Basketball, captain Tyler Melville ’14 said, is in his blood.
His dad was a captain for Princeton University. He and his brothers bonded over the sport, and Melville played against one of them, a player at Colgate University, three times. His mom played basketball in high school, too.
Born in Philadelphia, Melville moved around until the seventh grade, putting down roots in Colorado, Texas, Iowa and Connecticut, before eventually settling in Plano, TX. Basketball was a constant — he started playing at age seven. In middle school, he played on an AAU team sponsored by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban that included nine future Division I players.
Going into ninth grade, Melville participated in the People to People Sports Ambassador Program, sponsored in part by AAU, and played in a basketball tournament in Australia. Upon his return, Melville continued to develop his passion for the game by playing for his high school team. When his senior year came around, he experienced a major setback, fracturing his fibula on his 18th birthday.
“This one kid was driving a lane, and I guess he just flailed his leg out and kicked me,” he said. “I ended up playing the rest of the game limping because I thought it was just sore, but then I found out it was fractured.”
With the knowledge of the devastating impact injuries have on college-bound athletes, Melville took a postgraduate year at the Hun School of Princeton, an independent college preparatory school in New Jersey, to develop physically, mentally and academically, he said.
Yet Melville ultimately ended up playing not at his father’s alma mater but in Leede Arena.
“Everything happens for a reason,” he said, “and I firmly believe that. I do have a little extra fuel in the tank when I play Princeton, though.”
Melville keeps a reminder of his family’s roots in the form of his grandfather’s eulogy packet, which is taped to his locker for inspiration. His grandfather passed away in the fall.
Melville said the hard work and dedication that his grandfather taught despite constant adversity, remains in his blood and drove his dedication to the game.
The transition to college life wasn’t always easy for Melville, however.
“It was hard, especially my freshman year when it was difficult to adjust to a place where I all of a sudden wasn’t the smartest kid or best basketball player on campus,” he said.
By his sophomore year at Dartmouth, Melville was one of the only members of the Class of 2014 on the basketball team. He had been recruited by then new head coach Paul Cormier, who had served as an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies. Cormier was brought in to restructure Dartmouth’s basketball program in April 2010.
Many of the other players had been recruited by the previous coach, Terry Dunn, and as Cormier brought in new players, others were no longer in the plans for the program.
This year is Cormier’s first coaching an entirely hand-selected team. The Big Green, which currently sits at 7-8, 0-1 Ivy is only two wins behind last season’s overall score, and has 13 games left in the season.
“We only lost Matt LaBove [’13] last year, so the core group of players came back,” guard Alex Mitola ’16 said. “We had a full season under our belt and everyone got a year better, stronger and a year more of chemistry.”
Despite the constant turnover, Melville persevered and stayed with the team throughout his career in Hanover.
“I stayed because it’s kind of my mentality,” Melville said. “There were times I considered quitting, like my sophomore year when I wasn’t really playing, but I just stuck with it and now I’m in the starting rotation. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
As the lone elder statesman on the team, Melville has grown into his leadership role through his consistent effort and drive.
“I think he’s got a lot more confidence and worked on his game a lot from the time I was a freshman to now,” John Golden ’15 said. “He worked to be a starter and that was by him really working hard.”
After graduating, Melville plans to work in management at Frito-Lay, but he is keeping his options open, he said. He is also considering playing basketball overseas like several other Dartmouth alumni, such as Flinder Boyd ’02 and Alex Barnett ’09, and continue with his love for the game that has taught him so much about life, work, and himself.
“[Basketball] taught me to work effectively in a team atmosphere,” Melville said. “It’s taught me to have a winning mentality and a competitive streak. And it’s taught me how to lead and even to sometimes follow. Sometimes it’s best to heed the instruction from your other teammates instead of always being in the front.”
