By Thomas Sellers Jr.
With the mass exodus from Arlington High School, one soon-to-be former Tiger went with the monicor of “Go North, young man.”
BJ Gilmore needed an ideal landing spot to close out his prep basketball career. Hearing good things about Millington Trojans Head Coach Jewell Gates and underclassmen like Seth Grandberry and Blake Garner, the younger Gilmore joined his parents Marsheila and Brian Sr. in doing additional research on the Trojan program and Millington Central Middle High School.
“It feels perfect for me,” BJ said of his decision to attend Millington. “I had to pick a place to take on a bigger role to prepare me for college. You have to be a big dog in college.
“I was kind of excited to be here because I could find a school that would provide me with that opportunity to be a leader,” he added.
Sharpening his leadership skills and helping Millington to become one of the top teams in its district during 2021-22 helped land Gilmore a scholarship offer from Columbia State and to play for Chargers Head Coach Winston Neal.
“It’s good for him and his family,” Gates said. “It has a place with Millington Basketball also. It shows the players that you can come here and be successful. As a young man, young lady you can go anywhere and be successful. It’s up to them and what they do.
“He’s exceeded what I originally thought,” the veteran coach continued. “I originally thought he was a catch-and-shoot type of guy. He’s much more than that. He’s gotten better and has improved everyday. He’s gotten better defensively. He still has some things to work on as we all do, even me. But what it’s all about is getting a kid to be the best version he can be.”
Brian Sr. said the environment provided by Gates fulfilled his expectations and validated why he wanted his son to finish his high school career in black and gold.
“Actually I knew he was going to bring that winning culture over here because we’ve been knowing Seth for a long time,” he noted. “BJ and Seth have probably been playing against or with each other since they were 9 and 10. We saw what they were missing.
“And after the Arlington situation with everybody going their separate ways we did look at other schools,” Brian continued. “We came and watched one of the games and we said he’ll be a good fit for them. He’s the piece that they’re missing. He’s that key piece. Looks like we were right with them being No. 2 in the district.”
The Gilmores signed up BJ for basketball when he was about 7 years old. Growing up in the Memphis/Bartlett area, BJ was an upcoming guard.
It was about the age of 11 when the Gilmores realized he had the ability to be a premiere shooting guard.
“His style is unorthodox — the plays he makes,” Brian Sr. noted. “Then he’s stretched out. Last year BJ was listed at 5’9 close to 5’10. Over the end of the summer he hit a legit 4 inch growth spurt.”
Under Gates, Gilmore was pushed to focus more on defense. And within the offensive system, Gates had Gilmore as a top scoring option.
“He’s developed into more than he originally thought he could do, like going by people,” Gates said. “But what I am most impressed by his improvement is he’s gotten a little bit better at defense. That helps us because he is a long wing player.”
Now those skills will be heading to Columbia where Gilmore will be reunited with old Arlington teammate Christopher McKnight. The Chargers compete in the TJCCAA and have a chance for a national championship in the NJCAA.
“He’ll make a good adjustment there,” Brian Sr. said. “Went to the game when they played Southwest. The coach did a good job and made good adjustments. And one of his former teammates is there, Chris from Arlington. BJ wanted to go somewhere where he could develop and he also knew someone there.”
Marsheila said the one consistent factor about her son’s basketball journey through the years has been his winning personality.
“He’s always been a good leader with other kids,” she said. “He’s always gotten along with everybody. He’s always made a lot of friends. Whenever he’s on a team, a lot of his teammates look up to him. He’s done a great job over the years in progressing in that also.”
BJ said it was the balance at home that helped him be a good teammate and overcome all adversity that came his way over the years.
“My Dad, everything always had my back and never gave up on me,” he recalled. “That’s what a dad is supposed to do.
My emotional rock, my mom knows if my dad was too hard I would go to her and she’ll make me feel better,” BJ added. “Then it was time to go back to work.”
Other key parts of BJ’s support system to the college level were his uncle Brandon and grandfather Kelvin. Both were in attendance Feb. 11 in the Millington Performing Arts Center for the milestone. Big sister Kristyona, a Middle Tennessee State graduate, works nearby and will keep an eye on her little brother.
BJ said with all his pieces in place, he can’t wait to live out his dream of playing college basketball.
“It feels great I’ve been working for this my whole life,” he concluded. “Time to stay humble.”
