Basketball
Favorite athlete: Allen Iverson
Favorite team: Philadelphia 76ers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating Cheltenham and Council Rock South at Truman
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Missing a layup from an offensive rebound
Music on iPod: Hip-Hop and R&B
Future plans: Go to college and be successful in what I majored in and continue to play basketball
Words to live by: ‘Nothing worth having comes easy.’
One goal before turning 30: To be successful and give back to my family and community
One thing people don’t know about me: What I had to go through to get to where I am now. If it weren’t for my mom and dad, only God knows where I’d be right now.
Kenny Osborne’s name isn’t among the list of leading scorers in the Suburban One League. He’s not the type of player who lives in the spotlight or grabs the headlines.
But when it comes to heart and attitude, there are few who can compare with the Harry S. Truman senior forward.
“Kenny’s a special kid,” said Truman boys’ basketball coach Alan Munford. “He works extremely hard. He’s a kid that, if he could run through a brick wall for me, he certainly would try. He’s one of the guys on the team who is so selfless, who thinks about his team more than himself.http://www.univest.net/
“I wish I had five of him. He works consistently hard, never complains, always asks what he can do to get better.”
Osborne does so because, quite simply, there is nothing he would rather do than play basketball.
“I can’t explain it, I just have to play,” he said. “I don’t know what to do with myself if I can’t play basketball.”
Osborne’s primary role on the Tigers’ squad was to come off the bench, play solid defense, clean the glass and be a presence in the paint. It’s a role, Munford said, that Osborne accepted and in which he excelled.
“You look at a team like Chester (the top seed in the District One playoffs),” Munford said. “Those kids are talented, but they also have role players on their team who have accepted their roles. If you don’t have those type of kids like Kenny in your program, your program will suffer. You need selfless kids on your team to promote what you’re preaching as a coach: ‘Be mindful of others on the court, share the ball, distribute the ball.’
“I don’t think you can win championships without kids like that on your team.”
This season, for the first time in Osborne’s high school career, the Tigers qualified for the District One playoffs. The team posted a 6-8 record in a difficult National Conference, 10-13 overall.
“I enjoyed this season a lot,” Osborne said. “Our goal for this year was to make it back to the playoffs. I wanted to know how it felt to be in the playoffs.
“It felt great to make it. Even though we lost (to third-seeded Coatesville in the opening round), it still felt good. We really wanted to make it to playoffs, we needed it bad. It was a hump we needed to get over.”
It was a hump that Osborne played no small part in helping the Tigers climb.
“His rebounding ability has catapulted our team this year,” Munford said. “He’s won us a couple games this year. Without his rebounding, I’m not sure if we’re in the playoffs this year.”
It wasn’t always easy for Osborne, who admits he had to change his game significantly once he got into high school.
“When I was younger, I never went down low,” said the 6-2 Osborne. “I was taller than everyone else when I was younger, but I never thought about going to the block and posting up. I always shot the ball, I never drove to the basket. When I got to high school and Coach Munford, that’s all I’ve been doing, going to the block. I didn’t want to do it at first. But I just had to accept it and do it if I wanted to keep playing basketball.
“I think it’s natural to me now. I’m able to do well in the block. I’d rather go to the block than shoot.”
His willingness to make those adjustments is part of what makes Osborne not just a quality player, but a strong leader for the younger players on the Truman team.
“He’s been a quiet leader,” Munford said. “Kenny’s certainly not a ‘yell’ guy, he’s not going to get in kids’ faces. He’s more of a lead-by-example guy. He comes to practice on time, comes to games on time, does what he needs to do in the classroom.
“Kenny is one of those guys, I don’t have to tell him to lift weights, I don’t have to tell him to condition - he’s willing to do it on his own. I definitely think the younger kids benefit from having Kenny in the program.”
Though the season is over, Osborne is far from finished with basketball. He’s been playing around the neighborhood in the days since the Tigers were ousted from the District One playoffs, and he has no plans to stop any time soon.
After graduation, Osborne is looking toward college, where he plans to trying out for his school’s basketball team.
Munford, for one, has no doubt that Osborne will be able to do for that team what he has done for the Tigers over the course of his high school career.
“Kenny is an extremely kind-hearted individual who cares about what he’s doing and will work hard in any situation,” Munford said. “Kids like that change your program because they’re so willing to work hard for whatever they want. There’s not a lot of kids like that out there. A lot of kids work hard, but they want something in return. Kenny wants nothing in return. He just wants to play basketball and whatever happens, happens.”
