Savannah basketball fans are well acquainted with Windsor Forest’s D’Ante Bass, whose high-end dunks, spectacular playing and prolific songs have helped the Knights program become one of the best in Georgia with several deep playoff runs .
But some may not know the backstory of Bass, the 6-foot-7 star who signed on Friday to play in Georgetown at a ceremony in Windsor Forest.
He is the youngest of seven children. D’Ante’s father, Louis Bass Jr., died in 2007. His mother, Joyce McCoy, works three jobs to support her family. She is a supervisor at Chatham Area Transit, where she has been employed for 19 years, while also working for Old Savannah Trolley Tours and in a cleaning company.
On Friday, McCoy wept as he sat next to D’Ante during the signing ceremony.
“It was an emotional day for us,” McCoy said. “When D’Ante was 11 years old, he told me, ‘Mom, I’m going to make you proud. I’m going to be different and I’m going to get a Division I basketball scholarship.’ He made that commitment and focused on academics and basketball. To see him fulfill that promise he made to me at age 11 made it so special.”
His older sister, Ja’Breakia Bass—a former beach basketball star who went on to play in Savannah State before an injury ended her career—keeps that family spirit going with her support from the stands whenever Bass is on the field.
“She always called me weak on the pitch and I got mad,” said D’Ante Bass. “But then I realized she’s just trying to motivate me and I’ve learned to do it the right way.”
Bass talked about his journey to achieve his goal during the signing ceremony. He started at Bethesda Academy, played as an eighth and ninth-grader for the Blazers before moving to Windsor Forest as a sophomore. He said Blazer coach Clevan Thompson and athletic director Antwain Turner were big influences on him, and both attended the signing ceremony.
“I wasn’t that close to God until I went there, and I learned a lot about the Bible,” Bass said. “Bethesda will always be a strong part of my story.”
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His experience at Windsor Forest has also shaped Bass into the person he is today.
“It’s been a long journey with a lot of ups and downs,” Bass said. “There has been blood, sweat and a lot of tears. There were times when I never thought I would be in this position.”
Knights coach Aaron Clark was proud to watch Bass achieve his goal.
“D’Ante is a great player, but he is an even better person,” Clark said. “It’s great to see all his hard work come to fruition. As a player, he’s super selfless and always talks about his teammates.”
Clark told a story about a day last year when there was a fire in his neighborhood with some fire trucks and police personnel. Bass had driven through the neighborhood and immediately called his coach to make sure he was okay.
“That’s just the type of person he is,” Clark said. “We are blessed that he represents our program.”
Bass has maintained a GPA of 3.5 and has done everything he needed to to create this opportunity, said Knights assistant coach Dancial Jackson.
“D’Ante is a real product of all the hard work he’s put in,” Jackson said. “He is the epitome of a great student-athlete. He did all the work in the classroom so he could go wherever he wanted.”
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It was hard to work toward his goal, but Bass never wavered.
“I wanted to show my teammates that it’s possible to do things the right way from Savannah,” Bass said. “I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t do anything. I hardly go out. I’m at the gym, and when I’m not at the gym, I try to get to the gym.”
Bass said his mother was the family’s rock and his number 1 supporter.
“D’Ante is a really good kid — he goes to school, practices or plays, and then he comes home. He wants to make it to the NBA,” McCoy said. “It is an honor to be D’Ante’s mother; I am so proud of him.”
Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at [email protected] Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN