“She had no idea where anything was,’’ Patrick remembered.
While he was waiting, his mother was wandering. She found a high school, Cheyenne Mountain, located on the foothills of the Rockies. She liked the look of it and told Patrick about it.
He had kept the idea of spending a year in the States in the back of his mind. But now it was a real possibility. They knocked on the door, went to the admissions office, and asked how to get Patrick enrolled. A couple of phone calls later, he was squared away.
Heckmann got a host family, the Muellers. Cheyenne Mountain got a 6-foot-6-inch wing who had a knack for slashing to the basket like Manu Ginobili.
“For the coach, that was like a dream come true,’’ said Susan Mueller, Heckmann’s host mother. “They actually made it to the Sweet 16 that year, so it was really fun watching him play. The school really embraced him. That was fun watching him play at the high school. The students would get excited when he dunked it.’’
At that point, the idea of returning to the United States to play college ball seemed real. When Heckmann committed to Boston College this past spring - choosing an education and Division 1 college basketball over the chance to play for club teams in his homeland - it was an easy decision.
“I knew if I can have the chance of playing in the ACC and study at a really good school, that’d be awesome,’’ he said.
Heckmann still remembers the text he got from his mother in January.
It read, “BC called. They’re trying to recruit you. Are you interested?’’
He remembers what he thought to himself: “Hell, yeah.’’
He had no idea how BC knew about him. A few schools had already shown interest, Michigan, the University of San Diego, and Colorado State among them.
