CLEVELAND, Ohio — Thirty years ago, David Lighty Sr. tried out for the Cavaliers. Today, his son, Ohio State fifth-year senior David Lighty, will take the court at The Q in the Buckeyes' NCAA Tournament opener against Texas-San Antonio, and the family hopes this Lighty has a lot more games in Cleveland ahead of him.
Lighty has made a mark in Columbus, winning more games than any player in the history of Ohio State basketball, but Cleveland is where it all started. And it's where the Lighty family dreams it may continue. With Lighty projected as a second-round NBA Draft pick, the family is hoping one team in particular calls the Lighty name.
"I believe if the Cavs made that decision, I think it'll be one of the best decisions they ever made," the elder Lighty said. "If it's God's will, we hope to see that. We truly hope to see that."
The young Lighty said he attended two or three Cavs game a year with his father, smiling in the locker room Thursday as he remembered watching Terrell Brandon and Bob Sura.
As a 7-year-old, he told his father he wanted to play on that court someday, which his father reminded him of this week. As a 9-year-old, he attended the festivities around the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, freezing up when a bus full of players disembarked next to his family's car in the parking lot.
"I had my pen and my paper ready, and when I saw that, I got shocked and amazed," Lighty said, "and we just stood there and looked at them. I didn't get one autograph."
After one game, when the Cavaliers allowed kids to take the floor and shoot a free throw, Lighty gave it a try -- and missed. But when Ohio State beat Cleveland State at The Q three seasons ago, Lighty did score 16 points.
Maybe this is idle chit-chat, and certainly the Buckeyes' chance at their first national championship in 51 years takes precedent. But when a Cleveland-area basketball player loves the Cavs and dreams of playing for them, that should mean at least a little something. Already, Lighty defends the Cavs to his friends.
"I tell them it happens," Lighty said of the team's struggles this season. "You can't do anything about it. We lost one of the best players in basketball, but it's about rebuilding and getting back together."
In 1981, his father thought he might be part of that, after his coach at Dyke College in Cleveland, the late Don Delaney -- who died last month -- was surprisingly named general manager of the Cavs. A scorer, unlike his defensive-minded son, Lighty said he made it until the final cuts before he was let go. Now a teacher of first-, second- and third-grade students in Cleveland, he saw what basketball did for him, as he played two years overseas in South America. And now he's seen what it's done for his son.
It brought him to The Q on Thursday afternoon, where Lighty came to the stands to greet his family and hold his 2-year-old niece after the Buckeyes' practice. His father stood in the stands in one of his son's No. 23 Ohio State jerseys, bearing this autograph, "To Pops, Love Always, David Lighty."
At the most, Lighty has six games left in his college basketball career, and then he'll move on. As the Ohio State bus pulled into the city Wednesday night, Lighty sent out this note on Twitter.
"I'm already home."
