Where He Got His Start – Darius Johnson-Odom Started Journey to NBA at HutchCC

By Chris Lachenmaier
Sports Editor
IG: @chrissylach

Hutchinson Community College athletics brings in phenomenal talent from around the world. Being one of the top men’s teams for many years, basketball has been victorious, appearing in the national championship game six times and winning three titles.

Players and coaches have been making bonds for years. In Blue Dragons men’s basketball history, there are plenty of stories, but a story that sticks out from the other stories is the story of the Daruis Johnson-Odom, who was inducted into the Blue Dragon Quarterback Club Hall of Fame on Saturday at Stringer Fine Arts Center.

Johnson-Odom wasn’t your typical point guard for the Blue Dragons. Graduating at 17 years old from Wakefield High School in North Carolina, Johnson-Odom always had a heart for basketball.

“Coming from a prep school, I was with a lot of guys that were going to SEC schools,” Johnson-Odom said. “I was so young when I graduated high school. My grades weren’t the best coming out of high school, so I either had to go to either prep or junior college, and you know back then, juco, it was kind of an unknown thing, especially to me and my family. So I started working at the YMCA in August, and I had high hopes. I worked at the Y so that I could stay in the gym.”
Johnson-Odom arrived in Hutchinson during the 2008-2009 season. Led by coach Ryan Swanson, Johnson-Odom played one year for HutchCC before transferring to Marquette. Johnson-Odom managed to keep a bond with the assistant head coach Ryan Freeberg, who helped recruit Johnson-Odom to HutchCC, and they stay in contact to this day.

Freeberg would give Johnson-Odom a call that would change his life. Freeberg was working at Patterson High School in Monroe, North Carolina at the time, which was a prep school.

“Ryan Swanson called me and wanted to know if I wanted the assistant job at Hutch, so I said yes,” Freeberg said. “And I took the job in Hutch and told Darius that you’re coming with me.” Johnson-Odom and Freeberg were going to be moving from North Carolina to Kansas.

“Freeberg gave me a call around September and he was like, ‘Man, I got an opportunity for both of us, it’s a junior college. It was in Kansas,’” Freeberg said. “And at that time I didn’t have that so I was like, all right well I guess that’s what’s next. And that’s how it happened.”

Freeberg has always had Johnson-Odom back through his time at prep and at juco. Freeberg being friends with Johnson-Odom’s mom, Carolyn Johnson, helped their bond a lot.

“I remember there was this one time in practice where he got so mad at me for doing the things he needed to do,” Johnson-Odom said. “He looked at me and said ‘Man, I’m tired of this, I’m going home.’ Then we would go on and argue back and forth because he knew that I would call his mom. When Johnson talked to her son, he told him to get his butt back to Coach Freeberg, and that you listen to everything that he says.”

Johnson put a lot of trust in Freeberg with her son.

“We have been friends ever since day one,” Johnson said. “We still talk and catch up about each other’s lives, we are very close. Freeberg has been very instrumental in a lot of various good and bad stuff and Darius feels comfortable talking to him. When you’re growing up and you’re young you need someone to talk to when you can’t just walk in at home, so Freeberg was there, if Darius needed any advice personally or professionally. Freeberg is just an awesome guy.”

The connection between Freeberg, Johnson and Johnson-Odom has grown larger and larger every year.

“Darius has a daughter, her middle name is Ryan, which is just amazing,” Freeberg said. “You know what I mean? That just shows you right there, that’s what coaching should be. Obviously whatever we did together impacted his life, but he also doesn’t understand how much he has impacted my life.”

Johnson-Odom likewise feels that bond.

“Freeberg was 30-something when he started the coaching job at Hutch, and he just saw my heart,” Johnson-Odom said. “It was my first year meeting Freeberg and towards the end I watched his kids, and now one of them is out of school, graduated from college and is working. I’m just thinking about how much time has surpassed, and that we were able to keep up with each other. When I was in Minnesota, I got him to come to the gym and work me out, even if I wasn’t supposed to, I didn’t care. If it wasn’t for Freeberg, I wouldn’t have this opportunity.”

Johnson-Odom averaged 21.7 points per game in his one season for the Blue Dragons and shot 48% from the floor. After starring at Marquette, Johnson-Odom was drafted in the second round by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft.

After playing seven games over two seasons with the Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers, Johnson-Odom had a lengthy career overseas, playing in such countries as China, Russia, Italy and Greece.

Johnson-Odom said he has held and kept the people that supported him close.

“It wasn’t a one-man type of thing, you always going to have to have someone to help you, so I tried to keep those people and remind myself that those guys were also a big part of my life,” Johnson-Odom said. “I just took one day at a time and stayed focused, stayed humble, and just kept my heart purring, and luckily, God gave me the opportunity for things to work out. It is about not giving up on yourself. Not saying no to an opportunity, even if you don’t want to be in that place at that time. So I took an opportunity even if the opportunity wasn’t where I wanted to be or where it should be. It was just an opportunity. Of course you gotta have some things going your way, but its possible if you put the time and the work in.”

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