How many times have we heard of someone seeing talent in a young athlete and deciding to use them for their own gain?

It’s happened again at North Rowan High School, this time to star basketball players and recent graduates Bryan McCullough, Marcus Reddick and Marcus Lawing.

The person doing the using? A 1988 North graduate named Craig Thomas.

Before you jump to any conclusions, understand that Thomas is not a sleazy agent or an assistant to Jerry Tarkanian.

Also, understand this. Craig Thomas has used the Cavalier stars in an absolute perfect way.

As role models.

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Thomas didn’t play sports at North Rowan. He was a professed bookworm. But he was taught the right values at home. There was a two-parent household. Both parents were educators. There was no profanity. No smoking. No drinking.

Thomas always considered himself lucky. So when he took a job in Rowan County working with at-risk kids, he simply wanted to help any way he could.

That’s where the Cavalier hoop stars come in.

One of Thomas’ jobs was taking at-risk kids to events, like basketball games. What better place than my alma-mater, Thomas reasoned.

And without even knowing it, McCullough, Reddick and Lawing became heroes.

“Those guys didn’t know the kids,” Thomas said. “But the kids knew the players by name,” said Thomas. “They’d get excited, yelling, ‘Look what Reddick did!’ Or they might say something about the Law Dog (Lawing)or Big Mac(McCullough).

“Itold McCullough and Reddick what positive role models they were and how the kids admired them.

“They were like, ‘Really?’”

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At-risk kids, according to Thomas, usually come from single-parent homes, which sometimes means low-income homes. Sometimes, it is downright poverty.

They must have someone to to look up to — and not necessarily on the playing fields — but in the classroom.

“We’d love for all kids to make As and Bs,” Thomas says, “but all kids can’t do that. If they’re making a D, we tell them to shoot for a C. A lot of kids I know are gifted athletically. They need encouragement in the classroom.”

Again, this is where McCullough, Reddick and Lawing surface.

“Ihad seen their names in the paper on the all-A honor roll,” Thomas said. “What you do off the court — in the classroom — is more important now, in my opinion, that what they do on the court.”

So while North Rowan was surging to its greatest season ever, finishing 27-1, the greatest achievement came with the books.

“A lot of kids just see the sports but these guys showed you can do both, balance both and excel in both,” Thomas said.

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In his own way, Thomas has become a coach of sorts. He tries to direct kids, motivate kids and inspires kids. In fact, he clearly remembers when he became inspired to help.

“I had just been to a church conference in Winston-Salem and it was around midnight,” Thomas said. “I saw a kid on a bicycle and I stopped to speak with him. I was high from the conference and I wanted to share what I had just experienced. He was the first person I saw.”

Thomas refuses to take credit for a kid who does improve his life, rather pushing the attention toward a Bryan McCullough, who never had to worry about getting into college because of his upbringing. Grades were never a problem. And that’s why the 6-foot-6 McCullough will play as a freshman at UNC-Asheville.

“Sometimes, we see players in the NBA or NFL as role models,” noted Thomas, “but a lot of times, the best role models are local. The kids can relate to them. They can reach out and touch them, so to speak.”

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Another school year is over in Rowan County.

When the year began, the local sports world had expectations for certain athletes. We shook our heads at the kids who didn’t fulfill their potential and we nodded knowingly when other athletes succeeeded.

We’ll do the same thing next year.

But three athletes we never worried about were Bryan McCullough, Marcus Lawing and Marcus Reddick. They did exactly what everyone expected of them on the as athletes. They made an impact on the area.

But, as Craig Thomas is quick to point out to his at-risk kids, those three made an even bigger impact by being good citizens too.

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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4256 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com .