Before coming to Colorado Academy, Hyatt taught special education at nearby Bear Creek High School and coached basketball for 28 years. He said at the Unified basketball games, Bassey would take the initiative and fully immerse himself in the logistics of the event.

“He doesn’t sit there and [wait to be told to do something],” Hyatt said. “He just sits down and says, ‘I’ll do the clock.’ I don’t even need to ask him, he just does it. Then there’s a microphone there, and he’ll be like, ‘I’ll do the announcing.’ That’s just who he is.”

Bassey’s assertiveness is part of his larger affinity to finishing the job.

For Hyatt, Bassey’s initiative started at an even younger age when Bassey was good friends with Hyatt’s son, Christian. Coach Hyatt said that Bassey’s loyalty is one of his strongest personality traits.

“I remember he wanted to do something with my son, and my son was like ‘No, I have to help my dad paint,’” Hyatt said. “An hour later, he shows up. I go, ‘What are you doing here?’ he goes, ‘I’m here to help you paint.’ He was like nine or 10, so I gave him a paint brush and I gave my son a paint brush. I said, ‘You guys paint the shed.’ They got 90 percent more paint on them than on the shed, but that’s the type of kid he is. There’s a need, he’ll show up and do it.”

For his senior project at Colorado Academy, Bassey set up a charity basketball tournament that pitted the different extracurricular clubs at the high school against each other to vie for a donation to a charity of their choosing.

“I have always seen sports as something that’s been at the forefront of society in terms of progressiveness,” Bassey said.

“I think my parents really instilled that sports are more than a means of making friends. My dad always told me there’s something about sports that brings people together in a fashion that’s not seen in a lot of places.”

Bassey also worked with Project Greer Street, an academic enrichment program for African-American males at East High School, an inner-city high school in Denver.

According to Project Greer Street founder Ron Sally, the program aims to propel students from East High to compete academically at the top colleges and universities across the country.

“One of the things that we [my wife and I] were convinced of is that we wanted to be able to share with the students and their families a lot of the great lessons that we had learned and wisdom that we had acquired over the years as it relates to having success in high school academically,” Sally said.

Sally said that he has tried to give his student “domestic intel” by bringing in a variety of speakers. These speakers have given tutorials on everything from about taking advantage of academic resources to interacting with the police.

Ultimately, the program strives to elevate students’ expectations and ambitions, while giving them tools to succeed in the outside world.

“It’s all part of our view of it as very holistic,” Sally said. “It takes a village to raise a successful person, and we’re honored to be part of the village of the kids that we work with.”

Sally met Bassey when his nephew played on the same club basketball team as the now-college sophomore. From the start, Sally recognized Bassey’s strong character.