Gaddis receives her wish and joins Falcons, friend

SHE smiles easily, this kid who spells her name "Kortnee." The laughter and giggles of Courtney Gaddis are infectious. The value of a good joke carries a lot of weight in her world. The price for happiness has been steep, but well invested.

The whole thing about winning a Division II state girls basketball championship was glorious at Kalani High School last year. This season, the Falcons are in Division I, where many D-II programs flame out and turn into roadkill.

That won't be the case this season for Kalani, not with the return of talent and experience. For a key player like Megan Kamehiro, the arrival of an old friend is a double dose of goodness. Kamehiro, like Gaddis, was a Star-Bulletin All-State honorable-mention pick last year. Kamehiro, a floor general with high-octane scoring skills, could barely contain her excitement.

Her old pal, the one who was a shortie teammate with the Moiliili Sting youth team, is now 5-foot-11 and agile as, well, a Panther.

After years of longing to attend her neighborhood schools, she's back. Part nerd, part star athlete.

"I always call her Corny Courtney," Kamehiro said. "She'll give me the stink eye."

Then, they laugh again. No wonder Gaddis is smiling so much.

Jim and Claire Gaddis split up before Courtney could recite the alphabet. Dad was a hoopster at the prep and college levels, imparting his love for roundball to his oldest child.

With joint custody, Courtney saw plenty of her parents, which meant a lot of time shooting baskets with Jim. At 9, she went out for her team at Waialae Elementary, but was cut along with 10 boys.

She sulked in the car ride home, said not a word. She walked to her room, shut the door and cried.

Jim let her be.

"Courtney never lets anybody see her cry," he said. "Never."

A year later, she went out for Waialae again. She was cut again. It didn't matter as much at that point, though.

"I loved it too much. We played at recess all the time," she said of her looming basketball addiction. By the end of the year, she was attending Kalakaua Clinic each week, and then signed up to play for the Moiliili Sting.

A lot of her classmates played for the Sting, who practiced at Kapaolono Park.

"Even they said, Courtney, you should be on the (Waialae) team," she recalled. With the clinic and the Sting, a bond with future Kalani players like Kamehiro, Kacie Gushiken and Chelsea Kimura began to form.

Growing "up"

Back then, Gaddis was not tall.

"I was the shortest one on the team," she claimed.

"Uh-uh, I do not remember ever being taller than her," Kamehiro said. "She's a billion times taller than me now."

Claire, who signed Courtney up for everything during those early years, had one more demand of her sleepy, growing daughter. Private school was a requirement, and La Pietra had the financial aid to help.

There, she blossomed in basketball and volleyball. As an eighth-grader, she led the Lady Panthers to a 16-0 season.

After two years as a starter with the varsity, the fast-growing Gaddis had a breakout season as a junior. The Lady Panthers won the ILH D-II title.

There was no denying, though, that her heart was still back in the neighborhood. Anyone who knew her well also knew that she had a dream of wearing Falcon red and gray.

"I begged my dad every year to let me go to Kalani, but my mom wouldn't let me," she said.

It was only after Gaddis completed all her core classes at La Pietra that Claire relented.

With a 3.9 grade-point average, she left La Pietra, with the blessing of administrators Beth McLachlin and Mahina Elenecki-Hugo.

For years, Jim gave his attention to Courtney and her brother, Kainoa. His time. His hard-earned dollars, too; Kainoa attends Punahou.

Leading the press

Coach Darold Imanaka, who orchestrates an up-tempo, high-energy brand of basketball, has Gaddis at the top of his fullcourt press. Alongside Kamehameha transfer Rhianna Farm and Kamehiro, Gaddis has sparked Kalani to a 7-1 start, including a close win over Interscholastic League of Honolulu favorite Iolani.

More than that, though, Gaddis is home again.

"I can't even describe what it's like, waking up every day and going to Kalani," she said.

"I've never been this happy before."