Friday, October 7, 2011

Texas D1 Ambassadors Matt Gramling Commits To Army

Today was a culmination of an outstanding spring and summer for Matt Gramling.  The 6'2" PG from San Antonio MacArthur sorted through his offers and today decided to commit early to West Point. It's been a whirlwind year for the hardnosed guard who led Coach Mark Murphy's Brahmas to the Regional Finals in his junior year.  At the conclusion of the season he was the only underclassman named to the San Antonio Express News Super Team for 2010-2011.
2012 G Matt Gramling of San Antonio MacArthur, shown below with the Texas D1 Ambassadors
That was only Act 1 for Matt who went through spring football and was nursing an ankle injury. When he did get back on the hardwood in April with the Texas D1 Ambassadors he quickly shook off the rust and went on to have an outstanding summer in the live recruiting period.  Anchoring the backcourt with Adam Perez, and teaming with Connor Lammert (Texas) and Uche Ofoegbu (Southern Methodist), Jeffrey Rodewald and the rest of the talented Texas D1 Ambassadors-San Antonio squad Gramling helped lead the D1 Ambassadors to the 17U Las Vegas Live Championship and then the GBOA Tournament of Champions in California where they reeled off 12 straight wins to complete the summer evaluation period.
Gramling had offers from Texas-Arlington, Lafayette, Navy, Air Force, Bucknell, Monmouth, New Hampshire, Citadel, Texas State and Columbia.  In the end he couldn't turn down the United States Military Academy.
“God has blessed me in more ways than I can count and in the end my decision came down to what type of person do I want to be four years from now, not only from an educational stand point but also a character standpoint and I wanted to commit to the brotherhood of “Duty Honor and Country” and self sacrifice that comes from being a part of something much bigger than myself or just basketball “says Gramling.
Matt will be joining his older brother Chris currently a freshman on the West Point basketball team. This continues the legacy of D1 Ambassadors playing at the Academies (Army, Navy, Air Force).  Gramling is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jon Gramling of San Antonio, TX.
"I've known Matt and his Family for 10 years.  They are intense, driven people of their word.  They know and love the game of basketball and quite frankly Army has gotten a steal.  In addition to the offers listed above Gramling was beginning to get ticklers from high major programs after handling every major guard in the country successfully on the summer circuit.  The Mules get a physical defender, a strong guard who can finish, and a team player who also hits the three and is clutch in big game situations. I think the opportunity to play with his brother was also a huge draw. In fact, it might be precedent setting at West Point, two young men from the same family hooping together. Congratulations to the Gramlings."-Coach Max Ivany and the D1 Ambassadors Family.
Gramling (far right) with his D1 Ambassadors team mates at the Las Vegas Live Event