Jabbar Spellman: A Part of the Z Brotherhood

The Pine Bluff Zebra Senior Wants a Chance to Play B-Ball After Graduation

Jabbar Spellman doesn’t plan to give up basketball when he graduates in May.

The thing about team sports is that it is made up of multiple players.

Take basketball.

There are five players in the starting lineup. A team has more players who are on the bench that can go into the game as a substitute for the starters. That may be because a starter gets into foul trouble, wants a break to rest or sustains an injury. A coach may put in a different player if he wants to change up the game’s strategy or needs a player with certain skills.

Starters get a lot of attention from fans and reporters. The players on the bench, not so much.

That’s always bothered me. That’s why I decided to talk to Jabbar Spellman, a senior with the Pine Bluff Zebras, who will play for the 5A championship title tonight in Hot Springs against the Lake Hamilton Wolves.

Tonight’s game will be Jabbar’s last one. He will graduate in May. He wishes he could have gotten more minutes this season, and every previous season, but he understands the strategy of basketball, the only sports he plays. For Jabbar, when he is subbed in, he gives it his all.

“I say, ‘Coach, I’m ready, I’m ready,” Jabbar told me this week. “Sometimes it’s frustrating not to play but I always want what’s best for the team.”

The Zebras are closing in on their first basketball championship since 2015. For Jabbar to be a member of this team is a very big deal, he said, and it’s more than just about winning. A true connectiveness exists with the Zebras and the class of 2023 — one that will go down in history regardless of whether the Zebras or the Wolves win the state championship.

These seniors are the kids who were sophomores the year the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and school became virtual. For months, they were isolated. They missed their friends and the chance to play sports like normal. They wore masks if they did play and practiced germ control. Everything was out-of-kilter. It wasn’t easy, but it built character.

“As far as being on this basketball team it taught me about sacrifices,” Jabbar said. “And with that I had to take so many to get to the point where I’m at now playing in a 5A state championship game of the season and this team is like a brotherhood. Everyone on this team I look at as a brother. We might have our differences sometimes but at the end of day we laugh, joke, love each other right after.”

The Zebras show that brotherhood on and off of the court. I’ve hung out on the Zebra court after a game when everyone is hugging everyone. I’ve walked with players as they head to the locker room after a game. I’ve seen the support and care they give each other and the love they give to their families and fans. It’s authentic. If every team was like these kids, it would be an amazing world.

“As far as teamwork goes that also comes with communication,” Jabbar said. “That is the key to our group. We all need to be on the same accord. We have a saying after every practice and games, we say, ‘All in.’ When we say that it means that all the hard work, time, effort, practices that we put in it is going to pay off in the long run. We are doing it for a reason and now it’s that time to show why we say, ‘All in’.”

Jabbar told me he would love a chance to attend college, study engineering and continue playing basketball whether at a junior college or a four-year university.

“I just want an opportunity to show that I can play,” he said. “I always work on my craft, and I could keep doing that and build up and try to get to that D-1 level. I will keep practicing and training.”

Jabbar, who likes to play video games and detail his car when he isn’t on the court, said he would go to bed early on Wednesday night and pray about the game.

He isn’t just thinking about a win for his own ego or the team’s name in the championship books. He said a win in Hot Springs would be great for Pine Bluff, his hometown that gets too much negative, and not enough positive, attention.

“There are good parts of Pine Bluff,” Jabbar, who attended Oak Park Elementary and Jack Robey Junior High, said. “We are going to come hard to get this dream. It will be a good thing for the city and important for the city. There are changes that can come with this win. We can make a difference.”