Faces in the Crowd

Erick W. Rasco

DJ Wagner

School: Camden High
Hometown: Mount Royal, N.J.
Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 165 pounds
Position: Point Guard

The No. 1 recruit in the class of 2023, DJ Wagner felt pulled, not pushed, to play at the same school as his grandfather, Milt, and father, Dajuan. He dons the same No. 21 that they wore for Camden High, having settled on hoops after playing both football and basketball until the sixth grade. “He’ll tell you, he was born to do this,” says Milt. “We never pressured him to play.”

If DJ reaches the NBA, he’ll make the Wagners, all guards, the league’s first three-generation family. Milt was a star at Louisville and won a title with the 1987–88 Lakers. Dajuan became New Jersey’s all-time leading scorer with 3,462 points—including 100 in a single game—and after a year at Memphis was selected sixth in the 2002 draft by the Cavaliers.

As a freshman during the 2019–20 season, the 6' 3" DJ led Camden to the Group 2 semifinals, averaging 18.6 points. A Mount Royal resident, he had to first enroll in a magnet school to be eligible to play for the Panthers. Says DJ, “Seeing my dad and my grandpa, and seeing how big Camden basketball was, I just always wanted to go there.”

In 2019 DJ was the youngest invitee to USA Basketball’s junior national team minicamp. Rather than travel the AAU circuit last summer, he stayed home during the pandemic and worked out at courts and parks, mastering the moves of his father and grandfather. “I love watching their old videos, how exciting it was when they played,” DJ says. “I like to use a lot of their stuff.”

With Milt’s jumper and Dajuan’s driving ability, DJ guided Camden to a 14–0 record this season, averaging 22.0 points. Both his father and grandfather won a state title. That’s DJ’s goal, too, but he’ll have to wait to follow in those footsteps: This year’s tournament has been canceled due to COVID-19. 

Audrey Dadamio

Sport: Track and Field Town: Birmingham, Mich.

Audrey, a senior distance runner at Birmingham Seaholm High, clocked a state record of 9:51.28 to win the 3,200 meters at the Misfi ts Invitational on Feb. 19, less than two weeks after setting the Michigan indoor mark in the 1,600 on a 300-meter track (4:40.65). A Stanford commit, she ran a 17:46.07 to take her fi rst Division I state cross-country title in November.

Uno Latu

Sport: Wrestling Town: West Valley City, Utah

Uno, a senior at Hunter High, pinned West Jordan’s Katie Navarro to seize the state’s inaugural 6A 160-pound title. At Utah’s All-Star Duals tournament in January, she beat Timpview’s Taimane Fiatoa, who later became the combined 1A/2A/3A/5A 160-pound division champ.

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Breaking the Ice

Courtesy of Russ Hons/North Dakota Athletics

In February North Dakota junior forward Jasper Weatherby (above, 14) joined the newly formed College Hockey for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiative as one of 12 student reps on the committee. A 2018 San Jose Sharks draft pick, Weatherby comes from a family of social justice advocates: His grandma marched in Selma and his grandpa worked with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Through College Hockey for DEI, Weatherby, who is from Ashland, Ore., hopes to use advocacy and grassroots programs to make the sport more accessible. That includes a plan to provide gear to communities where parents can’t afford it. Weatherby says hockey offers “that community, that togetherness. If we can open our doors and make this more inclusive, it’s going to benefit everyone.” —Ella Brockway