Formerly unhoused basketball player to receive courage award

The NCAA tournament is in the home stretch. On his way to receive an honor and catch the college basketball championship game is an athlete out of Long Beach, whose family had experienced homelessness.

Jeremiah Armstead will be in Arizona to receive the Perry Wallace Most Courageous Award from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

Armstead is on the basketball team at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the first player from a historically Black college or university (HBCU) or NAIA school to receive the Perry Wallace Most Courageous Award. 

Wallace played at Vanderbilt and made history as the first Black man to play basketball in the Southeastern Conference.        

To understand that courage award, Armstead visited Pearl High School, the home of the 1960s player, Perry Wallace, in which the award was named after.

The school in Nashville is now named Martin Luther King Magnet at Pearl High.

Armstead graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School but is from Philadelphia. The 20-year year old was back in Long Beach for Spring Break where he was honored before the Long Beach City Council.

As he addressed the board, he said, "I'm a believer that through Christ, all things can happen."

He was surrounded by family and supporters. Among the nonprofits that have helped his mom and siblings secure housing are Interval House, the Sisters of Watts, and the Do Good Daniels Foundation. 

The nonprofit, We Educate Brilliant Minds, also worked to get him into college. In the summer before college, the family had been staying at a domestic violence shelter. They’d experienced homelessness for four years with Armstead, at 6-foot-5, even having to sleep in the car with his family.

Section 8 housing means much for his mom, Mindy Brooks and siblings Armani and Marcus. It has helped take the stress off of Jeremiah while he was away at college.

"I'm very thankful for me and my kids having our own space and roof over our head," Brooks said.  

Armstead says he would like to one day open up a shelter for women and children.

The award ceremony happens just hours at the sports writers luncheon before the NCAA championship. 

Armstead received an all-expense paid trip and is bringing along his little brother Marcus, who plays high school basketball. Armstead never played competitively on a team until his last year of high school.

Fox 11 has been covering his story for the past two and a half years.