On Sept. 29, sophomore Eddie Hall attended the walk-on tryouts for the Texas Longhorns’ men’s basketball team. But his road to get to that point was not an easy one.

In 2009, his mom passed away from pancreatic cancer while Hall was in eighth grade. The following year he made the freshman team at Foster High School in Richmond, Texas, but coaches told him it was only because they were sympathetic after his mom’s death.

But he didn’t let it get him down. Instead, he worked hard to get better and was moved up to the varsity squad by the end of his sophomore year and was starting his junior year.

After graduation, Hall went to UTSA before transferring to Texas his sophomore year as a part of the CAP program, but he still has that nagging desire to play.

And all the while he’s had to deal with a heart murmur.

Hall doesn’t know if he’ll make it on the squad and even then he probably won’t see much, if any, playing time. But given the background he’s come from, he’s okay with that.

This story appeared in the Sept. 30 edition of The Daily Texan.