This hoops player won with his unexpected pickup performance.
University of Houston basketball player Jamal Shead is going viral after he was filmed picking up piles of trash that had just been tipped over by his frustrated teammate.
Fan footage from the Cougars’ controversial 83-82 loss Saturday caught assistant coach Kellen Sampson kicking a chair as he stormed off at the end — then senior forward Reggie Chaney angrily tipping over a trash can, the Houston Chronicle said.
After his team stormed off — many stepping over the debris — starting guard Shead instead stopped to pick up the can, then calmly picked up all the trash left sprawling across the floor.
“Thank you, sir,” someone can be heard saying in the video, as others can be heard clapping and fans nearby pointing out his good deed.
The footage of his clean-up moves had been seen 4.7 million times by Tuesday — with rival fans from Alabama among those sharing it to hail him as a “class act.”
The video of Jamal Shead had been viewed 4.7 million times. Vasha Hunt/AP“Love this young man! He doesn’t know anyone is watching. He knew what the right thing was,” one sports fan tweeted.
One mom said she had “mad respect” for Shead, saying, “That’s an example I want for my son.”
Others suggested the player’s grace was particularly notable given that his team had just lost because of a controversial no-call in the final seconds of the game.
Video caught Cougars assistant coach Kellen Sampson kicking a chair on his way to the locker room. Twitter/@AustinRader24
Reggie Chaney was seen kicking the same chair before pouring out a trash can. Twitter/@AustinRader24“Class act, even when the refs robbed them he still did the right thing,” one fan tweeted.
“He’s trying to leave it better than he found it. That’s what true leaders do,” another fan wrote. “It’s selfless. The world needs more people like him.”
Others said it was especially admirable given that his own assistant coach had started it all when he stormed off ahead of him.
“He out leadered his leaders,” one commentator said of Shead.
Fans praised Jamal Shead as a “class act” and “an example I want for my son.” Twitter/@AustinRader24Sampson, the assistant coach, later “sincerely” apologized for his chair-kicking fit, tweeting, “I allowed my emotions to bubble over.”
“I understand my role as a coach and my reaction was not indicative of a leader of men. I will be better moving forward,” he vowed.
Sampson also called Alabama to apologize directly, the rival team’s athletic director Greg Byrne said in a tweet.
