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Ex-Bloomingdale basketball star remains critical after shooting

Tribune file photo (2003)

Theo Smalling, right, runs a drill with then-Bloomingdale coach Josh Chapin in January 2003.

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Published: October 26, 2009

Updated: 10/26/2009 05:00 pm

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Theo Smalling

TAMPA - Theo Smalling, a Hampton University basketball player who attended Bloomingdale High School, remained in critical condition this morning after being accidentally shot over the weekend in Virginia.

"I talked to his mom [Sunday] and its not looking good," said Josh Chapin, who was Smalling's coach at Bloomingdale and is now assistant principal for student affairs at Brandon High School.

Smalling was in a parking lot with Dominique Devon Smith just after midnight Saturday when Smith mishandled a gun and accidentally shot Smalling, Hampton, Va., police said. Smith, 21, has been charged with reckless handling of a firearm.

The Daily Press of Newport News reported that Hampton coach Ed Joyner waited with Smalling's family members at Riverside Regional Medical Center on Monday afternoon.

"He's fighting," Joyner told the Daily Press. "We're all in shock right now. He was a truly special young man. He is a truly special young man. I don't want to say he was, because he's not gone yet."

Smalling, a 22-year-old senior and Hampton's team captain, played at Bloomingdale from 2002 to 2006.

Chapin said Smalling was celebrating his birthday the night of the shooting and he called Smalling Friday to wish him happy birthday. He said Smalling was looking forward to Hampton's game against the University of South Florida on Dec. 2 at the Sun Dome.

"He was one of the best I've had in my seven years as coach," Chapin said. "He was my first class. I had him for four years. He was my first Division I player. He's probably the toughest kid I ever coached."

At Bloomingdale, Smalling scored 1,239 points and ranks 101st on the Hillsborough County all-time list.

Smalling, a sports management major, is a 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward. He played in 30 games as a junior for Hampton, averaging 3.3 points and a team-leading 5.3 points per game.

In a statement on its Web site, the university said Smalling was the victim of a "senseless accident."

"Theo Smalling is the epitome of a student athlete who leads by example," Hampton athletic director Lonza Hardy Jr. said in the statement. "Everyone who knows him knows about his compassion for life, his love of the game of basketball and his loyalty and devotion to Hampton University."

Joyner said on the Web site: "Theo is a wonderful young man and the leader of his team. Please continue to pray for him, his family and the team. He is a strong young man and fighting for his life. It is unfortunate that this has happened to such a great young man."

Information from Tribune reporter Nick Williams and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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