![]() ![]() ![]() The neighborhood he grew up in had no public basketball courts, but as a child, Hield created his own hoops and backboards from scrap lumber, milk crates, and bicycle rims. I praise God because I couldn’t have done it without her. “I said I was going to get, and I made it. “When I saw her, I just told her I made it,” Hield said. After the final buzzer, Hield was quick to thank both God and Swann for getting him through a tough game. Hield later said that Scripture helped calm him when game time came, he delivered, scoring 37 points to tie an OU record for most points scored in an NCAA tournament game. It was a rare moment of doubt for the ebullient and positive young man, but his mother sent him Bible verses to focus on as he struggled to sleep the night before the quarter-finals. Nerves were getting the better of him, and he feared he would fail to perform in the game, letting his teammates, his coaches, and Sooner fans down. Hield has admitted that, prior to the University of Oklahoma’s recent matchup with the Oregon University Ducks-the game that sent the Sooners to the Final Four-he was feeling the strain. “When you’re down and you need somebody…there’s God,” she told Hield and his siblings. From the time they were toddlers, Swann encouraged her kids to pray. Swann instilled a reliance on God in her children, leading a family Bible study every morning and taking them to church every week. But if you put in that hard work, you can succeed.” “ learned from hard times,” Swann told CBS Sports. With six siblings, a mom and various other relatives living under the same roof, getting first crack at the bathtub was key. Swann and her kids frequently slept together on a pair of mattresses pushed together on the floor, and Hield recalls sneaking out of bed and tiptoeing quietly into the kitchen, where he would boil water for a bath. If you shared an extra piece of chicken today, maybe you’d get an extra drumstick tomorrow.” As Hield put it in a story he wrote for, “Everyone shared. Not only did she she put food on the table, the family’s door was always open to other kids from the neighborhood who needed a meal. His mother, Jackie Swann, a woman of great faith and a positive outlook, frequently reminded her seven children, “We may not have a lot of things, but it’s enough.”Ī single mom, Swann cleaned houses for wealthy families and often worked a second job catering weddings. While the NCAA tournament is the latest chapter in Hield’s career, his inspirational story is rooted in family, faith and hard work.īorn Chavano Rainier Hield in Eight Mile Rock, a township near Freeport, Hield was one of seven children. ![]()
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