b"From Orchard Park to South KoreaPro BasketballThe rise of Columbia High Schools Jun HarriganBY ADRIANNA DONATJun Harrigan plays for the Pegasus organization in the Korean Basketball League in South Korea.W henJunHarriganwood, Harrigan says. I was always outside andfriends playing in our backyard. They were always thinksaboutgrow- welcome. We especially appreciated how kind Jun ingupinMaple- and his friends were to our boys as they all grew up wood, the first thingtogether in the neighborhood. If it really does take that comes to mind10,000 hours to master a skill, Jun logged a mean-isntbasketball.Itingful share of those hours right in our backyard.isntevenColumbiaAtschool,HarriganattendedJefferson(now High School or long afternoons at The Baird. Itsactive. I grew up near Orchard Park and had aDeliaBolden)Elementary,MaplewoodMiddle the trees. group of friends my age and a year older that ISchoolandfi-I remember the walks home from school andwould always play with. Whether it be soccer, wallnally Columbia the nature and trees I was surrounded by, he saysball, manhunt or basketball, I was always outside. HighSchool via email from South Korea. I rarely see trees any- He was a fixture in the neighborhood and was(class of 2019), more. Where I am is all city. I miss the scenery.happy to find friends there. whereteachers Being away for so long, I realize how beautiful itNeighbors Mary Ellen and Greg Dawkins hadsuchasMark all is. a big family, a lawn and a basketball hoop in theTerenzi left im-Itsastrikingreflectionfromayoungmandriveway.ForHarrigan,itbecameasanctuary.pressionsthat whose life now moves at the pace of the KoreanThey were kind enough to always let us play therestayedwith Basketball League in South Korea. But for Har- without question, he says. When I started play- him.Hewas rigan, 25,no matter how far his path has takening basketball, I would always go there to train bya character and him, the roots of Maplewood and South Orangemyself. I spent hours and hours there. Its safe toalwayskindto are still firmly with him. say, without the Dawkins I wouldnt have cared formenomatter And those roots? They began in a childhoodbasketball. how much of a filled with movement, mischief and a neighbor- Mary Ellen also remembers it fondly. troublemakerIHarrigan (with ball) spent hours hood that embraced him as one of its own. We live in a house full of hoops junkies, shewas,Harriganplaying basketball at his neigh-I had a pretty normal childhood in Maple- says. It was always a joy to watch Jun and hissays with a grin.bor's home.16/ matters magazine / winter 2026"