Jacob Lord has his cousin to thank for giving him his start as a basketball player.
“Growing up, I used to play football, up until about sixth grade,” says Lord. “And then one time, I went over to my cousin’s house. He had a hoop in his backyard. So we just started shooting around, and from then on, I just grew to love it.”
The Servite High School senior hasn’t looked back. As a four-year varsity player for the Friars, Lord plays both power forward and center and is attracted to the defensive side of the game. The 17-year-old also serves as the team’s captain, a role Lord is committed to both on and off the court.
“Mostly I lead them on the court, just because of the way I play. I like to give 110 percent, no matter what the score is,” says Lord. “Leading off the court-wise, I just make sure I set a good example in the classroom.”
His leadership and his approach to handling adversity, both as an athlete and a student, have established Lord as “the rock” of Servite’s basketball program.
“Whenever Jacob has been faced with adversity, he has persevered through those times and become a better person,” says Servite basketball head coach, John Morris. “In a day and age where many people do not take struggle head on and look for the easy way out, Jacob seems to welcome the struggle because he believes in who he is as a person and who his parents raised him to be. He never cuts corners and knows he will come out on top and be better because of it.”
Lord also uses his love for athletics to serve the special needs community through Servite’s S.I.G.N. Club (Service in God’s Name), where he works with organizations such as Miracle League of Orange County and Yorba Linda Basketball Challenger Division.
The Anaheim resident will be continuing his basketball career at Concordia University Wisconsin where Lord will study either wildlife biology or special education. Playing basketball has taught Lord several life lessons, but it’s the Servite brotherhood that has made the biggest impact on him as a player.
“What I’ll miss most is honestly the brotherhood that we have,” says Lord. “It’s something you have to experience to really understand what it means.”
Lord considers his parents his two biggest role models, the ones who instilled in him his work ethic and the determination to never give up.
“We always talk about forming faith-filled leaders at Servite, but the key to this is the buy in, or as we call it, the primacy of faith of the individual,” says Morris. “Throughout his entire time at Servite, Jacob has shown this primacy of faith and has never wavered in who he is as a person and leader. The best compliment I could give to Jacob is that ‘he is Servite.’”