Young Diné carries on tradition at Sandia Prep

Inherits passion for basketball from mother

FRUITLAND, N.M.

When Sandia Preparatory School senior Justice Oglesby steps onto the basketball court, he becomes someone else.

He becomes an aggressive post-player standing 6 feet, 4 inches tall, who protects the paint. But before he steps on any hardwood floors he’s just another laid back kid who learned to be a post player from his mom.

“You can’t be seen as soft,” he said. “When I play the game I really keep it cool and collective; that kind of translates off the court also, but on the court I know what I need to do.”

When he’s on the paint, Oglesby has to put on a game face and attitude that is meant for those who conquer the paint. But off the court, he’s just another teddy bear.

Oglesby (Navajo), found a second home under the basket when he was in sixth grade, but he was introduced to the sport much earlier than that.

His mother Virginia Johnson was a member of the Shiprock High School girls’ basketball championship team in 1988, 1989, and 1990.

She said she wanted to start him young, but he didn’t show a real interest until the sixth grade.

“I started him when he was interested in sixth grade and I saw that he really paid attention to the moves I showed him to where he grasped them really well,” Johnson said. “We just helped him train and train, and it got to where he would be begging me to take him to the gym.”

Oglesby said around that time he started watching a lot more college and professional basketball and it helped that his club team was a winning team.

After being hit with the winning bug he was hooked.

“That kind of influenced me to play. From my middle school year, I had a lot of success, we won a lot of games,” he said. “I just wanted to keep playing throughout my high school career and one thing led to another.”

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