Story more than Seattle kid makes good; Peyton Siva leads Louisville to NCAA title
Apr 9, 2013, 8:10 AM | Updated: 8:51 am
Louisville guard Peyton Siva reacts to defeating Michigan to win the NCAA Division I National Championship on Monday, April 8, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal Constitution, Curtis Compton)
(AP Photo/Atlanta Journal Constitution, Curtis Compton)
Peyton Siva saved his best for last, scoring 14 of his 18 points in the second half as Louisville feverishly erased a 12-point deficit.
Louisville won the NCAA Tournament Monday night with a thrilling 82-76 win over Michigan. It was a big night for Siva, a Seattle kid.
His game has impressed many, including ESPN’s Jay Bilas.
“I thought Peyton Siva was magnificent in the second half. He made a mistake here or there, but so what. He had four steals for the game, 14 points in the second half, 18 overall,” said Bilas. “He was phenomenal.”
But that Siva was even able to thrive on this national stage is pretty amazing, considering his childhood here in Seattle: brothers and sisters in jail, a father in and out of the system, running and using drugs, mom working three jobs just to keep food on the table.
“I really didn’t get it. I really didn’t understand it. I was young. I didn’t really know why he (his dad) was in and out of jail and where he was at times,” Siva told CBS Sports.
Then came one day when he was 13. His dad Robert disappeared for days. Worried sick, Siva borrowed a car and started driving around Seattle looking for him. He found him in a drug den, contemplating suicide.
“He was really depressed, he had a gun. He didn’t want to live anymore. And I was just like, ‘that’s stupid, that’s being selfish. Why would you want to take your life when you have other people around you that care about you. You’re not the only person in the world, stop thinking about yourself.'”
It was that day, Robert turned his life away from drugs and the gang-life and tried to work his way back into family.
Siva’s dad recalled their conversation. “I sat there and we just cried our tears out. He was like, ‘Dad, I know you love me. I know you’d do anything to be there for me. But I really need you.'”
Siva went on to start for Franklin High School, where he was named Mr. Basketball for Washington his senior year. He has quietly led Louisville at point guard for four years, and he says it all goes back to the day inside the drug den with his father holding a gun.
“I appreciate it all the time. My dad not pulling the trigger, putting the gun back,” said Siva, because otherwise, “I don’t know where I’d be.”
This is a lot more than local kid wins a title story. This a local kid wins at life story.
