Darlinstone Dubar playing through grief with Tennessee basketball

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Darlinstone Dubar didn’t want to cry.

He shut off his mind in the final seconds before walking onto the court for Tennessee basketball’s senior day ceremony on March 8. He carried a cardboard cutout of his smiling face as he hugged his teammates and coaches. His mother followed closely behind him, clutching a bouquet of flowers.

Dubar thought about the more than 20,000 people in attendance. He refused to think about who wasn’t there.

Dubar lost three of the most important people in his life in a 10-day span last March. He has wrestled with grief and pursued his dreams without those who encouraged him deeply in the past year with the Vols.

“Every day is hard for me,” Dubar told Knox News. “Just dealing with three deaths — three important people in my dad, grandma and my best friend. I thank God every day. He is helping me along the way. I am going to keep doing what they wanted me to do.”

Darlinstone Dubar hit with loss of three loved ones last March

Dubar was ready for the next chapter of his life last March. He had a monster senior season at Hofstra, positioning himself to transfer for his final year of college basketball.

Instead, incomprehensible loss ushered in his next chapter. 

Agnes T. Wah, his grandmother, died on March 6 from an illness. Shemar Hayes, his best friend, was shot and killed on March 12. Henry Dubar, his father, died on March 16 from a heart attack.

“I didn’t know how to deal with it,” Dubar said.

Wah helped raise Dubar. He was a cheeky child and had a playful relationship with his doting grandmother. She often made him breakfast and he would complain she was burning his pancakes. He called her in any moment as he grew older.

Hayes was his best friend since middle school. Dubar and Hayes worked out together and trained hard — Dubar a basketball player and Hayes a football player. Together, they sought goodness while others they knew veered into different choices. They spoke the night before he was shot in an apparent…

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Source link : https://www.knoxnews.com/story/sports/college/university-of-tennessee/mens-basketball/2025/03/22/darlinstone-dubar-tennessee-basketball-march-madness-ncaa-tournament/82474582007/

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Publish date : 2025-03-22 15:06:00

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