By: Dakayla Hawkins
"Anything I do I want to be a trailblazer, I want to be able to push not only myself but the people around me and people who look like me forward and I think that's what he has done," said Cailyn Crocker who is LMU Athletics' newest McLendon Fellow.
Who is Cailyn Crocker? Crocker committed to playing college basketball at the University of California, Berkeley. She graduated in three years after being told that it wouldn't be possible. Along with her successful academic career at Cal, earning her bachelor's in Business Administration, she had a very successful basketball career as well. At Cal, Crocker was named captain her freshman year, and from there learned how to be a leader.
Crocker then went to Colorado State University, where she earned her master's degree in Sports Management and Business Foundations, and continued her college basketball career earning multiple honors.
Cailyn "Cai" Crocker made sure that throughout her time as a student athlete, she filled her free time getting involved with things that helped those around her excel. Crocker served as a team captain for both of the universities that she played for, which speaks to the leader instincts that she works to have. Multiple times Crocker earned Freshman of the Week for the PAC-12 and All-Conference for the Mountain West.
Crocker further stands out due to what she did off the court. She was a leader on Cal's Black Student-Athlete Community Executive Board, a leader for the SAAC Executive Board, a Co-Founder of Cal's Racial Justice Council, an NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Committee Representative, and the Founder of Colorado State's John Mosley Organization, which was dedicated to supporting the community of Black Student-Athletes.
What was Crocker's journey to LMU? Although being a high level and successful athlete was a large part of her identity, she wasn't just an athlete. Crocker had life experiences that many people can understand and connect with. Crocker speaks on how her family dynamic led her to the success that she's had, saying, "so I was a basketball player pretty much my whole life. I am the youngest of three. My older brother played basketball in college at the University of Pennsylvania, and my sister also played but decided not to play in college, she was done with the workouts. So, I was the last one up and I had huge shoes to fill. My family poured a lot into me being the youngest and I absorbed a lot of it."
After completing a pretty hard task of graduating from Cal in three years, Crocker still had two years of eligibility to play college basketball. The reason that she had two years after graduating was due to the season interruption from Covid-19, and an injury that Crocker suffered.
"I had what they thought to be a career ending injury when I was told I would never be able to play again. … Thankfully I had a doctor out here, since I'm from California, came back to him and he was actually Kobe Bryant's doctor as well … he was like, you know we're going to go through with it and I think I have an option for you to figure this out."
This was a tough time for Crocker, as she went through with the surgery, and as Covid-19 hit during this time, she was away from her school and the sport that she had always known to consume most of her days. Crocker was now trying to figure out "what now?"
"I really had to do some soul searching and figure out who I was even more than I had done which led me to try to continue to find internships virtually."
Then Crocker ended up going to Colorado State University where she continued her academic rigor and her basketball success. This is also where she founded Colorado State's John Mosley Organization for Black Student-Athletes to find community and resources.
"I thought I was going to play professionally, had some contracts set up, and then had to medically retire based upon the surgery I had back in college. It finally completely gave out on me. Basketball was an avenue for me but I realized it wasn't my whole life. I was in a transitional period in my life."
That transitional period that Crocker speaks of led her to find this opportunity, and had now brought her talents here to the bluff.
What is the McLendon Leadership Initiative Future Leader Fellowship? The John McLendon Fellowship is a 10 to 11-month program that is open to those with bachelor degrees who are of a minority or underserved community. LMU has now partnered with the McLendon Foundation for the second year in a row. This rotational role is intended to have the fellow support the LMU Athletics Department with its initiatives, and open them to gain experience in student-athlete development, business and finance, compliance, communications, marketing and fan experience, DEI and more.
Who is John McLendon? John B. McLendon Jr., born on April 5, 1915, was the first African American basketball head coach at several predominantly white universities. McLendon is widely recognized for being the trailblazer that he is. He was awarded the Naismith Outstanding Contributor to Men's Basketball honor, and in 1979 he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.
How is the McLendon Fellowship impacting Cailyn Crocker? "I learned that at some point I am the captain, but just because you may be the leader of the ship doesn't mean you always have to be the person that people hear. I think as a Fellow right now, the administrators are letting me have a voice and that's really nice, but also knowing when it's time to be in the background and just learn and grow is really big."
