World War II veteran Malcolm “Jimmy” Keep sat courtside in Memphis Grizzlies Owner Robert Pera’s seats at Friday’s victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, just a few feet down from Zach Randolph, both wearing their uniforms – a Marines hat chronicling one man’s service and the other a prideful display of the city both men call home, coincidentally in the same blue and gold.
Randolph interrupted his pregame warm-ups to greet Keep and pay his respects.
Keep didn’t ask to come to FedExForum, where he watched the Grizzlies defeat the Lakers 97-90, but during an exclusive for the Commercial Appeal touching on his impending visit to the eight square-mile, war-torn battlegrounds of Iwo Jima, Keep’s son disclosed that he’d probably rather go to a Memphis Grizzlies game and watch Zach Randolph.
Keep’s been following basketball all of his life, since he was just a boy, and certainly before he became a veteran of one of the most legendary battles in American history.
He’s reluctant to re-visit Iwo Jima again. He hasn’t been since 1945, and was a survivor despite 7,000 fallen Marine comrades in combat. He was a recon man, tasked with the perils of clearing the underground tunnels coursing through Iwo Jima, chock full of enemy soldiers lurking and looming in the darkness. To this day, Keep steers clear of tunnels, and attributes that as one of the biggest reasons he’s apprehensive to return to Iwo Jima. The danger is over, but Keep adds that as he gets older, the war becomes real again.
But tonight, he was in the open, clear of any tunnels, just the visiting enemy Los Angeles Lakers and the, according to Keep, “Marine-like” Memphis Grizzlies.
There’s certainly no literal parallel between being a soldier in war, and battling it out on the court. But both Keep and Randolph see the world a little different, and agree that certain characteristics make their respective efforts palpable and relatable.
As for Keep, he sees basketball tenacity and the will to prevail in the only way he knows how – a fight until the end.
Their two worlds collided in the Grizzlies first home victory since the All-Star break, and coincidentally Keep’s very first NBA game.
Did he know the Grizzlies were going to win?
Anyone interested in making donations to help pay for veterans’ trips back to Europe, the Pacific and other former war zones can call Diane Hight, president and founder of the group Forever Young Senior Veterans, at 9012997516. The group’s website is foreveryoungvets.org (https://foreveryoungvets.org).