PrimeTime Sports

The Back Story of Big Boz

Cy Woods’ Samir Sehic Has Realized American Dream of His Parents

By Matt Malatesta

You can look into the eyes of Jasmin and Amra Sehic and see how proud they are of their son, Samir. I mean an eyes-welling-up-all-time pride. They want to hug him, boast about him and shout from the top of the mountain about their eldest son.

And why wouldn’t they? Cy Woods’ post Samir Sehic will sign with Vanderbilt in November on a full-ride scholarship to hoop for the Commodores.

To leave it at that would be like watching the first scene of your favorite movie and walking away.

What is great about high school sports is that you don’t know the back stories of your classmates, who you have trudged through the hallways with for years.

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Jasmin and Amra Sehic are the American Dream. I mean right out of Hollywood, stuff. Jasmin was an athlete in college in Bosnia’s capital city of Sarajevo. He qualified for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. All was right in the world? Wrong.

His Olympic dreams evaporated in March of 1992 when a Serbian wedding in downtown Sarajevo was attacked by Muslims, launching the Bosnian War that lasted five years. Jasmin went to war to protect his country, so good-bye Olympics.

“When that happened I came home for the war and left everything as school,” he said. “I never went back and left everything.”

A few years later, he and Amra were married and when she was three months pregnant with Samir, they fled the country.

Borrowing money from family, the Sehics flew to Atlanta via Chicago, where they were sponsored by an uncle. The year was 1996 and Atlanta ironically hosted the Olympics that year. Jasmin was just miles from the Games, but didn’t participate. They were Bosnian refugees, who didn’t speak English and had no money to go back home.

But they were hungry. Hungry for what they saw in the movies.

“I remember as a kid watching American movies and wanting all of this,” he said. “I wanted the house and family. Most of all I wanted a garage that opened at the click of a button.”

Jasmin held down four jobs at a time in Atlanta, before taking an opportunity in Dallas.

“Samir was always a big child and always eating,” Amra said. “He never knew we were struggling, but he did stay with a lot of friends and family while we worked long hours. He was very active and we had him in several activities at a young age.”

Because of his size, the Sehics put him in Upward Basketball. Good move. Samir struggled the first year, before dominating the Christian-based youth sports league his second year.

“I had a break-out year when I was like seven-years-old,” Samir laughed.

He continued down the path of hoops and played for a few local select teams, before trying out for the Texas Titans. He made the team, but just barely.

“I was added as the ninth player on the team and another kid was cut for me to join,” Samir said. “Right then I knew that basketball was a business. I wanted to be in the business. I was in the fifth-grade.”

The Titans were no pick-up, rag-tag AAU program. It’s funded and run by billionaire Kenny Trout of Dallas, who sold his company Excel Communication for $3.5 billion in 1998. It’s also the Nike sponsored team in Dallas.

“They had the best coaches, trainers, facilities and teams and I just steadily moved up the bench,” Samir said. “I was No. 9, then the next year moved to No. 8 and so on. I just put in a lot of hard work and me and my parents had a strategy to get where I am today.”

The Sehics then moved to Houston and picked out the Cypress-area after much research.

“It was not a basketball decision as to where we sent him to school, but an academic decision,” Amra said. “That’s most important to us.”

So what about the Titans?

“I was spoiled by the Titans,” Samir said. “They were so good to me. All the way up to my sophomore year, they would fly me to Dallas twice a week for practice. I would leave school early, drive to the airport, catch a plan, go to practice, catch a plane back to Houston and be home by 10:30 at night. I did that on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“On tournament weekends, they would fly me to Dallas, where they chartered planes to fly to the best events,” he said. “It was crazy. People just don’t know what goes on behind the scenes.”

For the past two summer seasons, Sehic moved over to the Houston Hoops – another Nike sponsored program. The proximity made their lives much easier.

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On the high school scene, Samir was beginning to make a name for himself, making varsity as a freshman for Cy Woods and coach Chris Draudt.

After a mediocre freshman season at Woods, the seedy select basketball world began trying to get their hooks in the big-man.

“I had a lot of opportunities after my freshman year to leave,” he said. “A lot of people were in my ear about changing schools. When it came down to it, I wanted to make my own legacy -- my own print. I wanted to make Cy Woods a name in Houston basketball. I feel like we are accomplishing that.”

Last year, the Wildcats made school history reaching the regional semis before falling to Bush High School.

“Our goal is nothing less than a state championship,” he said. “We have the team to accomplish that now. I’ve been here for four years and J.J. Caldwell is one of the best points guards in the nation. We have so much experience, maturity and passion for Cy Woods.”

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Samir’s dream became a reality before a packed house at the Cy Woods’ gym, where he made his announcement to play at Vanderbilt before the student body. He had replayed that in his mind since he was a kid. He carefully narrowed his 21 offers to five and then to one – Vandy.

“Basketball has opened so many doors for me,” he said. “It’s my business. Kids these days play on God-given talent and want to make it. You have to have the drive, passion and commitment to do it. I’m not the SportsCenter Top 10 highlight-guy, but I work hard and when you look at the box score you can see my impact. You have to have goals and I’ve check the first one off my list and that is to play DI basketball.

“I have future goals to play professionally and for the Bosnian National Team, but one thing at a time.”

As his parents sit on the couch with him with their hands on his knees, he knows the struggle, sacrifice and support they have made to make his dream a reality.

“My parents laid out the plan and have supported everything I have been trying to do,” he said. “They are a huge blessing and I know where they have come from to get me here.”

They pat him on the knee with the upmost pride as parents.