Grant High School senior Theo Friedman ambles through the halls between classes, a bag heavy with books resting on his shoulders. He’s headed to AP Calculus BC, the highest math class offered at the school.
When he gets there, his classmates are anxiously anticipating what’s going to be on the test they’re about to take. But for Friedman, that is the last thing on his mind. He knows the content like the back of his hand.
Friedman’s mind is racing for another reason. In a of couple hours, he’ll be out on the court doing what he loves – leading the Grant boys basketball team to another probable victory. The court is waiting for him. “I don’t get nervous anymore,” says Freidman. “I’m always just ready for the game to start. I’m anxious to get out there.”
Friedman knocks out a bit of homework as the visiting team strolls into the gym. The game comes and goes, and Friedman leaves the court unable to suppress his confident smirk. He drops 33 points on the Milwaukee Mustangs in a hard-fought victory.
At 6-foot-1, Friedman is currently the leading scorer and captain of Grant’s team. But he isn’t just any basketball player. He has a 4.1 weighted grade point average and dreams of making an impact in the world of money as a financial planner. For Friedman, it’s all about the work ethic: his determination is what defines him.
“I want to help other people save money and help people better their situation,” Friedman says. “I hate seeing people throw it away for no reason. I cringe whenever I see people waste money and complain later when they’re not where they want to be.”
Talk to his father, Kevin Friedman, and you’ll understand why the highly ranked academic all star is also one of the school’s top student athletes.
“He doesn’t have a ton of free time, but I don’t think he really minds. He spends his time the way he wants to,” says his father, Kevin Friedman. “When people are doing something that they really care about, it doesn’t feel like it’s a sacrifice.”
Friedman keeps his basketball skills sharp, works around 10 hours per week, and spends time with his younger siblings. He wears many hats and has little room for error.
“Time management is one of my strong suits,” Friedman says. “I figure out how long it’s going to take to do a certain task, and then I plan out my day based on that.”
Born and raised in Northeast Portland, Friedman’s aptitude for athletics emerged at an early age. He played football, soccer and lacrosse. But Kevin Friedman saw something in him when he played basketball early on, using a miniature hoop around the house.
“He really always loved playing basketball,” Kevin Friedman says of his son. “He started to excel around second grade when he realized he was good at scoring.”
Friedman was 8 when his parents split up, forcing him to alternate households all the time. While the separation of parents can be hard on a lot of kids, for Friedman it wasn’t all that troubling. He recalls that he “just kind of accepted it.”
He says he knew the separation was for the best. He remembers hearing his parents argue over little things quite often, and looking back, he knows they’re much happier after parting ways. “It didn’t have the biggest effect on me,” Friedman says. “It was just an annoyance.”
Later, Friedman’s mom, June Bancroft, found a new relationship and get married. When Friedman was 12, his mom had a baby girl. For Bancroft, this marked the beginning of a new chapter in her life. For Friedman, it meant a whole new set of responsibilities.
Ever since the birth of his now 5-year-old sister, Friedman found himself babysitting for a few hours here and there and doing quite a bit of entertaining. “You’re more of a permanent babysitter than you are in some ways,” Friedman says. “You don’t get as much of the attention.”
But he doesn’t mind and he’s glad he gets to spend time bonding with his younger siblings who are between eight months and 5 years old. “They love Theo,” Bancroft says. “They idolize him.”
Bancroft acknowledges that she can’t focus as much on her older son, but there’s no way she can be more proud of him. “He’s just a great person,” says Bancroft, who seldom misses her son’s games. “He’s a great basketball player, a good role model and he gets great grades.”
Kevin Friedman, while equally proud, has never really been surprised by his son’s outstanding performance in high school. He saw it coming from an early age. He recalls a time when his son was in middle school, where his school had a magazine subscription fundraiser. Intrigued by the prizes, young Friedman went out of his way to win, selling the most subscriptions in the school by going door-to-door and contacting relatives and friends.
“That was one of the first things that showed me his determination and how goal oriented he is,” Kevin Friedman says.
When high school came along for Theo Friedman, he decided to set basketball as one of his top priorities. Going into tryouts freshman year, he relied on his innate ability to score points to land a starting spot on the freshman team. But Friedman wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to be on varsity.
“Before freshman year, I didn’t really know that people worked out to get better,” Friedman admits. “I thought the guys in the NBA were just naturally good at basketball.”
From here, he began waking up three-and-a-half hours before school to work on his skills. Long before the sun came up, Friedman would be at 24 Hour Fitness working on shooting, one-on-one moves and everything else related to basketball.
“At first he kinda had to because they had practice that early,” recalls Kevin Freidman. “But even when they weren’t practicing, he kept doing it.”
During his spring break freshman year, Friedman started training with Nathan Smith, a one of his closest friends who goes to Benson. That break, Friedman and Smith made the decision to dedicate the approaching summer to improving their basketball skills. For some high schoolers, that might have meant shooting baskets for 30 minutes and then playing video games. Friedman and Smith were on a mission.
“We wanted spots on the varsity team,” says Smith. “And we both wanted to play college basketball.”
That summer, Friedman and Smith spent an average of four hours per day training together, often accompanied by the assistant varsity coach from Benson, Alando Simpson.
“That’s really when his skills started to develop,” says Friedman’s father. “He was playing at a higher level.”
Simpson, who has worked with Friedman for many years, noticed the same thing.
“He’s a coach’s dream because he understands how basketball works and he’s not selfish,” Simpson says. “He’s one of the smartest kids I’ve ever been around.”
Friedman watched as his morning and afternoon training sessions yielded nearly immediate results. Shooting began to feel natural for him. But he knew he had a lot more to work on if he was going to compete against bigger and faster guys on varsity.
Going into tryouts sophomore year, Friedman was much more confident in himself. He was quickly able to distance himself as one of the better players in his class, and as a result he found himself on varsity roster. Aside from a handful of games that year, he’s been there ever since.
“He’s a really relaxed guy,” says Tay Arigbon, a friend and teammate of Friedman. “He knows what he’s doing. He knows where to be on the court, and we set him screens to get him open. We know he has a high chance of making the shot.”
Friedman’s talent – both on the court and in the classroom – didn’t come without what some would consider a price. During the school week, most of his time is spent on schoolwork and basketball, leaving little or no time for socializing. While he always saves time on the weekends for friends, he makes sure to steer clear of anything that could put him in a questionable situation.
“You’ve gotta avoid stuff like that, even like parties,” Friedman says. “I’ve had to think about how every decision I make will affect my future and decide whether it’s worth it or not.”
But these aren’t the only things Friedman has made adjustments to in his life. “After getting focused on basketball I had to change my eating, sleeping, and some of my friends to set my priorities,” he says.
In addition, Friedman can recall various instances in which he had to stay home from family vacations in order to not miss basketball games or tournaments.
Friedman’s driven and goal-oriented personality is reflected in most everything he does. His father remembers when he got his driver’s license the day of his 16th birthday, after spending years saving money to buy himself a BMW. More recently, Friedman has been working 10 hours a week refereeing youth basketball and working at Domino’s Pizza.
That drive translates over into the classroom. Ask any teacher and he or she will tell you that Friedman is a top-notch student.
Jim Tucker, who currently teaches Friedman in AP Calculus BC, regards him very highly. Tucker, a former basketball coach, not only admires Friedman’s talent on the court, but also his relentless persistence in the classroom.
“He’d be the kid I’d like to have for a neighbor,” Tucker jokes. “He’s very respectful, he’s got a great sense of humor and is just an all around great kid.”
Tucker always sees Friedman asking questions during class, coming in to get extra help before school or at lunch and doing everything necessary to succeed in his class.
Liz Mahlum, Friedman’s counselor, couldn’t agree more. She’s been very impressed with Friedman since his freshman year when they first met, and has always been struck by his refreshing humility, easygoing personality and discipline.
“Theo is so humble,” says Mahlum. “He’s a really excellent young man but he doesn’t boast about himself. It’s really amazing when you look at the amount of rigor he has had in his schedule and the amount of time he dedicates to basketball. I hold him in really, really high regard, and he;s one of my top students.”
It’s Friedman’s innate ability to score, his high basketball IQ and unselfish play that makes him so important to the Grant team, says Paul “Duper” Kelly, Grant’s new varsity coach.
“He’s the glue,” says Kelly. “He’s the one guy that holds everything together. There’s no other way I would have it than having him be one of my captains.”
Friedman is one of the players Kelly knows he can always rely on – he knows that he’s willing to do anything that’s asked of him to win.
“He’s not a loud and emotional type of guy, but when that ball goes up he turns into an animal on the attack,” Kelly says. “For anyone who works as hard as Theo, you can do nothing but respect him. He’s a kid that steps up in big moments, and he’s not afraid to put it on the line. There’s no question in my mind that he can play Division 1.”
