St. Joseph Seminary: Basketball as a metaphor for life

When Zach Jolly of Humble, Texas, a freshman at St. Joseph Seminary College, was born four months prematurely on Aug. 28, 2002, he weighed 1 pound, 5 ounces – about 1 ounce less than a fully inflated basketball.

Jolly’s tale of the tape ranks as science fiction.

Because his underdeveloped lungs needed time to develop, he spent the first six months of his life on oxygen. One of the regrettable side effects of using oxygen for such a prolonged period is the possibility of vision loss: Jolly is completely blind in his right eye and has partial vision in his left, which means he holds textbooks inches away to read and relies on his photographic memory to absorb the content.

“When we pray the Liturgy of the Hours, instead of a breviary, I usually use my iPhone and my iPad, because I can make the text bigger,” he said.

So, when Jolly was hand-selected by 10 members of the fledgling St. Joseph Seminary Ravens basketball team to be their megaphone and soul-stirrer at the country’s most prominent seminary basketball tournament – the 21st annual Father Pat O’Malley Invitational at Mundelein Seminary outside of Chicago at the end of January – Jolly was floored.

“I was thrilled,” Jolly, now 20, said. “I didn’t have any responsibilities other than to sit on the baseline and cheer for them. It was like the easiest job in the world.”

Getting into a seminary to discern a possible vocation to the priesthood was a tougher job. Some vocation directors may have wondered if Jolly’s physical disabilities – he uses a cane to negotiate his way around campus at St. Ben’s – might be too much of a challenge for him to overcome.

Benedictine Father Gregory Boquet, the rector of St. Ben’s, saw things differently. Father Gregory has lived for decades with macular degeneration, and he embraced Jolly’s desire to see if God might be calling him to become a Benedictine priest.

“Father Gregory is like a mentor to me, but he’s that way with all the seminarians,” Jolly said. “He’s really encouraged me to follow my vocation despite my visual problems. I’d say he’s probably the best rector in America. Now, I don’t know any others, but I’m partial, because he’s been an inspiration to all of us.”

Jolly is a sports nut – his all-time, favorite basketball player was Lakers star Kobe Bryant “because of his work ethic” – and something told him months ago that the St. Ben’s Ravens had a chance at glory.

Jolly plays two-on-two and three-on-three basketball almost every day on the seminary’s outdoor court during the “health and wellness” hour.

“They take it easy on me,” Jolly said.

Ethan Green, left, of the Archdiocese Mobile, and Carter Domingue of the Diocese of Lafayette

Jolly kept hearing wild tales about this new, athletically gifted, 6-foot-3 seminarian, Carter Domingue of Lafayette, who played point guard on the St. Thomas More team that won four consecutive state championships and also played as a freshman for the University of Louisiana in 2021-22 before deciding to pursue a pull toward the priesthood.

St. Ben’s also boasted a pair of 6-foot-5 players – Ethan Green of Mobile and Grayson Foley of Jackson – but there is something about having the best point guard on a basketball court that raises all boats.

“Carter is an amazing player, an amazing teammate and a very good leader,” Jolly said. “His basketball IQ is so strong. In the timeouts, he was drawing up plays on the whiteboard. You could see he wanted to win.”

After ticking off four consecutive victories, the Ravens downed St. Francis de Sales Seminary of Wisconsin, 75-67, for the national championship. Domingue scored 39 points and was named tournament MVP.

Jolly could see the ball go through the hoop when the basket was near the Ravens’ bench. At the far-away basket, he relied on his sixth sense.

“I was on the edge of my seat,” Jolly said. “I would listen for the other players on our bench, and if they would cheer, it was like, ‘OK, we made a basket.’ I could improvise.”

Outdoor court no problem

St. Ben’s was coached by Brian Cochran, a Covington physical therapist who played basketball at Brother Martin High School and who has done a fair amount of playground coaching. His team had to overcome a few obstacles – they had to practice outdoors because the indoor gym floor is too slick.

“I’m not going to lie,” Cochran said. “We had some size, but Carter really was the difference. Carter’s ability to see the floor and show his leadership really won the game for us. The other team’s players were good, but they weren’t ‘Carter good.’”

Domingue said his first taste of competitive basketball since leaving the University of Louisiana to discern the priesthood gave him a chance to reflect on all of his gifts, both athletic and spiritual.

“It was humbling, because the Lord gave me these great (athletic) gifts, but at the end of the day, it’s like the Lord saying, ‘I will make all things new,” Domingue said. “For the first time I’ve ever known, the focus of a basketball tournament wasn’t all on basketball. It was on Christ and on what he’s done for us and the fraternity he’s gifted us with.”

Walking to the trophy

At the championship celebration, the players pushed Jolly forward to accept the trophy. Jolly, after all, had led them in traversing the snow-covered campus for three days, using his cane to get to dorms, the cafeteria and the gymnasium.

“The whole trip they had watched out for me, and they never left my side,” Jolly said. “They let me hold on to their arms and guided me around. They had such great hearts that I was the first one to touch the trophy.”

The 3-foot trophy became almost like a sacred vessel. Cochran said because they were trying to keep expenses down, the team’s flight home took the milk route from Chicago to Washington, D.C., to New Orleans.

“This isn’t the University of Alabama’s budget, right?” he said.

The trophy got through the TSA metal detector OK, but on the last leg of the trip, there was a problem.

“The trophy wouldn’t fit in any of the overheads, so we had to hold it in the seats with us,” Jolly said. “Then the flight attendant came and told one of the seminarians that he could go up to the front of the plane with the trophy because it was a night flight and all the other seats were taken. The trophy got to sit in first class.”

As the flight attendants told passengers to check that their seatbelts were fastened, Jolly said one attendant made an impromptu announcement:

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re pleased to announce that we have a national championship basketball team flying with us tonight. Please give huge congratulations to St. Joseph Seminary College. … American Airlines … where champions choose to fly!”

A living, breathing homily

Jolly was 14 when he became Catholic. His uncle, who lived with Jolly’s grandmother and younger brother, was converting to Catholicism.

“One day, he got us all to go to Mass, and we all fell in love with it ourselves,” Jolly said.

They all entered the church. Someday, the tiny infant who weighed an ounce less than a basketball at birth may have some homily material.

“You know, it’s just so crazy,” Jolly said. “From barely surviving at birth to now being a seminarian, God is just so good, for giving me life in general and now the life that I have. There have been so many blessings. I’m just very grateful.”

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