C. Milton Wright boys basketball coach Mario Scott's well-traveled career led him to find his passion in coaching

Feb. 28—Nearly six years ago, Mario Scott sat down for dinner with his high school basketball coach, Robert Bliss, who was visiting Baltimore from his home in Okinawa, Japan. The two shared fond memories of Scott's four-year playing career at Giessen American High School in Germany — specifically their 1994 European Basketball Championship team.

"I said to him, 'I've been waiting more than 20 years to say thank you,'" Scott said. "And I say that because of one moment that season."

Sitting in an empty C. Milton Wright gym, where Scott is now the first-year boys basketball coach, he reflected on a long journey in basketball and life that brought him here. He looked out, gesturing toward the bench as if the 29-year-old story was unfolding on the court before his eyes.

The Griffins had their backs pinned against the wall in a one-possession game with a chance to win. Bliss called for a timeout. He furiously scribbled on his clipboard, "Get the ball to Mario, good things will happen."

Scott got the ball, just as his coach instructed. He penetrated the middle of the floor but kicked it out to his teammate who buried the game-winner. For Scott, the joy of victory was overshadowed by feelings of guilt. It blurred the chaotic celebration engulfing him.

"I run up to [Bliss]. He's like, 'Why are you looking at me like that?'" Scott recalled. "'Coach, you said get the ball to me, good things will happen. I'm sorry. He was open.' I'm almost defending the fact that I passed."

Bliss bent down to pick up his clipboard. He showed it to his star point guard — the message still written as sharply as it had been in the timeout — and asked, "What part of this said shoot?"

Scott's basketball journey has traveled across seas, across cultures. All the while the words his coach penned in 1994 have been a guiding point of reflection: "Get the ball to Mario, good things will happen," quasi allegorical for his first head coaching gig.

In his first season, Scott's Mustangs crushed preseason expectations, finishing the regular season 18-4, good for the top seed in the Class 3A North Region II playoff bracket.

The power of 'Thank you'

Scott's journey began, as he calls it, as a typical German kid in the soccer development system. His mother is German, his biological father is Black. "So, I'm biracial. I guess bicultural, too." His mother remarried when Scott was 9. That's when he transferred to international school in Berlin and began learning English.

Shortly after the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, Scott's family moved to Frankfurt, where he finished middle school, along the way picking up other American sports such as football.

There, the 14-year-old faced a fork in the road, one he couldn't turn back on and that would shape the rest of his life.

"My parents gave me the choice," Scott said. "Do I want to go back to German school and stay in the soccer system? Or do I want to go to an American school?

"My dad told me I should stick with football. My mom told me I should stick with soccer. And everybody kept telling me, 'You're good at basketball but you're in Germany and you're 6-foot-2.' I wanted to prove that I can do something with this."

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A Giessen teacher's connection helped Scott play college basketball at South Carolina State in rural Orangeburg, 3,000 miles from home. He learned quickly that America was more than "Martin" or "Fresh Prince of Bel Air."

Basketball fell to a side hobby after graduation. A job at Pfizer relocated Scott to Baltimore, then to Bel Air. Pickup runs at a nearby athletic club became his escape.

Scott noticed a young boy shooting alone on a hoop. The retired ballplayer approached him as he lifted the ball toward the rim with abhorrent form. "Hey man, let me help you," Scott said.

After eventually sinking the ball cleanly through the net, the boy leaped with excitement and then ran off. His mother returned. "I don't mean to bother," she said. "I just want to say thank you. My son is really excited. He said you helped him make a basket."

That moment, similar to a first effort lighting a match when the head doesn't fully catch, planted the notion of coaching in his head.

Fast forward, Scott's son, Javel Gramling, moved in from Oklahoma, where his mom lived. The soon-to-be eighth grader needed something to do while dad worked all day. Signs advertising a summer camp led by Patterson Mill coach Jeroud Clark were plastered around town. Scott called, albeit last minute, and Clark happily made the addition.

"It was like a Mr. Miyagi thing. Now, that's all I do. And it goes in. ... That's why I thanked him."

— Aleah Nelson, a McDonogh graduate on working with coach Mario Scott

"I don't know why," Scott said, "but then I asked, 'Sir, how do you get into high school coaching around here? I'd love to explore it.' ... He and I connected immediately."

So much so that Clark, who recently eclipsed 200 career coaching wins, brought him on the Huskies staff in the summer of 2011. Scott immediately forged relationships with senior leaders JJ Butler and Garrett Burkhead.

Scott often says Butler had the prettiest shot that never went in. The now Chestnut Hill College men's basketball coach agreed it was a fair assessment at the time.

"He was blunt and honest that he thought I was a good player," Butler said. "But he thought it was a joke that he watched my junior highlight tape and there was only one jump shot."

They were deliberate about making him a more consistent shooter, drilling his arc and consistency daily.

Patterson Mill thrived that season, eventually meeting Elkton for the 2012 Class 2A East Regional championship.

Trailing by three in the final minute, Butler held his team's destiny. He passed the ball forward, got it back and — as he recalls — "chucked it." The shot banked in, forcing overtime. Butler scored or assisted on every Patterson Mill point in the added period en route to a 66-64 victory.

Amidst the celebration, he found Scott and thanked him. Butler's emotions poured out, "I wouldn't have done this without you."

That moment decisively lit the match. Genuinely being more excited for Butler than any of his own accomplishments helped Scott realize coaching was his calling. It's also what prompted Scott to thank Bliss over dinner all those years later.

There are no shortage of anecdotes of Scott unlocking a player's potential.

Aleah Nelson, a McDonough graduate who played at Towson before transferring to Temple, met Scott while shooting at a park during the throes of the pandemic. He fixated on Nelson's weakness. She hop-stepped into dribble pull-ups rather than two-stepping for better balance.

"It was like a Mr. Miyagi thing," Nelson said, recalling her frustrations. "Now, that's all I do. And it goes in. ... That's why I thanked him."

Surpassing 17

Scott made stops overseeing junior varsity at John Carroll in 2018-19 then as Sarah Friedman's assistant at Edgewood before taking over the C. Milton Wright coaching job in September.

Preseason expectations were low.

A year ago, senior Jordan Stiemke carried the Mustangs to 17 wins including playoffs. He moved on to take a post-graduate year at Loomis Chaffee, leading many to believe he was leaving the Mustangs barren.

Scott told his new team that he wouldn't watch any tape from the year prior. It was a clean slate for everybody in tryouts. The challenge became proving to his team they could be as good, if not better, without Stiemke.

"I thought to myself, secretly, I never said this to them because I didn't know how this was gonna go, it'd be really cool if we get to 17," Scott said. "Then it would be really cool to get 18. One more without him."

C. Milton Wright endured plenty of battles reaching 18 wins. That's the Scott coaching experience. Believing in his players and vying for their absolute best.

C. Milton Wright gave the ball to Scott and even if he wasn't on the floor taking the shots, good things happened.