To those who remember him, Kwasi Sherman was not just a brilliant basketball player, but a “tremendous character,” well-liked by everyone.

Even as a sophomore at Hamilton High, Sherman was a Division I prospect for college recruiters, a “complete player,” said Coach John Smith, “very coachable and with a great future ahead of him.”

That future came to an early end, however, when he was diagnosed with leukemia during conditioning for his junior year and passed away at the age of 17 in November 1995, what should have been his senior year.

In January, Hamilton High School will honor Sherman by hanging his jersey in the hallway near the athletic center, an effort spearheaded by teammate Jimi Sizemore, who is now a physical education teacher at Linden Elementary School and a basketball coach for the district.

“During his freshman year, he was very awkward,” Sizemore said. “He was 6-foot-9, and he started coming into his body. Between his freshman and sophomore year, he made a huge jump in his playing ability, and everybody knew this guy was going to be for real.”

“But people also cared for him as a person more than just a basketball player,” Sizemore said. “His stature made him stand out, but he was always smiling and people just related to him.”

Even as a sophomore, college coaches and recruiters started making overtures. Sizemore recalled a hand-written letter from legendary Indiana Hoosiers Coach Bobby Knight.

“Coaches from Michigan would come down to our open gym to watch him play,” Sizemore said.

But the following year, when it came time to start fall conditioning, Sherman’s health started to fail.

“He was finishing last in everything,” Sizemore said. “Nobody knew anything was wrong.”

“We used to take our kids over to Northwood Terrace to run up the hill there,” Coach Smith said. “I still vividly remember Jimi Sizemore carrying him up the hill. It was just a couple of days after that when his mother called to tell me he’d been diagnosed with leukemia.”

Sizemore said that around four years ago, Hamilton High School got a new batch of jerseys for its basketball team and sold the old ones.

“I bought mine and I bought Kwasi’s and packed it away,” he said. “I recently came across it and thought that it needed to be in the new gym.”

The framed jersey will be dedicated at halftime Jan. 4 when Hamilton plays Middletown.

The Hamilton Community Foundation also honors Sherman with a scholarship in his name, given to a Hamilton High School student who has shown the ability to overcome adversity.

The 2012 recipient, Stephen McGhee, was given the scholarship because of his perseverance after the 2009 death of his father.