It's a Blessing to be Here

Pine Ridge Thorpes' Charles Schrader Jr. Perseveres

The role basketball plays in Indian Country can be difficult to describe. James Giago Davies, who covers sports closely and keenly for Native Sun News, wrote in an article about Pine Ridge Thorpes’ head basketball coach Casey Means: “Off the reservation, a coach and his team can connect with each other, and their community, but however much success this produces, however deep and meaningful the association, it can never reach the scope and depth of tribal identity. The coach, the players, the fans, are connected by more than just community, or even blood, and no matter where the Oglala reside, or how dire their circumstance, when the tribe is at its best, that connection is as ancient and resilient as the vast buffalo grass prairie itself.” (“Iron Sharpens Iron,” Native Sun News, March 22, 2019).

By anyone’s standards, Pine Ridge experienced dire circumstance in 2016 when the community was rocked by 14 homicides, including the shooting deaths of 13-year-old Te’Ca Clifford in July and 34-year-old Annie Colhoff in September. Oglala Sioux Tribe and federal law enforcement officials attributed Colhoff’s death and the 2016 spike to an increase in illegal drugs, which are often produced in places like Denver, and too often accompanied by an escalation of violence and firearms. Of course, the methamphetamine epidemic is not limited to West River or reservations. In 2016, Minnehaha County had 10 homicide cases and a sizeable increase in methrelated drug felonies. South Dakota law enforcement made 3,684 arrests for meth in 2018.

Since 2016, Pine Ridge police have expanded anti-drug and anti-meth measures. Losses to homicide have dropped back even below the pre-2016 average of five per year. But the impact of death and violence in 2016 were more than headlines and statistics for Charles Schrader Jr. and his family. On October 16 of that disheartening year, Schrader, today a senior point guard on the Pine Ridge Thorpes basketball team, was just a month away from the start of his freshman basketball season, when his older brother Vincent “Vinny” Brewer III was gunned down outside the SuAnne Big Crow Recreation Center in Pine Ridge. “We were close our whole lives,” says Schrader. “He was helping me work on my game. The day before it happened, I was actually playing in a basketball tournament with him.” Brewer, a 29-year-old father of three, struggled with addiction. Those charged are accused of killing Brewer after trying to collect an alleged drug debt. Brewer had been a popular figure in Pine Ridge as well as a celebrated basketball player.

Stunned with grief, Schrader eventually turned to basketball for some solace. “It was really hard for me to find the love for the game,” says Schrader. “But I realized every time I was at home, I was alone and depressed. Every time I come to the gym, all that would go away. My family really enjoyed watching me play as a freshman. It brought light to my family that was down and really helped bring my family up from my brother’s passing. It was just light in the dark times.”

After scoring 14 straight points with eight minutes left against Winnebago at the 2016 Lakota Nation Invitational, Schrader, who is 6’4”, went on to get a starting spot as a freshman. The summer before his sophomore year, he grew even more determined. “I was working in the gym every day, getting quicker, stronger. I was trying to get my vertical up and I started dunking. And I got carried away with myself.” A fractured tibia and snapped patella tendon benched Schrader for the entirety of his sophomore season. “It really hurt me because when I lost my brother, basketball season was a month away,” says Schrader. “So I literally had to hold my feelings in and stay strong for my family. But when I got hurt, it all just hit me at once. And I was in depression for a while.”

Enter Casey Means. Schrader’s cousin and a 1996 Pine Ridge graduate, Means had briefly coached before, but soured on it after feeling he didn’t get a fair shot at building a program. Schrader asked Means and Shawn Keith to strengthen him for his junior season. “We probably lived in this gym for two years,” says Means. ”Us three in the gym, six in the morning, eight at night. And eventually I started to get that love back.” When the Thorpes coach stepped down, Means applied, was hired, and instituted rigorous offseason training. “Charles is the one that paved the way by doing the drills, getting extra shots, lifting weights. If it wasn’t for Charles, I probably wouldn’t be here coaching at all.”

Means has known Schrader for most of his cousin’s life. “Since I’ve known him, he’s had a ball in his hand. I’m proud of Charles from what he has overcome, how he goes about his daily life, how he carries others, how he’s humble and respectful. Everything he’s been through, he’s come back harder. He picks everybody up. He’s a leader.”

Schrader acknowledges his leadership, but humbly. “Well, they look up to me, but people always tell me that I should be scoring a lot. But I believe in these guys and I don’t believe I have to score all the time to contribute to this team. They don’t want to play with the guy who’s shooting all the shots. I’d rather get my team involved, get their chemistry up. That’s what’s going to matter at the end of the year.”

Last year, Means, Schrader, and the Thorpes finished third in the state tournament after a 57-51 nail biter against top-ranked Tea Area in the semi-finals. This year, the Thorpes have been in the top of the Region 7A standings. Schrader has averaged 14 points and 7.5 rebounds for Pine Ridge, was nominated McDonald’s All- American, and named to the Lakota Nation Invitational All- Tournament Team. “He reminds me of our grandpa, from the 1800s,” says Means. “Respectful. Watches his elders. Carries himself in a good way. Doesn’t talk about others. I love him like a son.”

Colleges have been looking at Schrader, who would like to go to school for business. He considers opening a 24/7 gym for teens and kids. “Especially at Pine Ridge, because we’re known for basketball here. It’s a blessing to be here, be a part of the Thorpes family. We take Thorpes family really seriously around here. We’re in one circle.”

Meet Schrader, his coach and family in an online digital feature on Facebook.com/SoDakPB and during SDPB Sports coverage of SD High School Basketball Tournaments on SDPB TV and SDPB.org. For basketball schedule, see SDPB.org/basketball.

Pine Ridge Thorpe's Coach Casey Means and Charles Schrader Jr.