Basketball is a family affair

To the men’s basketball team, he is known as David Carr, jersey number 35.

To professors, he is an insightful student.

But to two-year-old Michael Carr, David Carr is daddy.

Unexpected news

It was a Tuesday, 2011.

Then-freshman, Zalena Puentes-Davis sat in her Santa Clara dorm room cradling her cell phone between her ear and shoulder. David was on the other line.

A pregnancy test was in Zalena’s hand.

“I was trying to convince her to take it,” David said. “I knew something was up when she went quiet.”

Separated by almost 700 miles and overwhelmed with their realization, they both started crying.

Eighteen years young, in a relationship only a year old, and destined to become parents. In both David’s and Zalena’s minds, abortion was not an option.

“There was never a doubt in my mind about what I was going to do,” Zalena said. “It took a while for us to be okay with it. But now that he (Michael) is here, he is the best thing in our lives.”

Zalena had her mind made up, but a road of changes lay ahead. She told her mom, Denise Puentes, the next day.

At first, Puentes freaked out, knowing her baby was to have a baby. Puentes saw Zalena’s education and future flash before her eyes. Slowly, with reassurance from Zalena, she came around.

“I was shocked and scared,” Puentes said. “I had Zalena young as well. She has always been a confident person and to see her tell me she was okay, that she was good, I knew she could do it.”

Zalena hopped on a flight home to Oregon that Friday and told the rest of her family.

Her parents quickly warmed up to the idea that Zalena would soon be a mom. But her grandfather with whom she had been close, did not speak to her for five months.

With a full ride to her dream school, Santa Clara, in the balance, Zalena tried to figure out a way to stay in California and raise Michael while scheduling occasional visits to see David. Zalena realized that she would need to make sacrifices for her new family.

Realizing that David would be a better father if he could continue to play, and with her family supporting her decision, she enrolled at UP and prepared to move to Portland.

“I needed to finish school and I needed support,” Zalena said. “All our family was up here. It made the most sense for me to come back to Portland.”

Making changes

On The Bluff, David held in his secret.

He was petrified by the thought that his scholarship would be taken and he would have to trade in his Pilot purple Nikes for a Diaper Genie. David loved basketball and he did not know how being a father would change things. His biggest fear was telling his coaches.

“I didn’t know how they would react,” David said. “It was scary to realize that (I was going to be a dad) but I had been around kids my whole life. It was more how people outside (of the family) would react, not how I was going to handle it. I knew we could do it, but I needed to make sure the school and coaches wouldn’t take my scholarship and my parents wouldn’t kill me.”

David decided to tell assistant coach Eric Jackson first, as a practice for telling head coach Eric Reveno.

When Jackson took it well, David decided it was time to tell Reveno.

Reveno was startled by the news, but in hindsight, David realizes he had nothing to be afraid of.

“That (pregnancy) wasn’t something he envisioned telling his college coach,” Reveno said. “As a college coach, I have never had anyone tell me that before, so my reaction, when I get news like that, I drop into neutral and just try to evaluate and see what does he need here.”

As a father himself, Reveno understood the trials David would face. While Reveno was previously concerned with David’s assist and turnover ratios, now he was worried about David as a father.

“You just switch gears,” Reveno said. “As a dad, when someone talks about having a baby, your natural instinct kicks in, and you realize that this is more important than a lot of stuff.”

Still, David waited until summer 2012 to tell his teammates. When he stood up in front of everyone in the locker room to share the news, they didn’t believe him.

It took some convincing. But the Pilots understood.

And then he was here. Sept. 11, 2012, Michael Carr was born.

It was sitting in the hospital room at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital that Zalena’s father, Zack Davis can pinpoint as the moment his worries about his baby girl becoming a mother disappeared.

“The nurse is sitting with Michael and David,” Davis said. “The nurse says ‘You need to hold him like this in order to get him to eat’ and David goes, ‘No, I got this.’ And then I knew he was going to be there and I knew at 19, he was going to take responsibility. We were going to be ok.”

Basketball lullaby

Both David and Zalena called upon their families to help. They moved in with Zalena’s mother after Michael was born. Zalena jokes that it doesn’t just take a village to raise a child, it takes multiple villages.

“We have probably the best family,” Zalena said. “If we didn’t have our parents and our siblings to watch him for us when we are at work or at school, then I don’t think we would have been able to (do it). The fact that they are willing to help us whenever is key to functioning.”

David’s younger siblings are homeschooled, which allows for a built in day-care. Michael spends his days with David’s family while David and Zalena are on campus.

For a while, Michael cried constantly.

As a newborn, the only time Michael was not crying is when he was at a basketball game.

Zalena would settle into the cushioned seats of the Chiles Center at every moment she could to take a break from Michael’s screams. The booming announcer and bounce of the ball against the court lulled Michael to sleep. There, Zalena was able to work on homework.

“He never slept more than three hours at a time and would cry for two hours,” Zalena said. “But the second we went to basketball games, he just would stop, sit in his car seat, and watch the game. I took him to as many games as I could because that was my sane moment.”

Michael’s love of basketball comes from David. But at UP, David isn’t seen as the frontrunner on the court. Two ACL injuries on opposite knees hindered his career greatly. The first tear occurred when Michael was four months old.

“It was tough both times,” David said. “A lot of anger. I couldn’t do much. The first month or so I was unable to walk on my own and they had to do a lot for me.”

Zalena describes David as being a worse baby than Michael during the injury, joking that she had two babies to take care of.

Just as David’s torn ACL was healed, he tore his other ACL during practice drills in the Chiles Center.

Another trial they would have to overcome: He continued to travel with his team but never played in another game as a Pilot.

Still, with basketball as a lullaby and a family of babysitters to help, Zalena was able to take only a semester off of college before continuing her quest to attain her bachelor’s in finance.

Zalena and David got married on Aug. 2, 2014. They had been engaged since Zalena was pregnant, but chose not to rush into marriage, feeling that an engagement was a big enough commitment.

Now, David, Zalena and Michael live with David’s parents and five of his seven siblings. While it can be hectic, it makes it easier for David and Zalena to leave Michael knowing he has fun with his aunts and uncles.

Michael has not lost his love for basketball. David describes him as a “Mini Me,” always looking to dribble a ball.

With a year of eligibility left and graduation quickly approaching in May, David hopes to play one more year of college basketball while earning his master’s degree in exercise science. Ultimately, he would like to work as a coach.

Zalena is on track to graduate in December and hopes to go into corporate finance.

Zalena’s father is exceedingly proud.

“I think their story, seeing the three of them together, the fact that one is graduating and one is about to. And seeing the beautiful young man Michael is, I mean they love that child,” Davis said. “You can’t get some people who have everything to love their kids. Which to me, it is important that everyone understands, say what you want, but they got through it, and they aren’t done, and they love that child. It is all about Michael.”

 

 

Malika Andrews is the Sports Editor for The Beacon. She can be reached at andrewsm17@up.edu or on Twitter @malika_andrews.