http://web.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081113&content_id=1481577&oid=2&vkey=21Mason and mother share special bond
Father is famous, but other parent is senior's 'best friend'
By Adam Zagoria / SNY.tv
NEW YORK -- Monica Bryant will fly into New York from Memphis on Thursday night to see her oldest son play the first basketball game of his final season at St. John's against LIU on Friday.
"I will be there to catch this very first game ," Bryant, the mother of senior forward Anthony Mason Jr., said by phone from Memphis. "I didn't want to miss this first game, his senior year. This is his last year at St. John's."
Although almost everyone knows that Mason -- a 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward expected to be the Red Storm's best player this year -- is the son of a popular former New York Knick, very few know the story of his relationship with the mother who raised him when that father was playing professional basketball.
Mason's devotion to his mother is reflected in the tattoo on his left arm that reads, "Love Always Mom."
"She's probably my best friend, my No. 1 fan," Mason said last week during St. John's Media Day. "Since I was younger, she's been to nearly every game. She supports me and my brother a lot in basketball and whatever she can. She's always a voice. I speak to her after every game. We have a real close relationship."
Anthony Mason Sr. attended high school with St. John's coach Norm Roberts at Springfield Gardens in Queens before starring at Tennessee State University. It was there that he and Bryant began dating. They never married.
Anthony Jr. was born on Jan. 25, 1987, when Monica was just 19. A year later, his father was chosen by the Portland Trail Blazers in the third round of the NBA Draft. But he was cut shortly thereafter.
While Anthony Sr. played in Turkey, the CBA, the USBL and, ultimately, the NBA, helping Pat Riley's Knicks reach the NBA Finals in 1994, Monica raised Anthony Jr. with the help of her grandparents, Mary and the late Walter Jackson.
"Pretty much by myself with the help of my grandparents and my mom," Bryant said, before adding with a laugh. "I really didn't know much and my grandmother and my mother stuck it out with me."
Monica also relied upon Mary Mason, "Big Anthony's" mother, for guidance even though she lived in New York.
"I think I talked to her every day," Bryant said. "She would come and visit a lot. Between those three ladies [including Mary Jackson], I think we did a pretty good job."
Monica tried balancing school and work at first. She worked in a Nike warehouse "handling big boxes of shoes" and putting them on an assembly line before getting tired of that. She then moved into substitute teaching and now works as a financial secretary at a middle school.
Monica said Anthony Jr. and his father have a good relationship even though Mason Sr. wasn't around all the time.
"It was what it was," Mason Jr. said. "It wasn't tough for me. I had my mother, I had my grandmother, I had my friends, my little brother."
Monica said Big Anthony watched his son play in summer leagues from the ages of 10 to 13, but only saw him play once in high school. Mason Sr. wasn't immediately available for an interview.
"I wish that he was around more, but they talked a lot," Monica said. "They talked just about every night when Anthony was young. I made sure that I would call him so that they would talk. And then Anthony Jr. spent his summers in New York."
When it came time for college, Mason Jr. was recruited by St. John's, Marquette and Washington State.
"He wanted to play in the Big East," Bryant said. "He had been saying that to me ever since Carmelo Anthony was playing with Syracuse. That was one of his favorite players, and he kept saying he wanted to play in their league.... He went to St. John's and I mean, what kid wouldn't want to play in Madison Square Garden?"
Bryant and her family members traveled to the Louisville game last year and watched Mason drop 29 points on the Cardinals, but she can't get to all the games.
"I have satellite and ESPN FullCourt," she said. "Since he signed I made sure that I had it. They just go ahead and apply it to my bill. I may miss one or two games. I'm trying to make more games."
Mason Jr. returned to Memphis to cast his ballot in the presidential election, allowing for some family bonding, especially with 83-year-old Mary Jackson, who is old enough to remember when Franklin Roosevelt was President.
"She always told me, 'It wasn't Roosevelt that ran the country, it was his wife. That was the boss,'" Mason said with a laugh, imitating his great-grandmother's high-pitched voice.
"For all of us to share that, I can't even put into words what the feeling was," Bryant said of the voting experience. "This was Anthony's first time voting."
Mason returned to New York in time for St. John's media day, at which he proclaimed that he's healthy and anxious to play after missing eight games last year because of a high ankle sprain that required surgery after the season.
"I twisted my ankle in a scrimmage and then the next time I did it, I knew I was probably going to have to have surgery," Mason said. "And I didn't want to end the season, just stop playing, so I decided to play it out and wait until the end of the season.
"Last year I was off and on. I was probably about 80 [percent]. ... That was probably the most frustrating part. It's never fun when I know I can be out there helping the team."
Still, he averaged 14.4 points and 4.4 rebounds and was named honorable mention All-Big East. The Red Storm finished the season 11-19, 5-13 in the conference.
Now, even though St. John's was picked 14th in the monster 16-team Big East, he's dreaming of playing in the NCAA Tournament and returning St. John's to the glory years of Chris Mullin and Mark Jackson.
"It's the most important year; I can't wait for the season to start," he said. "I can't."
Neither can Monica Bryant, who will be at the game proudly wearing her St. John's hat and cheering for her son.
Adam Zagoria is a regular contributor to SNY.tv. Read his blog at ZagsBlog.net.