All sports are full of unsung heroes. These are the athletes that are willing to put in the time and the energy, not necessarily to be the best, but to be a significant contributor on their teams. In basketball, these are the players who are willing to take the charge, make it difficult for other’s to score and who impact the game without the stats necessarily reflecting their impact. That effort is what has made Mario West Atlanta’s underdog hero.
Mario West originally made an impact for Georgia Tech where he walked on as a freshman and ended his career with 116 steals. His hard work and determination paid off and eventually got West into the NBA despite not being drafted. He ended up on the Atlanta Hawks, not as a starter, but as a player who energized the entire team. His hard work and tenaciousness not only helped him in his own career but challenged his teammates in practice and helped change the momentum in important games.
In 2009, West joined the Red Claws, a team in the NBA D-League. While he was an unsung hero on the Hawks, he became a hero on the Red Claws making the team and his teammates better. Unfortunately, he announced that he is leaving the team to go back to Atlanta to be with a sick family member. This act shows that he is not just an unsung hero on the court, but off the court as well.