A Tribute to Ithiel Bilson-Graham

By Sam Neter on June 6, 2013

Just over a year ago, on June 1st 2012, the British basketball community was rocked by the tragic loss of Ithiel Bilson-Graham.

At just 20 years old, Ithiel, who originally came up through the Brixton Topcats programme, unexpectedly passed away at home in his sleep.

In the time I had been covering basketball in the UK, Ithiel was a regular on the basketball circuit, playing in a number of the summer tournaments I attended, such as Midnight Madness, and by that time, playing for Burnley College where he had just completed two-year Advanced BTEC Extended Diploma in Business and Finance.

Althought me and him weren’t tight, when our paths did cross, Ithiel was always polite, said hello, and carried himself in a way both on and off the court that was to be admired.

I’ve spent some time going through my footage archives to try and find any video I had of him and this is the result; a short two minute tribute, predominantly from the National Schools Junior Final Fours in 2011, where he helped Burnley to their first ever national schools title.

With permission from his family, I’ve put it up on the Hoopsfix YouTube channel for people to watch and share – I know it will never do justice to how much he meant to so many, but hopefully will be just a little piece of the puzzle to help remember him.

RIP IBG.

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