by Leo Adam Biga

Jessica Haynes and Hunter Sallis/Photo: Jessica Haynes

In 1985, schools nationwide sought after Parade’s All-American basketball sensation Jessica Haynes of Omaha Central High. History is repeating itself with her son, Hunter Sallis, an All-State Millard North player, rated as the No. 20 prospect nationally in the 2021 class and USA Basketball team minicamp invitee.

College basketball giants like University of Kansas are in hot pursuit of Sallis. He has visited Gonzaga and Creighton and Nebraska-Lincoln are courting him in his own city. His coach, Tim Cannon, has forecast an NBA career for this projected one-and-done major college prospect. Others echo this bold prediction, despite the fact Sallis doesn’t turn 17 until late March and still has his senior year ahead of him.

“His upside is tremendous. He just keeps getting better, but he’s still only 16. He got the nickname Bambi when he was still getting his legs under him, like a new doe,” says his mother.

The once-gangly boy has grown into a sleek, sure-footed young man. He entered high school at 6’1” and he’s grown to 6’5”. Cannon feels he’ll be 6’7” by the time he graduates.

Déjà Vu

Thirty-five years ago, the player’s tall, lean mother was the object of intense recruiting interest herself. As a sophomore and junior, she and running mate Maurtice Ivy led the Central Eagles in back-to-back Class-A state titles, with a combined 50-0 record. Haynes estimates some 200 schools contacted her by the time she graduated in 1985. The same happened a year earlier for Ivy, who went on to an All-Big Eight career at Nebraska. Haynes starred three years at San Diego State and briefly sampled professional ball.

The once-best-friends are inductees in the Nebraska High-School Sports Hall of Fame, and the Nebraska Black Sports Hall of Fame.

Cannon saw Haynes play and considers her and Ivy among the two or three best girls he’s ever seen compete in the state. He knows he has an equally-special talent in Hunter. He's the kind of player who only comes around once, if ever, in a 40-plus-year coaching-career.

Nebraska rarely produces high-level hoop artists, but occasionally a platoon of serious ball-players arise. The state is in a locally-grown talent-rich cycle and the cream of the crop is Sallis. The junior guard’s repertoire features a dead-eye jump shot, silky-smooth moves, quick hands, adroit ball-handling and soaring, one-handed slams. He averages 23 points for a stacked 22-4 Mustangs team that has been in the Top 5 all season and hopes to lead to its first-ever Class-A basketball title.

Class of 2021 - 6'4" 175lb SG @ Millard North High School - Hunter Sallis - Video by Quad Visual

Three teammates are also prized Division I recruits: Saint Thomas, Jasen Green and Max Murrell (Stanford-committed). As good as this bunch is, the Mustangs face stiff competition from rival rated, in-state teams with their own college-bound stars. Bellevue West is led by Chucky Hepburn (Wisconsin). Omaha Central has an alpha in Latrell Wrightsell, Jr.; Lincoln North Star’s Donovan Williams is covered by some of the same elite programs as Sallis.

Sallis has shown-up against the best in his age group, on the AAU circuit, and in camps the past two summers, making him Nebraska’s first-ever 5-star (*****) prospect in the ratings era. In Millard North’s February 15 Grand Island Heartland Hoops Classic match-up, with nationally ranked IMG Academy, he led all scorers with 25 points, only increasing the hype around his growing mystique.

It’s all happening so fast and at such a young age. His mother went through it all at the tender age of 17, herself. Though her playing days were decades ago, she and Hunter share a passion with many layers that only strengthens their bond.

“It truly does mean a lot to me,” Haynes says, “because basketball was my first love. I got introduced to it when I was 6, by Forrest Roper, Sr., who coached the Omaha Hawkettes (a YMCA club).”

Kountze Park, Fontenelle Park, and the North Omaha Boys Club were proving grounds for her and Ivy, a fellow Hawkette alumna. “We really owned those courts. We would get selected to play with the guys before some of the guys. They totally respected us. They knew we could play.”

Hunter has traveled his own proving grounds to stamp himself a true inheritor of his mother’s basketball prowess.

“Getting to see my son’s games now, just being there, brings me so much joy.”

As a single mom, she introduced basketball to her three children as a family legacy. “It’s what we do.”

“They all played. My oldest Tokyo is more artistic so he chose a different passion (branded as Tokyo Stylez, he’s a hairstylist to the stars). My daughter, Jerrica, (she was on a state title team), has a love for the game. My youngest, Hunter, has a love for the game. I’d take Hunter to the gym and shoot around with him a little bit. But I didn’t want to make it so serious where it was like, ‘no, you do it this way or you do it that way.’ I wanted to just let him have fun and enjoy the game and eventually fall in love with the game, as I did.”

Mother and Son Engaged in Many One-on-one Tussles

“I’d push him around. Eventually, he’d get tired of that and start grabbing and holding, not playing fair. He’d get upset because I’d back him down into the paint. Then he was like, ‘I don’t want to play anymore.’ In the beginning, it was difficult for him. Hunter was not as talented as some kids. You could tell he was athletic. He had the long arms and legs and I knew someday he could be a really good player, but I just did not know how good he could be,” said Haynes.

“He wanted to work harder because he wanted to be better, so he put in the work. He always wanted to be in the gym.”

She has liberally shared her basketball expertise with Hunter. “I know Xs and Os. We love to watch games together on television. My son gets into it. I get so excited and he loves it.”

“If there are any questions I have, I know she has the answers,” says Hunter, who can hear his mom’s cheers and calls in the stands when he’s on the court.

A Way Out and Up

The North Omaha in which she grew up is changed from the one he’s known. The gang culture that emerged in the late 1980s, and that persists, has had tragic consequences for her extended family, which is why she and Hunter moved to West Omaha in 2017.

“Not to bash Omaha Public Schools, but Bloods and Crips are at most of those schools. Kids challenge each other. They may not even be part of a gang, but they affiliate, meaning somebody in their family belongs. If there’s a student badmouthing that gang and you don’t stand up, then you’re considered weak or a punk. I never wanted to put Hunter in a predicament where he would have to defend a gang he doesn’t even belong to.”

Gun-violence has claimed the lives and wounded the hearts, of too many in the family. As a hoops prodigy, Hunter offers a ray of hope.

“All the things my family’s been through – and now we have this. Every day I find myself thinking, man, is this really happening – I could possibly be the mom of an NBA player. Everybody’s saying he’s a pro. It puts a lot of pressure on us. We want the best for him and we want to keep him grounded. We want to make sure he does this thing right. There’s no room for mistakes.”

“We kind of keep him sheltered, protected. He gets a lot of support from our family. He’s like our Golden Child.”

After a rough start at Millard North, Hunter has blossomed the last two years into a bona fide player and student-athlete. His hard work has him on the cusp of lofty hoop-dreams.

Says Haynes, “It was the best decision ever. His freshman year he struggled. It was a huge adjustment for him. He didn’t see much time with the varsity. It was challenging for him academically, too, because the curriculum was harder than what he was used to. There were times when he was like, ‘I’m doing my best, why can’t I just go back – I wouldn’t have to work this hard.’ And we were like, ‘No. We want you to be challenged, we want you to be ready for college and Millard North is going to have you ready for college.’”

Between his freshman and sophomore years, she says, is when his growth “really kicked in.” “He wanted to get a trainer and we got him one of the best – Ryan Foster at The Factory. They have a very good relationship. We totally trust everything Ryan does with Hunter. We’ve seen the growth, the improvement. Hunter wanted to be there all day, every day. There were times if he didn’t get in a varsity game he’d beg his dad to take him to the gym. It’d be almost midnight sometimes. So we put some things in place and said if you’re willing to work for this then we’re going to do what’s necessary to help you.”

“None of the money we put out was wasted because he showed us this is what he really wanted. He was already talented, but the work ethic you can’t teach – that has to come from within. and I’ll tell you, I’ve never seen a kid with a stronger work-ethic than Hunter,” says Haynes.

“I like the results, knowing I’m getting better each time I go. That really motivates me,” Sallis says.

Coach Cannon is fully cognizant he has a transcendent talent on his hands, “I’ve never coached anyone who’s improved consistently over three years as he has. He’s constantly working at it.”

The admittedly “strong-willed” Haynes recognizes the same quality in her son, she notes he works more on himself than she ever did.

“There’s so much more available to our youth now. It just surpasses anything we had back-in-the-day. I thought I was working hard at getting better, but I don’t know anyone more dedicated than him.”

Personalized workouts, even on school nights during the season, are part of his routine.

“To realize my goals [of] and what I want to be, I have to do these things to get there,” Sallis says.

The “physical and mental gains” plus the success he’s enjoyed against top competition, Hunters says, “have made me gain a lot of confidence. Going out and performing always helps.”

A Player of the People

Hunter is the main reason Millard North games draw packed houses. Reminding him of his star status are the texts, tweets and calls he gets, the interviews he does, the photos for which he poses, and the autographs he signs. Sometimes it gets to be too much. “But then,” he says, “I start thinking other kids would love to have this, so I can’t take it lightly.”

As for where he’ll play collegially, he’s weighing his options even as outside pressure builds to commit early. Some want him to shine on the biggest stages of college basketball, which would mean going far away. Others want him to stay close to home.

A last-minute winning shot for Hunter Sallis isn't the first in his family to beat the buzzer. - KETV

His mother faced similar choices and pressures in 1985. Then, like now, girls’ basketball attracted scant notice compared to boys’ hoops. Even with the exponential growth of women’s sports, high school girls’ basketball is an after-thought for media and public alike. Meanwhile, the advent of social media and recruiting news services, (which didn’t exist in her day), has ratcheted up the exposure and scrutiny on star male student-athletes like her son.

‘It’s a lot different now,” he says.

His highlights are all over streaming platforms whereas there’s little footage of her. Hunter only recently saw, for the first time, video of video of his mother’s coast-to-coast run-through Omaha Marian defenders for a finger-roll winning layup as time expired in the ’84 championship game.

Color him impressed. He’d heard the stories of her exploits, not from his mom, but from relatives and family friends. He calls seeing for himself her producing in-the-clutch “cool.”

Now he’s the one others are raving about. Everyone, from coaches to fans, is trying to influence his choice of college by telling him how good he is, and the impact he can make.

“This is a lot for a kid his age to take on,” Haynes says. “That’s why his dad and I really try to help him filter through a lot of it. Whether he wants to go to the other side of the country or he wants to stay home and go to Creighton or Nebraska, we’re going to support him. Whatever he decides, we’re going to make sure he’s making that choice for the right reasons.

“He’s not even alluded to a school he likes more than another. He’s just not saying.”

Keeping Things Close-to-the-Vest

“He’s very soft-spoken and extremely quiet. That’s how I was – very shy. I didn’t talk a whole lot. But when tip-off came I was a totally different person, and he reminds me so much of myself. He gets on that court and he expresses a lot of emotion. It’s fun to see him express himself on the floor,” says Haynes

Like many athletes of his generation, Sallis idolized Kobe Bryant, patterning his game after the late superstar’s fierce competitiveness and balletic style.

For those who really love the game like Jessica and Hunter, she says basketball “is a form of art. It’s the ‘[g]reatest show on Earth’.”

Even with everything coming his way, she says, her son is unfazed.

“The beauty of it is, he’s so humble, he hasn’t changed. He has the same friends he had since before all this success. His friends don’t treat him like a prima donna. They still treat him the same. We love that. That keeps him grounded.”

Video: Josh Ferdico, Millard South Media

His coach Tim Cannon does, too.

“He expects a lot of me, Sallis says of Cannon. “He’s really bent on me becoming a better leader – leading by example. He’s really made it clear to me that my teammates follow the things I do.”

Cannon likes how “courteous” Sallis is. He says he always makes time for fans and reporters and even thanks kids who rebound for him when he gets in shots after practice. “He’s just a good young man.” Cannon’s isn’t usually one for many words but he makes an exception for Sallis. “I believe he’s going to go to the NBA. He has to prove a lot. He has to keep working. If he leaves high school constantly working to get better like he has done, then that’s the big reason I think he’ll make it.”

Haynes feels Hunter is in good hands until he does graduate, “Besides being a wonderful coach. Cannon has been very supportive of our family throughout this whole process. We’re glad to have him mentor our son.”

Sallis will showcase his game when the Class A title race shakes-out March 12-14 at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln. Hoop-heads around the state and the nation will be watching how this phenom performs. Should he help carry Millard North to the title, he’d join his mom and his sister as state champions. Win or lose, the legacy continues.

Then, in April, he’s off to a USA Basketball team minicamp during the Final Four in Atlanta. He became the state’s first boys’ player to participate in a USA camp last October, in Colorado Springs. He did well enough to earn this ask-back.

Sure signs of bigger things to come.

Millard North won its district to earn the No. 2 seed in the state tournament. Millard North plays Papillion La Vista South at 7 p.m. (Thursday. March 12) at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Basketball legacy binds legend, Jessica Haynes, and her basketball star, Hunter Sallis