A trophy case and a wall of fame adorn the walls of the entrance to the Decatur High School gym. Plaques highlight photos of basketball players from the ‘90s, such as Roberto Bergersen and Quincy Wilder, to more recent phenoms, such as Marcus Tibbs.
Alongside the players’ plaques are the accomplishments of Decatur teams through the years. District championship and state tournament plaques are scattered around the case.
Decatur’s head coach David Choi can’t help but get excited when he thinks about the school’s past glory on the basketball court.
“Growing up, we always heard stories about guys like Bergersen and Wilder,” Choi said. “People were really excited about being a part of Decatur basketball. For me and a lot of my friends, we grew up dreaming about that day.”
The coaches know that losses like the one Federal Way handed them are part of the growing pains of rebuilding a program. They also know what it takes to avoid those losses from their playing days.
Choi was a senior on the 2006-07 Decatur team that ended a seven-year drought of state tournament appearances for the Gators. That team would begin a six-year streak of the Gators making it to at least the regional round of the state playoffs.
In that time frame, they earned a fifth and sixth place finish at the state tournament. They were also district champions during the 2006-07 year. It was a run reminiscent of the ‘90s when the school made the state tournament eight out of 10 times.
Assistant coach Rob Oliver was a member of the 2009-10 team that took third place in the West Central District 4A tournament. They would go on to place fifth in the state tournament.
C-team coach Andrew Kim was a first-team all-league player as a senior in 2006, the year before Decatur ended their state tournament drought. They made it to the district playoffs, but just barely missed the tournament.
As coaches, they’re hoping to see the return of Decatur basketball to prominence in the city. For the past three years, the best the Gators could muster was a quick exit in the 2013 West Central District 3A tournament.
“The coaches definitely have a winning mentality,” junior Rashon Slaughter said. “They don’t like losing. Being that they were former students who helped build a winning tradition. We see what they went through when they were in high school. We definitely want to add on to that legacy.”
For the past two seasons, they have only played regular-season basketball. From the 2012-13 to 2014-15 seasons, the Gators were 23-39.
“I want these kids to experience what we experienced as players,” Choi said. “You look at the crowd from the Decatur/Federal Way game, there were plenty of seats out there. I remember when we were playing, and that was pretty recently, you had to be there by the JV game to get in. So that’s our job, getting it back to where it used to be.”
Last season they were 5-15 after moving back to 4A. While the move back to 4A has started rough for the team, many believe it was the correct move.
There is some thought that the move down to 3A turned off some of the talented athletes from the area. Instead of playing against those they grew up playing against at Federal Way and Todd Beamer, they were playing schools like Lakes, Enumclaw, Peninsula, Auburn Mountainview and Bonney Lake.
Some kids who seemed like they would go to Decatur ended up at the other schools in the area instead. The Gators began to miss out on some of the more talented players.
But now, they have kids who are excited to be Gators once again.
“Being a Decatur Gator means everything to me,” said junior Eddie Turner. “I didn’t want to come to this school at first because it was the underdog school. But I’ve been going here for three years now and I’ve learned so much by being here.”
The Gators are a relatively young team compared to the rest of the league. They have one senior on the roster. The majority are juniors this year.
“We’re young and we have a lot of underclassmen, but that’s never an excuse for why we might lose games,” junior Devon Kelley said.
“I feel like we’re a young team, but I feel like we’ve already been through a lot,” Slaughter said. “We understand what it takes to get a win. With the new offense and defense that we’re running, we can show the other teams we can make some noise.”
Slaughter transferred to Decatur from Federal Way High School last season.
The new offense and defense that they are running this year is a bit of a twist on what the coaches themselves ran under former Decatur coach Kevin Olson, who now coaches at Auburn Riverside. The coaches attribute both their system and winning mentality to Olson.
They have also carried on the positive culture that Olson had while coaching at Decatur.
“People are really sleeping on us,” Kelley said. “We haven’t made the playoffs in a couple years. We just come in here and work hard and hopefully we’ll make the playoffs.”
The season has not been easy for the Gators so far. They currently have a record of 4-5. They were winless in their first four league games.
Progress from last season has been evident as they have almost matched their win total from a year ago.
This season they have had a tendency to start games well, but they have struggled in the middle of games. They either led, were tied or trailed by a point after one quarter against Spanaway Lake, Jefferson, Todd Beamer and Mount Rainier this season. All of the games ended in losses.
They also led Federal Way 18-17 in the first quarter of their game before falling 104-52.
At the following practice, the team gathered around as coach Oliver talked about what went wrong against the Eagles. Oliver said that the Eagles were in better shape.
The frantic pace of the game, which had a total of 52 points combined scored in the first quarter, tired the Gators out early. It was a reminder to the team of how much harder they will have to work to reach their ultimate goal, the Tacoma Dome.
“I want them to see what it’s like to go to the dome,” Choi said. “We’re going to Yakima to play in the Sundome for a couple games and it’s a good opportunity for them to see what it’s like. But I want to play in one in February or maybe even March. It would make the world for them and put Decatur basketball back on the map.”
If the Gators are able to make it to the Tacoma Dome this season, they will do so without ever stepping onto their own home court for a game. Prior to the season, their gym was deemed unsuitable for play due to warping.
They have played their home games at Todd Beamer High School this season. As the team continues with their rebuild, it’s added another hurdle to overcome. Many of their home games have been played on what would usually be an off-night for all of the schools.
For Decatur’s lone senior Deonte Smith, this means he will not play in the team’s home gym as a Gator ever again.
“It’s hard for me because I’m a senior and it’s my last year,” Smith said. “At the same time, you just have to adjust to every situation. I’m just adjusting and making the best out of it. I want to build on this program in a good way. I want to see progress and for us to go as far as we can.”
“We’ve always played with a chip on our shoulder like we’re on the road,” Slaughter said. “We would love to have a real home court advantage, but we come out here and we know each guy has each other’s back. That’s the best thing about this team. We fight and we win or lose together.”
As the team works to complete its turnaround, the coaches are hoping to see more fans in the stands at games. They’ve turned to social media as a way to reach out to fans and young players.
The largest crowd the team has preformed in front of this season was at a recent pep assembly. Choi said that he could see the boost it gave the players at the assembly and is hoping that makes its way to the actual games at some point.
“These last two seasons have been the first losing seasons in awhile,” Choi said. “Decatur has always been winners. In this district, only Federal Way has made the tournament as much as us since 2006.”
Decatur is currently in the middle of a stretch of seven non-league games. They defeated Highline 88-57 on Dec. 21, their second biggest win of the season. They played Squalicum and Cedarcrest at the Yakima Sundome on Dec. 29 and 30 after the Mirror’s publishing deadline.
Their next game will be on the road against Kent-Meridian on Jan. 5. Their next league game will be against Thomas Jefferson on Jan. 15.
To make it to the post-season, the team will have a tall task ahead as they must finish as one of the top three teams from the South Puget Sound League Northwest.
“Basketball is the greatest vehicle to teach life lessons in my opinion,” Choi said. “You face so much adversity. They face adversity together and that teaches them everything. We’re really trying to help them for the real world and I think we’re doing a good job.”
Deonte Smith shoots during one of Decatur’s basketball drills at their practice on Dec. 14 at Decatur High School. Terrence Hill, the Mirror
