By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH COUNTY, Ind. – Tanya Crevier and her nephew, Caleb Crevier, brought their motivational message to students at Wabash, Manchester and Northfield high schools last week.
Tanya is a world famous basketball handler and is a member of numerous Halls of Fame. Caleb holds a world record of spinning 30 basketballs at the same time.
The pair performed numerous tricks with the basketball by themselves, together and with various students and staff members at the three schools.
One of the highlights of the show was Caleb doing tricks with the basketball, as well as juggling, while riding atop a 10-foot unicycle.
The duo brought two students from the crowd and, while spinning a basketball on the tip of water bottle, poured the water from the bottle into the students’ mouths. In another trick, the pair pulled two other students from the crowd and juggled two basketballs and an apple. Every time the apple came by the student, the Creviers placed it by the students’ mouths for them to take a bite.
For their final trick, the pair each spun 10 basketballs at the same time.
In between tricks, the pair talked about character, and to have HOPE — Humility, Others, Purpose and Excellence.
Tanya told the students that she loved basketball, but, because of her stature, many told her that she was too short to play the game. She said she didn’t let that deter her and that she would practice at least one hour every day to work on her various skills.
As a result of her hard efforts, she graduated from South Dakota State University where she was a four-sport letter winner. She was also named the South Dakota Female Athlete of the Year and played for three years in the Women’s Professional Basketball League (WPL).
She is a member of the Women’s National Basketball Hall of Fame, the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Hall of Champions and also was named a South Dakota State University Distinguished Alumni.
Caleb was a diver at South Dakota State and, with his basketball skills, was a finalist on the “America’s Got Talent” television show.
The visit was sponsored by the Fellowship for Christian Athletes.