athletic scholarship and a college degree in hand, his lone year at Wichita State has him closer than ever to his dream of becoming a professional basketball player.
That dream didn’t always feel within reach when he was a boy, growing up in Kansas City, Mo. Without a father in the home, he acted out in his youth.
“I used to be a really bad kid,” Ridgnal said. “I probably was headed for jail somewhere.”
Few know about the obstacles — or the extent of real life adversity — Ridgnal overcame just to make it to his recent senior-day ceremony inside Koch Arena. Flanked by his aunt and his niece, Ridgnal became teary-eyed by the end of the presentation.
The totality of his journey seemed to be hitting him all at once, as he squinted his eyes to prevent the tears from streaking down his cheeks.
“I’m just really proud of myself,” Ridgnal said. “I didn’t know I could make it this far, but I did.”
‘I love him like he was my own son’
Dalen’s father wasn’t around growing up, which made his childhood difficult at times. He often acted out in school and found himself in trouble.
Charmain Ridgnal-Wright, Dalen’s aunt and the sister to his father, had always been a positive presence in his life. She would check on his grades in school and attend field trips with him.
Because she and her husband, Melvin, offered a two-parent household, it was suggested Dalen should come live with them. One day in the third grade, Dalen came to their house and never left.
“Dalen was always a good, loving kid, but he started spinning out of control when he was in the third grade and I kind of blame it on his father not being in his life,” said Barbara Smith, Dalen’s mother. “There was more structure at Charmain’s because Charmain was probably more strict than I was.”
The couple had experience with this type of situation before. On top of raising their own daughter, Charmain and Melvin had helped raise two girls from a cousin and did the same with a boy from Melvin’s side of the family.
Dalen blossomed in a structured environment, but it didn’t come without some early difficulties.
In Charmain’s house, academics was a top priority. The first order of business was to take Dalen out of the public school system and enroll him at a private school, St. Elizabeth Catholic School, for the fourth grade.
“I had to go to school every day,” Dalen said. “And I had to get good grades.”
Blowing off homework was a tough habit to kick, however. During the first month of school, Dalen’s constant excuse was that he forgot to bring his books home.
So Charmain forced him to tuck a cinder block in his book bag when he went to school. “If you don’t want to carry a light book home, then you can carry a big brick in your backpack,” was Charmain’s message.
“I had a teacher call me and say, ‘Charmain, he has a brick in his bag and he said you put it there,’” she recalled. “I said, ‘Well, that’s because he won’t bring his books home. Maybe if he brings his books home, he won’t have to carry the brick.’ After that, he started bringing his books home.”
Later that same school year, Dalen was eager to play basketball for his YMCA team in an upcoming weekend game. But he forgot to turn in homework during the week and Charmain drove him to practice and forced him to sit and watch from the sidelines while the other boys played.
“The coach tried to say it was OK, but I had to tell him, ‘No, this is the punishment I have,’” Charmain said. “The other parents thought I was very cruel, but I told Dalen, ‘You’re going to figure out education is first and this is second. Basketball isn’t always going to be there.’”
Dawn Rattan, Dalen’s other aunt, lived a short drive away in Kansas City, Kan. and he often joined their family for holidays and family vacations. He also became best friends with her son, Rishi, now a football player at Tulane.
The tough love wasn’t always fun for Dalen, but coming from Charmain, it was exactly what he needed.
“My sister is like an egg,” Dawn said. “Hard on the outside, but soft and gooey on the inside.”
In order to fulfill his potential, Dalen needed someone to believe in him, someone to nurture him and someone to dare him to dream.
Charmain brought out the best in him by placing expectations on him and holding him to a higher standard. It wasn’t long before Dalen started calling her “mom,” although she was never able to officially adopt him. The two speak daily on the phone, as their bond has only deepened over the years.
“I do love him like he was my own son,” Charmain said. “Sometimes you think your kids don’t listen to you, but then I overhear him talking to other people and I know that he heard what I said. He believes what I said and he trusts me.”
Smith, his biological mother, said she has always been proud of her only son.
“He’s my baby and my girls always say, ‘Dalen’s your favorite,’” Smith said. “He didn’t grow up in the household with me, but I’m always still mom. I still kind of feel some type of way because he didn’t grow up in the household, but I know I’m always mom and have that connection. He’s my only boy, so I probably do show some favoritism.”
Where his family is most proud is the student Dalen has become.
The years of private schooling that Charmain paid for helped teach him discipline and gave him the structure he needed to excel in a classroom.
He has since earned an undergraduate degree from Missouri State, becoming the first member of his immediate family to graduate from college. He is currently working on a master’s degree at WSU and has earned a spot on the athletic director’s honor roll for the last three semesters.
He can laugh about the cinder block in his backpack now.
“I used to be a really bad kid, but she got me on the right path,” Dalen said. “I am just really blessed to have her in my life. If I didn’t have her, I don’t really know what I would be doing. I wouldn’t be here without her.”
‘He is an absolute demon on the court’
Every good basketball player has at least one skill that distinguishes them on the court.
For Dalen Ridgnal, that has always been his relentless pursuit of the basketball.
“He is an absolute demon on the court,” said Tommy DeSalme, who coached Ridgnal for two All-American years at Cowley College. “The hardest thing to find in the world of basketball is someone who rebounds the way he does. Dalen just wants the ball more than you do and has the God-given talent to go get it.”
Before promoting him to the starting lineup on Jan. 7 at Temple, Wichita State head coach Paul Mills challenged Ridgnal to grab 15 rebounds. He aimed high to give Ridgnal a lofty goal to chase.
Ridgnal finished with a career-high 16 rebounds.
“There’s just no quit in that kid. He only knows one speed and that’s full throttle,” Mills said. “What I love about him is he will break his back to do whatever you ask him to do. He’s going to do whatever it takes to win a basketball game and you wouldn’t know if we’re up 20 or down 20 by watching him play.”
After snagging 699 rebounds, an 11.7 per-game average, in two years at Cowley College, Ridgnal has posted elite per-minute rebounding rates at all three of his Division I stops: at Georgia in the 2021-22 season, at Missouri State last year and at WSU this season.
Smith encouraged him along the way to never stop moving forward, on the basketball court and in life.
“I always told him that some people might go straight D-I, but everyone’s path is going to be different,” Smith said. “Somebody else might have a straight path, but you might have to take a turn here or there to get to where you want to go. He just had to keep his eye on the prize.”
Ridgnal claims he has never studied film to perfect his rebounding craft. Instead, he relies solely on instinct and determination to track down misses.
But where did that passion to chase loose balls originate? It actually dates back to his YMCA team in the fourth grade when he would pout to his aunt.
“He would always complain, ‘They won’t pass me the ball,’” Charmain Ridgnal-Wright said. “So I told him, ‘If you chase after the ball and get the rebound, you can just shoot it back yourself. You don’t have to wait for somebody to give it to you.’”
“Ever since then, I’ve had that mindset,” Ridgnal explained.
The basketball court has always been a place for Ridgnal to express himself.
Surround him with strangers and point cameras at his face and the anxiety brings back a stutter he’s had since childhood. There’s something about the game of basketball, the thrill of competition, the adrenaline rush of performing in front of a crowd that has always calmed his nerves.
When he steps on the court, Ridgnal feels free.
“I just try to play with joy and passion every time,” Ridgnal said. “You’ve got to have fun with it. If you don’t have fun, then what are you really doing?”
In the midst of what will likely be WSU’s first losing season in 16 years, Ridgnal’s relentless energy has been a bright spot this season for the Shockers.
“When we were losing and everybody was kind of down, he always brought the same energy and effort every day,” WSU leading scorer Colby Rogers said. “He’s been a spark plug for us. He can get a tough rebound or a block or hit a 3 or get a steal. We rely on him for that.”
For being the final addition to Mills’ first recruiting class — Ridgnal picked WSU over Kansas State and UCF — he has exceeded expectations this season.
When Mills was vetting Ridgnal in a whirlwind recruiting process, which ended with Ridgnal signing on the eve of WSU’s August international exhibition tour to Greece, the coach called Tom Crean, who coached Ridgnal at Georgia, to ask for his opinion.
“I don’t care who’s on your roster,” Crean said, “that kid will find a way on the floor.”
That has proven prophetic. Ridgnal’s work ethic has impressed in Wichita. He’s one of the first ones to practice and routinely the last one to leave the gym afterward. The 6-foot-6 forward eventually earned a spot in the starting lineup and has averaged 7.5 points and 6.1 rebounds, while hitting 38% of his 3s in conference play.
There’s only one regret Mills has in recruiting Ridgnal.
“I’m sad I’m only going to be around him one year,” Mills said. “He’s got tremendous potential. I’m hoping to see him back on that TBT squad (the AfterShocks) because he can rebound and shoot the ball. We’re going to miss him.”
‘I can do anything if I put my mind to it’
With Wichita State fighting to extend its season in Fort Worth at the American Athletic Conference tournament, Ridgnal has already been stamped a winner.
Where he’s from, few make it out to become college basketball players. Even fewer survive long enough to earn a college degree.
Ridgnal wants his story to inspire others to show them that this life is possible, no matter how dire the circumstances may feel.
“It feels like I can do anything if I put my mind to it,” Ridgnal said. “You’ve just got to work hard, that’s the main thing. It’s not going to be pretty every day, but it is possible.”
Ridgnal never forgets his humble beginnings, which is why he has always had a special connection with children. It’s difficult for him to articulate why, but it’s apparent he cherishes the value of serving as a role model for children — perhaps because he wishes he would have had someone to look up to when he was that age.
“We would ask the guys to go talk to the grade school kids and most of the time, you have to beg guys to do that,” Cowley College coach Tommy DeSalme said. “Dalen would be the first hand up to volunteer. He just has an incredible heart that kids react to and they respond to him. There’s so many people here in the Ark City community that still love him to this day because of the mark he left on kids that are growing up in that town. He was a two-time All-American for us, but he’s a way better person than that.”
Each Christmas when he returns to Kansas City, Ridgnal never fails to join his cousins to volunteer at Salvation Army to ring bells outside of the red kettles.
When he’s back home, he visits Charmain’s mother, who has dementia, to take care of her, keep her company and read books to her.
Recently, Charmain and Dalen’s 5-year-old niece attended a game in Wichita and Charmain was too exhausted to drive back home that same night. Dalen invited them to stay the night at his apartment, but Charmain agonized over finding the energy to conduct the night-time routine for her granddaughter. When they arrived, Dalen had cleaned his apartment, prepared a bed for his aunt and assured her she could rest and he would go through the steps to put his niece to bed.
“It just melts my heart to see those two together,” Charmain said. “Dalen is a very sweet boy. He’s very sensitive. He’s very loving. He’s very caring. He’s soft. I know people think of that as a bad thing, but I think it’s good. All of the stereotypes of a young, Black man, he’s none of those.”
His whole life, Dalen has been chasing a dream of becoming a professional basketball player, which he hopes becomes a reality after his year in Wichita.
But along the way, a new dream emerged.
He wants to start a family one day and shower his children with love, praise and support — the things he wished he had from a father.
“I tell Dalen all of the time how proud I am of the man he’s become,” Charmain said. “He sees the relationship I have with my husband and he wants that. Because of everything he’s been through, he knows what not to do. And that’s why he’s going to be a wonderful husband and father some day.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2024 6:07 AM.
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