If seeing is believing, then catch a glimpse of former Renton High basketball player Ryan Quigtar on the University of Miami basketball team.
Quigtar tried out and earned a spot as a walk-on for the team this fall.
“It’s surreal,” Quigtar said. “It’s just a reminder of what hard work does.”
Quigtar averaged 10.5 points, 3.8 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game in the 2007-2008 season, his senior year at Renton. He was a huge part of the Indians’ three straight wins at the state tournament on the way to a fifth-place overall finish.
When Quigtar arrived on the campus at Miami, he wasn’t sure how many spots, if any, were going to be available for the team. So he just kept lifting weights, improving his conditioning and playing basketball with any competition he could find on campus.
The tryout process started in early October with a pool of 11 walk-on hopefuls. Coaches trimmed that group to six, then to three. Once the prospective group stood at three, there were three more tryouts. The final two were held in the BankUnited Center, where the team plays.
At the third tryout for the group of three, coaches called Quigtar into a meeting and laid down the ground rules and expectations if he were to make the team.
The next day, Quigtar got a call to come back. When he walked in, Miami head coach Frank Haith was there, hand extended with congratulations.
“When I found out, I wasted my whole cell phone battery calling everybody that was in my phone book,” Quigtar said.
Quigtar and junior Mark Warren are the only walk-ons that made Miami’s roster.
The first thing Quigtar noticed about higher-level basketball is the increased dedication.
“In high school a lot of kids just play to play,” he said. “Here they are focused on the game, they love the game, and they learn more about the game every day.”
Quigtar has played just two minutes so far in the regular season – in Miami’s season-opening, 96-60 win against Florida Southern – but he’s already caught on with the Hurricane fans.
“When I got in the game, the crowd just started cheering,” Quigtar said. “The fan section loves me, they cheer ‘Put Ryan in’ all of the time.”
Quigtar isn’t sure what will happen next. Right now, he’s enjoying his accomplishment and letting the reality of the situation settle in.
“It’s weird to think about the fact that I’m on the team here,” he said. “But it’s definitely cool, too.”
Talking to him, it’s no surprise that Quigtar’s goals for this season are team first. He’s doing his part to earn an ACC championship for the Hurricanes.
But there is one other little thing he would also like to accomplish this year: Get on the floor again and score a basket.
The Hurricanes are 8-3 overall, 0-1 in the ACC, and preparing to get into the meat of their ACC schedule.
As a reminder of just how far he’s come, Quigtar’s thoughts on playing against North Carolina this season (a Final Four team last season and perennial contender for the national title) are as by-the-book as they come. “It’s just another game for us,” he said, then laughed. “I never in my life imagined saying that with such casualness.”
