The applause for Jordan Rice was deafening.
And it only grew with each 3-pointer the 5-foot-10 junior guard made.
Rice, a two-year varsity player for the Edmonds-Woodway basketball team, played in his first home game last Tuesday since his father, Cory, died of a heart attack on Christmas Eve. The Edmonds community has rallied around Jordan and his older brother, Brad, who lost their mother to cancer six years ago.
“If you know Jordan and Brad, and you knew Cory (Rice), then you wouldn’t be surprised by the outpouring of support,” Edmonds-Woodway basketball coach Robert Brown said. “The memorial service on (Jan. 3) was pretty much standing-room-only. I wasn’t surprised at all by the outpouring of support.”
The Rice brothers have had meals delivered to their house nightly by community members. A GoFundMe account was started and has reached almost $55,000.
One stranger even gave Brad and Jordan tickets to this past Saturday’s Seahawks playoff game.
“His son was going back to college on Sunday and he could’ve gone to the game and he decided to give it to us. That meant a lot,” Jordan Rice, 16, said. “… There’s people all around with random acts of kindness. It makes me feel good and a lot better. It helps me get through this hard time with all the support I have.”
Brown, who spoke at Cory Rice’s memorial service, said the elder Rice never missed a game, and was a great role model for his sons.
“Cory Rice was just a constant presence. He was always just really positive,” Brown said. “I said it at his memorial service, win or loss, he was always, ‘Good job coach. We’ll get him next time coach.’ He was just always positive and a really nice guy. Just a genuinely good guy who just really loved his boys.”
Just five days after his father passed away, Jordan was back on the court, against Auburn Riverside.
“I think it’s a refuge for him to come here,” Brown said. “I’ve known the family for four years. His dad not being in the stands is a huge loss for everybody.”
Rice struggled a bit in the game against Auburn Riverside. Being so close to his father’s death, Brown said, “it was still kind of raw. It was the first game ever with his dad not there.” Rice scored two points before fouling out late in the game.
On Tuesday, the Warriors faced Arlington, one of the top teams in the area, in their first home game of 2015. The Edmonds-Woodway booster club held a fund-raiser for the Rices, and encouraged fans to “fill the stands” and support Jordan and Brad, 19.
The result was a packed gym.
“That’s the best feeling when you see your school come out and support you,” Rice said. “I think that brings the most energy and gets us going. That brings the energy at the beginning of the game. We get going way quicker, we don’t start lackadaisical. It gave me more adrenaline going, more blood flowing. Just getting in the game quicker and upped the intensity.”
Beckie Peterson, the president of the Edmonds-Woodway Athletic Booster Club, helped organize a collection at halftime. She said the idea came from Rice’s teammates, who wanted to do something to support their fellow Warrior.
“They were really sensitive to how hard it was going to be to Jordan to play at home without his dad in the stands,” Peterson said. “It started as, ‘How could we make that easier for him? How could we fill that empty spot in the stands with a bunch of fans to make it seem less empty?’”
The Athletic Booster Club — a non-profit, independent entity — organized the collection to follow Washington Interscholastic Activity Association rules. Peterson didn’t want to give the exact amount collected, but did share that the effort, “far exceeded our expectations of what we might be able to collect.”
“I’m very touched. Very inspired,” Peterson said. “I think it speaks a lot to the community and to the Edmonds-Woodway High School community. … It’s inspiring for us to witness our students and the way that they are embracing their teammates. Tuesday night was just an exhilarating night. The energy in that gym from the get-go was electrifying. You felt it. You felt it all directed at one kid, and his team.”
And it was quite the game. Brown drew up the first offensive play for Jordan, who swished a deep 3-pointer that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
“I was nervous for him, just for having so many people in the stands,” Brown said. “You know they’re there to support you. If you start having a bad game, it could snowball on you. The emotions could just make you go down. I wanted him to have a good game. I called our very first play for him, specially hoping he would get a shot and make it. And he did.”
Rice also made a pair of free throws to account for Edmonds-Woodway’s first five points.
“I knew right when he came out (and made) a three and then he got fouled and made the free throws — I knew he was going to have a big night,” Arlington coach Nick Brown said.
Not even a dislocated pinky could keep Rice out of the game. With 1:10 left in the second quarter, he dove to the floor for a loose ball and came up wincing in pain. He held his left hand up for all to see, his pinky bent awkwardly.
His finger was quickly repaired, taped up and No. 10 returned to the bench in a couple of minutes, once again to thunderous applause. After the halftime break, he was on the floor to start the third quarter. Rice finished with a game-high 24 points, although the Warriors lost 61-59 on last-second shot.
“For him to come out and play as hard as he did and as well as he did is just a complement to him,” Robert Brown said. “He locked everything out and played hard.
“I’m so proud of him.”
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