David Bruce Found a Home at Harcum

The doubters were there, always lurking, always snickering and mumbling under their breath. David Bruce would be back in Linden, N.J., maybe wandering the streets, being one of the many failed high school stars trying to rekindle a past glory, one of those tragic figures that wears that “shoulda been, and coulda been” tag.

For a time there, it looked to be the path down which the 6-foot-9, 210-pound was headed. Bruce sat two years before he picked up a basketball again in a competitive game. A scholarship offer and verbal commitment to St. Joseph’s was shot, because Bruce wasn’t academically qualified to play his senior year at Linden High School and wasn’t eligible to play in college.

So in stepped Harcum Junior College, a route Bruce wasn’t even contemplating. Two years later, Bruce is not only academically eligible, but he's also increased his marketability from being sought by St. Joe’s to now being looked at by two Big East Conference schools, West Virginia and TCU (which will join the Big East in 2012), Seton Hall, St. Joseph’s, Iowa State, Seton Hall and Temple.

Bruce just completed a season in which he led the Bears to a 22-7 overall finish, averaging a team-high 16.1 points and nine rebounds a game, and also shooting a team-best 61.4-percent from the floor. His academics are in order. He’s scheduled to graduate in May with an associate’s degree in liberal studies, and he’s headed to a Division I school.

Thanks to Harcum. Thanks to Bears’ coach Drew Kelly. And thanks to Bruce, for the investment he placed in himself.

“That’s what we’re here for--you like to see kids come in and take advantage of an opportunity academically, and Dave’s transformed himself on and off the court,” Kelly said. “You compare Dave to where he is now, to where he was two years ago, he’s made tremendous strides. I red-shirted him, because I didn’t think he’d graduate in two years. Now he’s graduating in two years and he has three (years) of Division I eligibility ahead of him. That’s great for him. Everyone we recruit comes here for a reason—there is some flaw there. I tell everyone that comes here that this is a chance to start over and wipe the slate clean, to use the opportunity at Harcum to accomplish goals and move on to the next stage of your life.”

Bruce wrapped his arms around that chance. Kelly is realistic. Harcum is not Duke on ESPN every night, so it can be humbling going from having major Division I college coaches ringing your phone and an interest in everything you do, to suddenly falling off the grid.

“I didn’t know the junior college route; I thought I’d have to go to prep school,” Bruce said. “Someone brought up junior college, and Coach Kelly happened to call me. Once I came up to Harcum, I knew I could like it. That told me about my situation and I liked it. But it was frustrating. I didn’t play my senior year at Linden, and I was red-shirted my first year at Harcum. That was two years without playing ball.”

The time off might have ripped Bruce’s heart out, but he’s found it again. That, and basketball, plus a new path to possibly bigger, better things.