Athlete Profile: Keshun Blair

Keshun Blair is a Junior playing on the men’s junior varsity basketball orange team and wants to get to the varsity level. Blair was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

He started playing when he was eight years old, saying “it was the best thing to do to distract myself from the heat.” Blair moved to Oklahoma his seventh grade year and graduated from Coweta High School in 2018.

Blair then attended the University of Central Oklahoma to continue his education and athletic career. Things did not work at the university, as a freshman Blair did not receive much play time so Blair decided to transfer to Langston.

During the period Blair decided to transfer he also had welcomed his newborn son Keshun Blair Jr. Blair didn’t get discouraged and instead embraced having a son, “it has given me another future to plan for other than just my own.” he said. Blair came to Lansgton at the end of 2020 and joined the men’s team, before the school had implemented junior varsity teams.

He said his reason for choosing to come to the school was “to hoop and enjoy the HBCU experience.” Blair battled different injuries and illnesses throughout the season though, catching Covid-19 multiple times, yet always maintained a positive mindset. Kaiya Harris, a junior on the softball team, spoke highly of Blairs positive mindset. Harris said her relationship with Blair was “instantly close,” and that “he always has been a big support to me.”

Regardless of what he had going on in basketball she felt he was a friend she could always count on, being able to talk to him about anything without judgment. Blair carried that positive mindset over to this year as well. Now on the junior varsity orange team and battling a torn meniscus in his knee Blair still has one goal in mind, which is to get bumped up to varsity.

He says he wants to show the new coaching staff why he was on varsity the year before and that he is “capable of helping a winning program.” He played at that level a year before and says he knows that he can play at that level again regardless of factors like new coaches and new players. His confidence coming into this season is high and others can tell.

Harris said “his confidence has definitely gone up”. Blair wants to continue that confidence and continue to use his “love for the game” to get to that next level. He said “by staying in the gym consistently and handling my health I feel I can be on Varsity by next year.”

Sam Battle
Sam Battle

Staff Writer
Sam Battle is a sophomore broadcast journalism major

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The Gazette serves as the student voice of Langston University. It is produced within the Department of Communication as a teaching tool and local news source for the campus community. The views and opinions expressed within are those of the writers whose names appear with the articles and do not necessarily represent the views of Langston University.

Story ideas, opinion editorials, calendar events and advertising requests can be sent to dthom34@langston.edu. You may follow The Gazette on Instagram @lu_gazette, or sign up for our free newsletter.

The Gazette serves as the student voice of Langston University. It is produced within the Department of Communication as a teaching tool and local news source for the campus community. The views and opinions expressed within are those of the writers whose names appear with the articles and do not necessarily represent the views of Langston University. 

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