TYRELL’S MOTHER, Carrie Grise, raised him by herself since he was a baby. She taught him to be respectful, especially to adults, and to take responsibility for his own actions.
An only child for his first 9 years, Tyrell was shy – to a fault he would say. But his mother’s lessons took hold. In a conversation for this story, Tyrell’s shyness was something that could be perceived under the surface, but maturity had evened it out so that he came across as soft-spoken, but also very real and honest.
“He actually was an easy kid growing up,” Carrie said. “He barely got in trouble. He would help out around the house without asking. Well-rounded, a hard-work ethic. You never had to tell him to do his homework, he was always doing it on his own. He actually used to ask his teacher for more homework. Not sure what kid does that.”
The worst thing Tyrell did to get in trouble?
“Sometimes, he would forget to close the garage door,” she admitted.
A physical therapist, Carrie worked in outpatient sports medicine for 12 years and now in home care with mostly elderly. When Carrie was occupied, Tyrell was content to spend hours on his own, watching movies.
These weren’t exactly “Gone with the Wind,” or “The Godfather.” It was ‘Space Jam,” “Air Bud,” and “Like Mike.”
“If you ask my mom, she’s probably seen ‘Air Bud’ hundreds of times because of me,” he said.
If a dunking dog won’t make you fall in love with basketball, what will?
When Tyrell was 5, they had just moved to Minneapolis from Grand Forks, North Dakota, where Carrie was a graduate student. Walking through the massive Mall of America, Carrie chanced upon a college friend, Larry Suggs, who lived in the area.
Suggs had played college basketball and Carrie asked if he knew of a league where Tyrell could join a team. Larry did more than that, he offered to teach Tyrell the game.
“That’s when things started to turn the corner, as far as his focus on basketball,” Carrie said.
Tyrell describes Suggs as a mentor and father figure.
“He had a great basketball mind,” Tyrell said. “From the age of 5 to 13, I would be at Larry’s house all the time with his son who would become a close friend. We’d go to high school games, we’d watch the NBA together. And he would just teach us, both of us, everything we needed to know about the game.”
From a young age, Suggs taught Tyrell ballhandling skills.
“We were doing two-ball dribbling at age 7,” Tyrell said. “I definitely owe him a lot of credit for my development as a player.”
Nothing was left to chance.
“We used to practice interviews, because he said that would happen at some point,” Tyrell said. “At the moment, I was like, What the heck? Now I look back and it’s pretty funny.”
The one caveat to playing with a talented friend was that Tyrell was frequently compared to him, and frequently came up short. Larry’s son is a high school senior point guard and five-star recruit. Growing up, Tyrell was more of a passer and Suggs’ son more of a scorer. But Tyrell looked like a waif to his taller and stronger teammate.
The comparisons hurt Tyrell, and his confidence took a beating. Also, DeLaSalle coach Dave Thorson was demanding, especially of Tyrell.
“I think he had about had it,” Carrie said. “I said, ‘A lot of coaches are hard on you because they see great potential in you.’
“He always thought he wasn’t good enough. His biggest obstacle was his self-doubt. He didn’t realize how good he actually was, not only as a basketball player, but academically, and how good of a man he was becoming”
Carrie remembers a talk with Tyrell as a freshman. The message was simple: Believe in yourself.
“Keep working hard and you’ll get noticed,” she said.
And that’s what Tyrell did.
“As far as confidence, I struggled with that growing up,” he said. “When I started getting confidence in myself, things started to take off for me.”