Harry Giles Torn ACL, MCL and meniscus
Tough for a kid at 15 to go through
WOW.
Top recruit Harry Giles III facing knee surgery
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Posted: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 6:12 pm
BY JOHN DELL
Harry Giles III of Winston-Salem, a rising sophomore at Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point, suffered a severe left-knee injury playing for the U.S. U-16 basketball team last week at a tournament in Uruguay.
Giles father, Harry Jr., said that his son tore the medial-collateral and anterior-cruciate ligaments and the meniscus.
“It was a situation where he got hit high and low on the play,” the elder Giles said by telephone Tuesday. “We took him to the doctor (Tuesday), and we got the news about how extensive the injury was.”
Giles, who played football and basketball at Winston-Salem State, said he has had eight knee surgeries and knows what his son is up against.
Harry Giles III (6-9, 210) recently was named the nation’s top recruit in the Class of 2106 by ESPN, and he already has scholarship offers from North Carolina and Ohio State, his father said.
When Giles went down in the U.S. team’s 96-72 victory against Argentina, his father said that the injury didn’t appear to be serious and that the original diagnoses was a sprained knee.
“He went down on the play but got back up and was able to walk off the floor on his own,” Giles said. “But then over the next few days, it started to swell, so that was kind of an indication that it wasn’t good.”
Instead of immediately flying home, Giles stayed to cheer on his teammates, who went on to win the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship.
“Harry was able to go through the ceremony and get his medal, so it was good that he stayed and cheered his teammates on,” Giles said.
After the news about Giles’ impending surgery came out, Coach Don Showalter of the U.S. team wrote on Twitter: “(Giles) was a great teammate on our U16 USA BB Gold Medal team — cheered on his teammates after the injury.”
Giles’ father also said that Showalter did a good job keeping his son engaged with the team despite the injury.
“That meant a lot that Harry continued to sit on the bench and be a part of that USA team,” Giles said.
The road to recovery will not be an easy one for Giles, who could miss a major portion of his sophomore season at Wesleyan, which won last season’s NCISAA 3-A championship and also featured North Carolina-bound Theo Pinson.
Giles was named the MaxPreps national freshman of the year after averaging 12.5 points and 9.5 rebounds. His father said that whether he plays next season “depends on how the surgery goes and how fast he can recover.”
Coach Keith Gatlin of Wesleyan told the Greensboro News & Record that his only concern is for Giles’ health.
“To be honest with you, it really doesn’t matter because we just want to make sure Harry gets healthy,” Gatlin said. “Because he’s so young, I think he’ll be fine in the long run.”
Giles said that his son was shaken up after the injury but, now that the extent of the damage is known, is already looking ahead.
“For any 15-year-old and not knowing, there’s an emotional drain, and there’s also the physical aspect of it,” the elder Giles said. “But he’s already talking about coming back stronger and better than ever, and that’s good to hear.”
Giles said that his son most likely will have surgery in the next two weeks, adding: “We are in the process of finding the right doctor and getting all the information that we can.”