Israeli student moves for hoops
ELROI BUTLER RELOCATES TO OREGON TO PLAY BASKETBALL
BY JAMES HARLEY
U nlike m ost players on the m en ’ s
basketball team at Clackamas Community
College, who grew up in the U .S ., one
player finds,.it an Unfamiliar place.
Having grown up in Israel, Elroi Butler
found a love for basketball.
Wanting to come to the U .S. where the
best play fhe sport, Butler found a way,
and he talked about his journey to get to
where he is now at CCC.
“ I actually never thought about coming
here and playing college ball until I was
in Spain, at a basketball academy there,”
Butler said. “ Every year they have about.
20 or 30 players who end up playing
college ball. Once I got there, heard of
that and saw how many successful players
went to college and Came out of college,
I decided I wanted to do that also . If you
want to be great, you have to be with the
great players, and you got to play with
the best.”
Once Butler found his way to Oregon,
things began to come together for him.
“ My sister happens to lives in Forest
Grove, so I came to visit her during
summer break,” Butler said. “ I was just
working out every day. And my sister
lives right across the street from Pacific
| [University], so I went in there and talked
to the coaches and they liked the way I
played, and they said I could come in there
. and practice whenever I w ant,”
Even though Butler wasn’t a student
there, the staff found a way to help Butler
find where he needed to go.
“ They asked me if I needed any help
finding a new school and helped me out,”
Butler said. “ They were really good friends
with Coach Wegner, the coach here at
CCC, and so that’s how I ended up here.”
The m en ’ s basketball coach, C lif
Wegner, talked about meeting Butler and
helping him get to Clackamas.
“ Me and Elroi met by chance in an open
gym in Forest Grove last spring,” Wegner
said. “We were able to get his financial aid
straightened out, so we were able to get
him to come here and he’ s been a great
addition to the team .”
Wegfter im m ediately noticed Some
6 Clackamas Print FEBRUARY 22,2017 theclackamasprint.com
things about Butler that pushed him to
help the player out.
“ H is work ethic is p hen o m en al,”
Wegner said. “ One of the first things
I heard from my friends at Pacific
University is that he’d been working out
with their team every afternoon, and also
had been doing his own workout at 5 a.m.
every morning. ”
W egner also talked about helping
Butler adapt to the cultural change once
he began his journey at CCC.
“ He cam e over to my house for
Thanksgiving and he’d never been to an
American Thanksgiving dinner, and he
said, ‘Coach, this is it? You just eat?” ’
Butler commented on his Thanksgiving
here and how it compared to similar
experiences in Israel.
“ Back in Israel, we would have a lot of
days that we just ate a lot of food. Whether
it was day, night, or, it didn’t matter, we
just had at it,” Butler said. “ It was always
a time being close with family, and having
Thanksgiving here kinda reminded me of
those tim es.”
O f course, being from a different
cou ntry p resen ts ch a lle n g e s and
different perspectives, which Butler also
mentioned.
“ The basketball competition here is
no doubt a lot better,” Butler said. “ As
far as the coaches and people, it’ s a big
difference. I fee!like people here are more
polite, friendlier and want to get to know
you. In Israel, they’re more aggressive. If
you’ re not from there, it’s harder to adapt
and connect with people. But I’ m the
type of person where I ’m going to adapt
to whatever situation you give me, so I
actually like moving from place to place. ”
With the men’s basketball team trying
to surge forward with a second half season
push to get into the NWAC tournament,
they look for any competitive advantage
against their opponents, and having a
player w ith a work ethic like Butler’ s
helps the team, according to Wegner.
“ When you hear about a kid with that
kind of work ethic like Elroi, it’s a kid
that you want to know. This is a kid you
want in your program,” said Butler. “ So
we’re thrilled with his perspective, his
maturity and his leadership.”
Look for Butler at point guard when the
team plays their next two games at home
in Randall Hall gymnasium. On Feb. 22
at 730 p.m . they will take on Chemeketa
Com m unity College and on Feb. 25 at
4 p.m . they play Umpqua Community
College.
“If you want to be
great, you have to be
w ith the great players,
and you got to play w ith
the best.” - Elroi Butler
photo by Austin Boltz
Elroi Butler dribbles up the court in a game earlier this season against Portland
Community College on Jan. 28.