LAS VEGAS — From his seat in a second-floor hallway at the Park MGM casino, just outside a conference room that has been outfitted with tape to recreate the lines of a basketball court, Boise State assistant coach Mike Burns answers a FaceTime call from the contact saved as “DJ Greatest Bronco” in his phone.
“What up, big dog?” Burns says in a playful tone.
“What up, my playa?” the beaming face on Burns’ screen replies.
“You’ve got your Go Blue [shirt] on,” Burns says. “Are you ready for Saturday?”
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“Hellllll yeaaaahhhhh!” the Greatest Bronco responds.
The name DJ Campbell won’t be found in any Boise State box score past or present, nor will it appear in any media guide or athletic department archive documenting the team’s history, which includes 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and six regular-season conference championships since joining Division I in 1970. But ask anybody associated with the Broncos during this 15-year stretch under current head coach Leon Rice to name a more adored figure, to identify someone more deeply woven into the fabric and culture of the program than DJ, who is here in Las Vegas for the inaugural College Basketball Crown, and the answers are impossible to find. His name is stored in Burns’ phone that way for a reason.
DJ, 31, was born into a family of Boise State season ticket holders and has attended games all his life, routinely following the team on the road as well. His historical knowledge of Bronco basketball stretches back 50 years — long before he was born — and is virtually encyclopedic in recall, right down to the scores of critical games and the middle names of players and coaches. He has a direct line to everyone associated with the program, including some of their wives and significant others, and is known to FaceTime folks on a daily basis with words of encouragement before the next game. He addresses the team in the locker room after big wins and has even sat alongside Rice during postgame news conferences. With an infectious personality and unwavering sense of positivity, DJ is, in many ways, as representative of the program’s ethos as leading scorer Tyson Degenhart, a former zero-star recruit who will finish his career with more points than anyone in school history.
That DJ has Down syndrome and was only expected to survive two weeks adds yet another layer to an already incredible story.
“One of our maxims is ‘serve,'” Rice said, “and we get to serve this community that we’re in [and] that appreciates us. But I swear, DJ is the one that serves us, you know? He lifts our spirits. You’re just always excited to see him. He brings such great energy. It’s an everyday passion that he has for our program that’s pretty special.”
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There was a moment on March 9, 1994, when someone at the hospital handed Gary Campbell a sheet of paper that outlined, in broad strokes, what the life of a child with Down syndrome might look like. It talked about things like a propensity for low muscle tone and unpredictable challenges with speech and fine motor skills — all of which, to Gary, felt very “clinical” and fell uncomfortably short of answering the only question rattling around in his mind during the immediate aftermath of DJ’s birth: What will his life be like?
At that point, Gary had just watched his second-born child flatline four times upon delivery. He’d seen the doctors raise DJ’s tiny arm and then watched it drop, lifelessly, as the heart monitor plummeted to zero. He’d felt helpless with each successive application and removal of the bag valve mask that was forcing air into his son’s lungs. “This was all in the first 10 minutes,” Gary said, unaware that DJ would soon be diagnosed with Down syndrome and, eventually, a heart defect. DJ spent the first month of his life attached to a ventilator in the intensive care unit.
Contrast that scene with one that unfolded at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas on Friday morning, a day before DJ’s beloved Broncos face Nebraska in the semifinals of the College Basketball Crown. It’s shortly after 10 a.m. when DJ, who is decked out in Boise State gear, bounces into the lobby alongside Gary for an interview with a reporter. By that point, father and son had already attended Boise State’s first two games in this tournament while flitting in and out of Las Vegas for business trips along the West Coast. But when the Broncos knocked off Butler in the second round on Wednesday — assuring themselves of at least one more game over the weekend — Gary booked new flights and accommodations because missing a potential championship run wasn’t an option. “Vegas, baby!” DJ exclaims. There’s no place on Earth he’d rather be.
The family’s affiliation with Boise State athletics began when Gary moved to Idaho for a job after graduating from the University of Portland. A friend asked if he wanted to make some extra money selling programs before Broncos’ basketball games because doing so would grant Gary, who now owns a chemical business, free entry to the arena. He obliged, enjoyed the experience and bought his first season ticket in 1984. Now, Gary and his family have 18 season tickets for basketball games along the baseline at ExtraMile Arena and sell a dozen of them to neighbors and friends. He estimates that DJ can’t have missed more than three home games in the last 20 years.
“It’s a privilege when your kids love what you love,” said Gary, who also has season tickets to Broncos’ football games. “And he took it to another level with the Boise State thing.”
Their connection to the basketball program accelerated when DJ was introduced to Leon Rice’s eldest son, Brock, who floated in the same social circles as DJ’s younger sister. Though they went to rival high schools, the boys struck up a friendship almost immediately and have been largely inseparable ever since. What began with Brock inviting DJ over to his house for family dinners blossomed into the kind of brotherhood everyone should be lucky enough to experience: from buying used DVDs together at Walmart to grabbing slices at Idaho Pizza Company, from sending each other upwards of 150 texts per day — almost always about basketball — to unleashing their favorite party trick in which DJ names the mascot for any school in the country, right down to small colleges like Incarnate Word (Cardinals) and Kennesaw State (Owls).
Once, Brock even found DJ nailing a board to the outside of his house in an affectionate, albeit slightly misguided, attempt to aid with an ongoing renovation. “We’re doing construction, baby!” DJ said, nail gun proudly in hand. All Brock could do was laugh because he knew that DJ was merely trying to help.
“He’s got a lot of legendary stories,” Brock said. “He’s one of the best people ever.”
Slowly but surely, the amount of time DJ spent with the Broncos increased as Brock brought him around the program more and more, eventually inviting him into the locker room over the last few years. From one roster to the next, Boise State’s coaches and players took to DJ immediately in ways that, to this day, still cause Gary’s eyes to momentarily well with tears when discussing the uniqueness of that bond. For so many people to embrace and appreciate what DJ offers in the form of unwavering adoration and support, be that on or off the court, was more than Gary, who is now divorced, ever could have imagined in the delivery room three decades ago.
Who could have dreamed that 31 years later, alive and thriving, DJ would be invited to Boise State’s postseason banquet because so many of the players wanted him there? Who could have dreamed that DJ would be celebrating a postseason victory with the Broncos in a locker room on the Las Vegas Strip like he did earlier this week? Who could have dreamed that DJ would be calling members of the coaching staff after tough losses in an effort to brighten their moods? Who could have dreamed that DJ would be sending text messages to reserve guard RJ Keene II on Thursday afternoon with links to YouTube videos designed to improve quality of sleep? Who could have dreamed that DJ would be embraced to this degree by a collection of people he reveres?
“You’ve got someone that is just smiling and making your day better,” Keene said. “He wants to call you and he actually cares about you a ton and just wants to watch you play basketball. He wants to be in the locker room and just dance with us and be part of the squad. I think we’ve developed a great relationship with him, and I love DJ to death.”
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Back in the lobby of Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, where DJ has momentarily wandered off to order himself a Diet Coke sans ice, Gary flips through the photos and videos on his phone the way any proud parent would.
There’s DJ with the late Bill Buckner — yes, that Bill Buckner — who was the Campbell’s neighbor and close friend for more than two decades. There’s DJ being celebrated as a member of the homecoming court at Boise High School. There’s DJ in the middle of the dance floor twirling journalist Maria Shriver at a benefit dinner for the Special Olympics. There’s DJ at a Boise State basketball game playfully encouraging one of the police officers to arrest his sister. There’s DJ at his birthday party last summer when more than 160 people showed up, including many members of the Broncos’ football and basketball teams. There’s DJ serving as a ringbearer when one of his former Community Support Workers got married. There’s DJ bringing a smile to Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley’s face after the Hoyas lost earlier this week. There’s DJ in the locker room at MGM Grand Garden Arena breaking down the Boise State huddle with a chant of his own creation: “Viva Las Broncos!” he screams to raucous applause.
The memories will last a lifetime.
“He took his potential and went way beyond what anybody thought,” Gary said. “And it’s a lesson for everybody. My deal was, ‘Don’t let anybody define you.’ And it’s real easy to get defined when you have a disability. And he just was never going to be defined that way.”
Instead, DJ is living a life ripe with his own, self-made definitions: He’s a loving son and a loyal friend; he’s a movie buff and a pizza connoisseur; he’s a ketchup enthusiast and a Dr. Pepper addict; he’s a trivia whiz and an excellent travel companion; he’s a ray of hope in so many people’s lives; he’s DJ Greatest Bronco.
And if things go well for Boise State this weekend — if the Broncos can beat Nebraska on Saturday and then emerge victorious in the title game on Sunday afternoon — DJ can add another definition to his impressive list: champion.
The only question is how he would celebrate.
“I will storm on the floor with my buddy Brock,” DJ said. “I will definitely wear the crown.”
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.
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