Littlefield senior Kam McCarty signed his letter of intent to continue his basketball and academic career at Wayland Baptist University on Thursday, May 8th, during a small ceremony in the Littlefield High School Commons Area.
Kam thanked his family and friends who attended the signing, saying, “Thank you all for being such great people towards me and I just want to say All the glory to God.”
“We’re very proud of Kam and appreciate everything he’s done for our program here,” Athletic Director Bo Bryant said. “He is a great young man and we wish him a lot of luck and it’s not only an opportunity to play basketball, but to get an education as well.”
McCarty was the District 2-3A Offensive Player of the Year this year for the Wildcats. And during his junior year, he was a District 33A All-District selection.
“When Kam came here as a freshman, I knew he was going to be a special kid,” Head Boy’s Basketball Coach Nathan McKinnon said. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity to have shared this moment with him and the opportunity to get to coach him these last few years.”
He added, “Not only is Kam a great basketball player, but he is a great person and that is a tribute to his parents, they did a great job with him.”
McCarty talked about how it feels to be signed and know where he is heading next, saying, “It feels amazing. It is just a dream come true basically, and I’m just happy to be able to do this with everybody here.”
McCarty explained, “Since I was little, it has been a long time dream of mine to play college basketball, and to be able to sign with my teammates and coaches here with me, it’s a dream come true.”
McCarty talked about how his coaches have helped him over the years, saying, “My coaches have helped me through the practices, just telling me to play hard and give it my all and put all of my effort in all of the time. I just tried to do that every day and do the best that I can do.”
He talked about how he has seen himself grow throughout the last few years, saying, “I’ve been able to slow the game down and have become more mature. I feel like play with more fun and happiness.”
The future Pioneer talked about what the recruiting process was like for him, saying, “The recruiting process was very busy. I was texting coaches everyday, seeing where I could go to prospect camps and tryouts.”
He added, “They reached out to me to come to their prospect camp. I went to their camp, they said they liked me and then extended an offer. I kept in touch with them and now I’m going there.
It means a lot to me to have earned this opportunity, it means a lot to my dad and my family. I expect to do good.”
McCarty talked about what he is most looking forward to heading into his first college basketball season, saying, “Everything.”
“The fun experience, the traveling, playing with new guys and just playing basketball,” he stated.
“It means everything to me to get to see my son play College Basketball,” Danny McCarty, Kam’s father said. “It’s really a dream come true. He has put in a lot of work over the years and it paid off for him. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted for him and it is happening.”
He added, “He has grown as a person, just by becoming so much more responsible. As a player, he just puts in so much work, it is insane, you ought to see the amount of work he puts into his craft.”
McCarty talked about how his family has supported him throughout his career, saying, “My family has supported me everyday. They are like my glue, I can’t think them enough for everything they have done for me.”
He talked about being able to represent Littlefield over the last few years, saying, “It has meant a lot to represent Littlefield over the last few years. Coming here, they changed a lot of stuff about me and impacted me in ways that I couldn’t even understand. It just has meant a lot to be able to represent Littlefield.”
McCarty said that his favorite memory from being a Wildcat was, “I raced Ben after we won and went to eat at Leal’s and he fell while we were running and I think that is one of my favorite memories.”