“It’s hard, really hard,” he said. “Luckily, we’ve been able to come to 10 games this year and see Sam play a lot more than usual.”
But perhaps the most moving story in the stands fittingly belonged to the parents of the game’s hero. Dave and Carol Merchant were positively beaming as their son kept draining three-pointers and having a night for the ages. As they reflected back on Brady’s playing days, though, the emotion was almost too much to handle.
Last year, Dave Merchant retired after nearly 30 years as Lebanon High School’s basketball coach—a job that allowed him to coach his sons as they matured—just so he and his wife would be able to travel from Ohio to see each of Brady’s games.
“It’s certainly been worth it,” Dave Merchant said, fighting back tears. “Carol and I have just had a ball.”
Dave Merchant still teaches English at Lebanon High, though he admits he’s had to take some creative absences to make the weekend Ivy games.
“Let’s just say I’ve had a lot of cases of the ‘Friday Flu’,” he explained with a wry smile. “But when I haven’t taken any days off in 30 years, I think I deserve it.”
When asked of Brady’s record-setting performance, Carol Merchant replied that it was phenomenal, but that the important thing was winning.
“You can tell she’s a coach’s wife,” Dave quipped.
Yes, and after Saturday night, we can tell that Brady Merchant is a coach’s son. After a historic achievement, the younger Merchant was still sore that his team did not pull out the win and probably secretly sore that his career had to end on such a bittersweet note.
And that commitment to winning in spite of all obstacles and distractions, in the end, is what the senior class leaves behind as its legacy. Far from the most successful class in the program’s history, the Crimson seniors nonetheless showed an uncanny determination to excel and improve as individuals.
As Sullivan suggested after the game, perhaps the seniors are “guilty of having tried too hard.” Perhaps they wanted to do so well that they forced some unnecessary and unhealthy pressure on themselves.
This could be true. But more likely, the seniors just cared about the game and this program so much so that they were not afraid of letting all the blood and producing all the sweat necessary to win and seek that ever-elusive Ivy championship.
And on Saturday night, the tears joined the blood and sweat on the floor of Lavietes for the last time for these four men. They should know that the court—and their beloved program—will never be the same.
—Staff writer Daniel E. Fernandez can be reached at dfernand@fas.harvard.edu.