Swan Doesn’t Own Car but Has a Great Drive

In the South-Central Los Angeles apartment he shares with his twin brother and grandfather, Chris Swan lives a frugal life, with no computer, no cable TV and no car.

“I can’t miss something I’ve never had,” said the 17-year-old basketball player from Bellflower St. John Bosco High.

He completes school reports by writing them in pen at home, then typing them up on a computer in the school library. He gets to and from school by taking the Metro Rail, then a bus, a one-hour commute. He can’t watch college basketball games on ESPN, so he reads the newspaper the next day to find out scores.

Some may view those merely as inconveniences, but no one misses the point that Swan has missed out on much more.

He hasn’t seen his father since being handed over to the Arizona social services department at age 2. He has had little contact with his mother since he was 3. Both parents were involved with drugs.

From ages 6 to 16, Chris Swan and his brother, Troy, lived in Watts with their grandfather, Azzie.

“I had a dope dealer on one side and a gang hangout on the other side,” Azzie said. “They tried to get my boys.”

Except the boys never gave in. Both participate in sports, with Troy competing in track. They were determined to take a different path from the one their parents chose.

“Doing [drugs] never crossed my mind,” Swan said. “Everyone I knew who’s done drugs, I see how their life has been. All those people are failures, and I didn’t want to be like that.”

Swan is a 6-foot-2 senior guard who can jump, play defense and dunk, all the while with a smile as broad as Magic Johnson’s. He scored 1,260 on the SAT, has a 3.4 grade-point average and loves math. The Naval Academy has inquired about his availability.

His grandfather had a kidney transplant in 1996 and stopped working a year later. He still finds enough money to pay for the high school tuition of one boy while his former wife pays for the other. Swan doesn’t use family struggles as an excuse.

“My grandfather is always telling me I don’t know the value of money,” Swan said. “He’s making sacrifices for me. My grandmother is making sacrifices for me. My brother comes to all my games and always supports me. When I’m on the court, I don’t worry about outside things. I don’t worry how I’m going to get home, what I’m going to eat or what’s coming on ESPN.”

If his family were rich, life would be different but not necessarily better.

“The things I don’t have are not necessities,” he said. “I think I’d be a little more spoiled and wouldn’t appreciate smaller things as much. If I get some clothes, a pair of shoes, socks, anything that makes my day easier, I’m happy.”

Azzie always believed that the oldest of his three daughters would reunite with her two boys.

“I had no idea I’d have them this long,” he said. “I thought my daughter would straighten up.”

So life goes on, with the boys nearing high school graduation.

“All these years, I’ve been trying to get them prepared for college,” Azzie said.

He remembers the time he bought Chris a video game.

“He was crying,” Azzie said. “I asked, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ He said he couldn’t read the instructions. He was 4. To me, that let me know he wanted to do something [with his life].”

Swan is averaging 13.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and usually gets at least one dunk a game in his first year as a varsity starter for St. John Bosco (15-4).

“I just love the game and I love to play,” he said.

Swan came to St. John Bosco as a scrawny, 5-foot-7 freshman, went on a growth spurt and matured athletically. Even more important, his life journey prepared him for adulthood.

“If my kid says he needs something, I want to be able to give it to him,” he said.

With all the obstacles Swan has encountered, how did he make it this far? “There’s always a drive to be better, to never settle for the standard,” he said. “If somebody beats me, I demand a rematch or play harder the next time. My coach tells me, ‘When you make a mistake, don’t look over to the bench and see what I’m doing, keep playing.’

“That’s what I do in life. If I mess up on a test, the next test I make sure I get an A. There’s people worse off than me. If they can do it, why not me?”

Another infectious smile turns up on Swan’s face.

“People always ask, ‘Why are you smiling?’ ” Swan said. “I’m happy. I can’t make it through the day without smiling at least once or twice.”

Swan has lived a hard life, but he has never felt stronger. With the help of his grandfather and brother, he has learned to persevere.

“If something comes up hard,” he said, “I know we’re going to get through it.”

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at [email protected].