Fairmont Senior’s Taevon Horton named Evans Award winner

FAIRMONT, W.Va. — For the better part of the last decade, basketball fans around West Virginia have heard the name Horton a lot in connection with Fairmont Senior High School.

It started with Travon Horton, a member of the Class AA All-Tournament team in 2013. Two years later, Tavon “Butters” Horton received the same honor for the Polar Bears in 2015. During the same period, Tyaira Horton was a defensive stopper and overall leader of coach Corey Hines’ Lady Polar Bears.

Now, a fourth Horton has done something none of his siblings have.

Taevon Horton, the latest member of his family to star for the Polar Bears, has been selected as the winner of this year’s Bill Evans Award, given annually to the top boys’ high school basketball player in West Virginia as selected by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

The award is named in honor of former Fairmont Times publisher Bill Evans, and Horton is the first Friendly City recipient of the honor since Jared Prickett won in 1992.

This season for the Class AA runner-up Polar Bears, Horton averaged 19.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game while shooting better than 50 percent from the floor. As much as his offensive production was a key factor in FSHS’s 25-1 season, Horton’s defense was a difference-maker for the Polar Bears as he was frequently tasked with defending the opponent’s top offensive threat.

His love for and dedication to basketball that led to him receiving the top honor a high school player can in West Virginia all started years ago, and are rooted in his tight family ties.

“Without any of my siblings — Travon, Butters or Tyaira — I wouldn’t have played sports,” Horton said. “To be honest, Travon started all of it. Butters played because of Travon and Tyaira played because of Butters.

“I played because of Butters, but Travon started it all.”

As the youngest sibling, playing against his older and more talented brothers wasn’t easy, but the lessons learned were ones that would stick with him forever.

“Of course it was rough. They were always ahead of me strength-wise and speed-wise,” Horton said. “I watched what they did and how they scored on me and I learned from it. It was a big brother-little brother thing, and I also learned from my sister, and I’ve never played against her.

When his turn to put on the Fairmont Senior blue and white came along, Horton had the skills and lessons he learned from playing with his brothers, but he wasn’t yet the person he needed to be just yet.

“My mindset now and then was totally different,” Horton said. “I thought everything was going to be handed to me just because of my brothers.

“But it’s not like that. It’s real.”

Prior to his freshman season, Horton played with the Polar Bears during the three-week period, immediately trying to impress and be the best player on the floor by taking ill-advised shots and trying to do too much.

Retton didn’t like what he saw, and knew that the next Horton to come through the program still had a lot to learn.

“I got on him and said, ‘we’ve got some other guys on this team. Pass the ball,’” Retton said. “He figured it out.”

He did figure it out, but it didn’t happen over night, or even over the course of the next year.

He entered his freshman season with high expectations, but due to academic factors Horton was unable to finish the season, and his career was put on hold.

As a sophomore, the high-flying Horton began to open a lot of eyes through his talent and athleticism, but academics once again were an issue, and his season was over prematurely once again.

This time, however, something was different, thanks to the presence of a new mentor.

“My mom yelled at me in front of everybody because I got kicked off the team,” Horton recalled. “He came along and said, ‘My name is R.J. I’ll mentor him and tutor him.’”

R.J. was Robert John Soltys, who Horton credits for being an incredibly positive influence on him who helped turned his life around, starting that 10th-grade year.

“Ever since that day I’ve been a better person off the court.”

During that sophomore season, Horton sat behind the bench every game while his Polar Bears went on to win a state title.

“To me, that shows a lot of humility,” Retton said. “That shows that he wanted to be a part of it, but he had to do it in a different way. I don’t think a lot of kids would have done that.”

Retton saw this maturity, and knew that when Horton got his chance to suit up once again, he would be a different person both on and off the court.

Once that opportunity came as a junior, Horton was ready and played a vital role on the Polar Bears’ second-consecutive state title team.

Coming into this past season, Horton was already a state champion and returning first-team All-State member, and he was ready to write the next chapter in his career.

“I just tried to be better than what I was last year,” Horton said. “I know what I did last year, and I just tried to come back and improve in my senior year.”

Through 25 games, Horton’s improvement was clear as day, as not only did he shine as the team’s leading rebounder and scorer, but the Polar Bears hadn’t lost a game, and were headed back to the state championship.

A second-straight title for Horton and a third-straight for the Polar Bears, however, eluded him, as Chapmanville got the better of Fairmont Senior in the title game, ending Horton’s career with a loss.

Even so, Horton knows that his basketball journey, which culminates with the Evans Award, had made him a better person and has prepared him for whatever comes next.

“I’m very satisfied with the high school career that I had,” Horton said. “I’m satisfied with even getting kicked off the first two years, because it made me the person I am. I’m even satisfied with (the championship game).

“I’m just thankful. I thank God for everything — the good and the bad, because everything is for a reason.”

— By Sean McNamara, Times West Virginian, for the West Virginia Sports Writers Association





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