Dr. Quinn Headen remembers the conversation like it was yesterday. It was one of those small moments that grow over time as his students do. He was the assistant principal at Meridianville Middle School in Hazel Green, a growing but tight-knit community in north Alabama near Huntsville. One of his students, a young lady named Nakerra Lewis, approached with some news about her younger brother, who was 10 or 11 at the time.
"She told me, 'My brother can play basketball,' " Headen said. "I said, 'We'll see.' "
Headen wanted to see for himself so he started watching her brother play ball.