Hillcrest Park is a 31-acre recreation area located in southwest Mount Vernon, Washington. The large trees and shrubbery surrounding the park nearly stretch to the edge of the highly trafficked Interstate-5 that runs through the westernmost portion of the city.
 
The eastern side of the park meets the border of multiple interconnected residential neighborhoods, featuring a baseball diamond, tennis courts and a basketball court.
 
In the mid-'90s, Hillcrest was a go-to spot in Mount Vernon to play summer basketball. It was also where Tyler Amaya, a standout men's basketball player for Western Washington University from 2004-06, began his hoop journey.
 
"You show up there on a summer night, there'd be 40 people there playing," Amaya said. "That's where my love for the game went to another level."
 
Amaya's parents dropped him off at a daycare across from Hillcrest every day when he was growing up. It was there that he met Scott Collins, whose parents ran the daycare out of their home. The pair, as well as Amaya's friends Adam Roberts and Troy DeVries, would be at the park almost daily.
 
Players at Hillcrest came from differing backgrounds and varied in age and skill. This experience was pivotal in Amaya's development as a player, in addition to discovering his drive to win above everything.
 
"I'm playing against grown men. I'll never forget some of the guys who took me under their wing," Amaya said. "If you lost it might take you two hours to get back on the court, so that was kind of where I learned my instinct for winning."
 
Following his backboard shattering days at Mount Vernon High School, Amaya began a long-winding basketball career that would leave even the most well-traveled journeymen in awe.
 
He played for three different college programs from 2001-06 before beginning a professional career that brought him to 10 countries and five continents along the way.
 
"He is a basketball junkie," Collins said. "He would play anywhere."
 
At 39 years old, Amaya still competes annually in three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford's "The Crawsover" summer Pro-Am league in Seattle. When he is not putting the ball on the court himself, Amaya works full-time running skill training sessions for kids at his gym in Burlington, Washington. He also provides fitness training for adults and more experienced players.
 
Hillcrest Park allowed Amaya to find his love for the game of basketball. His teammates and coaches along the way helped him nurture and grow that love.

LEARNING FROM THE BEST
 
Amaya began playing organized basketball in the sixth grade. He tried out for a local Mount Vernon Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) feeder program and met many who he would call teammates for the next six years.
 
His AAU team was led by a legendary coach in the Mount Vernon area, Fred Lee.
 
"I had really good teammates that loved the game and wanted to play all the time," Amaya said. "That really rubbed off on me."
 
Amaya had a knack for dunking the basketball. His athleticism drove his game, even as a kid.
 
The Mount Vernon High School Bulldogs won back-to-back state basketball championships in 1991-92. Both groups played AAU under Lee, then were handed off to the high school and its head coach, Mac Fraser.
 
Lee coached the players as kids, and Fraser mentored them into their young adulthood. It was a tradition that spanned decades.
 
From sixth grade to eighth, Amaya's AAU team went 87-13 overall while competing against some of the best club teams in Washington State.
 
"He [Lee] put everything in motion that happened as seniors," Amaya said. "If we didn't have Fred Lee for those three years, we don't win the state championship."
 
Entering his freshman season at Mount Vernon, Amaya was left on the freshman team while his teammates, and friends, played on junior varsity. The coaching staff wanted to develop his scoring abilities, as that was never a focus for him in AAU ball.
 
He was forced into being the team's top scoring option, needing to score 20-plus points per night to win the game, he said. His team finished 18-2.
 
"The coaches, they were really smart. They wanted to develop us," Amaya said. "They had the big picture in mind and that definitely paid off my senior year."
 
A season of scoring still didn't change his overall style of play. DeVries, who was also his teammate in high school, said Amaya was only concerned with playing the game the right way.
 
"Playing with him was such a joy because he was a selfless teammate," DeVries said. "He wasn't ever concerned about statistics."
 
Amaya reached his current height of 6-foot-6 by the time he was a sophomore. He was already becoming a menace dunking the basketball, following in the footsteps of his idol, Shawn Kemp.
 
He would spend hours on a court by himself, imagining basketball scenarios. Dreaming about playing in the NBA Finals with Michael Jordan guarding him and Kemp playing alongside him. He would count down the seconds in his head as he'd practice game-winning dunks where he was a superstar, on a court with unworldly talent.
 
Those dreams became reality on one special play during his sophomore season.
 
On Jan. 19, 1999, Amaya and Mount Vernon were facing Anacortes High School at the latter's home court. They held a sizable fourth-quarter lead over their opponent when Josh Reisman, one of Amaya's teammates, pick-pocketed an Anacortes guard from behind.
 

One full-court pass later, Amaya was streaking down the court.
 
"Backboard!" he yelled to Reisman, who caught the previous pass in mid-air. Without touching his feet to the hardwood, Reisman lasered the ball off the backboard right into the waiting hands of a high-flying Amaya.
 
"It was incredible," Amaya said of his dunk.
 
Slam. Buzzer. Game over. Amaya's full-speed momentum and subsequent hang on the rim shattered the backboard into what seemed like a million pieces, and the gym erupted.

"I had never seen that in a high school game, I'd certainly never been coaching when that happened," Fraser said laughing. "I had no idea how to respond, neither did anybody else. I still remember kids coming out of the stands to pick up the glass."
 
Mount Vernon was the No. 1 ranked high school team in the state. That play from Amaya seemed to only solidify their prestige.
 
The team finished 26-1, their only loss coming in the second round of the state tournament to Mercer Island who would go on to win the title. Amaya's team finished fourth in the tournament, beating Jamal Crawford and his Rainier Beach squad for the placement.
 
"That was my first taste of, you know, seeing Jamal," Amaya said. "He's somebody who has really inspired me over the years."
 
Amaya had two different basketball styles during high school. He had his Mount Vernon game, which was, as he described it, like a "cog in the system" where he played his role. Then he had his Hillcrest game, or street style, where he was a much more ball-dominant player and offensive weapon.
 
As he progressed through his high school career, Amaya never had to place much focus on refining his basketball skills. His athleticism was his most valuable tool.
 
"If you watch him in high school," Roberts said. "He was essentially a highlight reel waiting to happen."
 
Mount Vernon finished 24-3 overall during Amaya's junior season. All three losses were by four points combined. The third and final loss was in the state championship game, falling to Seattle Prep by just two points.
 
Amaya and his teammates had their sights on the title going into their senior season.
 
"We had incredible players, incredible teams, and they just didn't get it done," Amaya said. "So we kind of had some vengeance going into that summer."
 
That season Mount Vernon won all but one of their regular season games by 10 points or more, finishing 23-0 en route to another state tournament berth.
 
They faced the previous four 3A state champions on the road to the crown.
 
Amaya played the best basketball of his young career during the tournament. He averaged 8 points and 6 rebounds during the regular season but churned out 18 points and 9 rebounds per game over the four tournament games.
 
"It's hard to call a kid unguardable," Fraser said. "But he was unguardable in that stretch."
 
First up was O'Dea, who won it all in 1997, defeating Mount Vernon to get there. Amaya was in eighth grade at the time. In the second round, they faced Mercer Island, which took down O'Dea for the crown in 1999.
 
In the semifinal game, Mount Vernon exacted their revenge on Seattle Prep from the previous 2000 season – knocking them out and heading to the state title game for the second year in a row.
 
There they faced Rainier Beach, the former team of Jamal Crawford who had, by this point, already left the University of Michigan for the NBA. Rainier Beach won the championship in 1998, defeating Mount Vernon in the semifinals while Amaya was playing with the freshman squad.
 
"Once districts hit that senior year, I don't know what happened," Amaya said. "Something just kind of clicked in my brain. It was like, 'this is go-time, this is it right here.'"
 
They completed their goal, defeating Rainier Beach 65-52 in the Tacoma Dome.
 
Amaya and his team wrapped up a 27-0 season, bringing a championship back to Mount Vernon for the first time since 1992. They stood at the top of their basketball world, finally, by defeating the very teams that had crushed their dreams each of the last four years.
 
"That's fate, man. That's destiny, you know?" Amaya said. "It was just an incredible feeling to go undefeated and cap off our senior year like that. It was amazing."
 
Fraser recalled looking at all of his players' faces after the buzzer and seeing the sheer face of joy on every one of them. It was years of hard work that finally paid off.
 
Despite his exceptional play, Amaya still gives all the credit to his teammates and coaches.
 
His performance in the tournament elevated the interest of one particular school that had seen him play multiple times before.
 
FROM BULLDOG TO … BULLDOG?
 
Mount Vernon attended a team camp at Gonzaga University during Amaya's junior and senior seasons. This was the school's initial exposure to his freakish athleticism, as he won the camp dunk contest two years in a row.
 
He also had opportunities to play football at the collegiate level, including an offer to play both sports at Western. However, Gonzaga had been in his ear even before the state tournament.
 
Amaya would remain a Bulldog, albeit on the other side of the state. His teammate and close friend, Josh Reisman, also committed to play in Spokane.
 
When Amaya joined the program, current Gonzaga head coach Mark Few was beginning his third season at the team's helm.
 
At Gonzaga, Amaya saw growth in many of his basketball skills that he'd never placed much emphasis on. He redshirted his freshman season, working daily with current University of Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd who was an assistant at Gonzaga until the end of the 2020-21 season.
 
Perhaps his largest forthcoming with the school, however, was in his character growth. Following his redshirt freshman season, he wasn't getting the playing time he thought he deserved. The frustration shined through in his attitude, Amaya said.
 
"Halfway through my [redshirt] freshman year at Gonzaga, I had this cloud fall on me from the decisions I had made and the thoughts that I was thinking," Amaya explained. "I think I got to that point in my life where I just didn't – I wasn't aware of myself."
 
The school was bringing in multiple recruits for the upcoming 2003 season that would only threaten Amaya's playtime even further. One of which was the future No. 3 overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, Adam Morrison.
 
After two seasons in Spokane, Amaya decided to transfer.
 
"I think I had it in my head that I wasn't one of their guys," he proceeded. "I think you take who I am now, and you put me back there, my outcome is a lot different. But that's life."
 
Amaya said he tries to not look back with regret. He is thankful for the experience and where it propelled him.
 
"I wouldn't have played overseas without going there," Amaya explained. "I don't think I would have learned the skills and developed the confidence in my game without those guys."
 
His next school was a program coming off winning the junior college national championship the previous year in 2002.
 
Amaya was heading to Dixie State College in St. George, Utah, now known as Dixie State University. It began competing in the NCAA Division II in 2006 and began a move to Division I in 2019.
 
He planned to play for Dixie, make an impact that couldn't be ignored, and return to Division I competition as soon as possible.
 
In reality, his time in Utah was mostly spent on self-reflection, as he was isolated and alone. He had no vehicle and no close friends in the proximity.
 
Then there was the basketball experience which, unfortunately, was not enjoyable for Amaya.
 
"It was just a really boring brand of basketball," Amaya said. "A lot of standing, a lot of passing and shooting and watching, not a lot of up and down stuff, you know? It didn't really market my game that well because I'm still working to be a better shooter."
 
Amaya's struggle to showcase his athleticism was coupled with a lack of love for the coaching staff who ran three and a half hour practices and didn't treat the players well on the court, he said.
 
The team went 22-9 but missed the junior college national tournament for the first time in half a decade. Amaya averaged 10 points and 7 rebounds in what was categorized as his sophomore season.
 
Perhaps the most impressive of his achievements with the school was earning his sixth straight league championship. Amaya's league title streak stretched back to his sophomore year of high school.
 
Even if he wasn't the focal point of a roster, he was always winning.
 
After the 2003-04 season, Amaya was fielding visits from the University of Jacksonville and the University of California, Irvine.
 
"A lot of those schools really weren't that attractive to him," said Brad Jackson, Western's head coach at the time. "I think also the pull of home was fairly strong."
 
Western had been in contact with Amaya. One night, he pulled up the WWU roster and saw the names of multiple players he grew up competing against: Grant Dykstra, Kyle Jackson, Rob Primozich, among others.
 
"The night before I'm flying out [to the colleges], I committed to Western," Amaya said. "I canceled both of those visits."
 
A VIKING AT LAST
 
Dixie's season ended in late March, so Amaya arrived in Bellingham in April. He spent the spring working out with the WWU players.
 
Jackson has known Amaya since he was a young kid. That connection held strong by the time he finally joined the program and still does today.
 
"We had five kids that I'd known literally since grade school, it's so unusual on a college team but that was a real treat," Jackson said. "For me personally, I just looked forward to being there every day."
 
Three years after Western's initial offer, Amaya was officially a Viking.
 
"I came to Western a different person than when I went to Gonzaga," Amaya said. "I was much more aware of myself and the things that, you know, hold me back and the mistakes that I made."
 
Western was coming off a season in 2003-04 where they finished 17-10 overall and had only two seniors on the roster. Still, only half of the team's 16 players returned for the 2004-05 season.
 
The Vikings had a young core, however, that mostly stayed intact. Grant Dykstra, Ryan Diggs, Kyle Jackson, Preston Vermeulen, Darrell Visser and Rob Primozich were all entering their junior seasons, and so was Amaya.
 
"Even though [Amaya] was one of the stars and one of the starters," Primozich said. "He was a 'glue guy' in the sense that he was able to form bonds with all different groups within that team."
 
The team had a large variance of personalities, but got along quite well together, Jackson said. Most importantly, the group possessed a ton of firepower offensively.
 
They started the 2004-05 season with an 8-0 overall record, looking the part of a possible national competitor. Amaya didn't make an immediate impact scoring the basketball, but he was stuffing the stat sheet.
 
In his third game donning a Western uniform, he totaled 8 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in an 84-83 overtime victory against Sonoma State University.

 
These peculiar, impressive totals displayed Amaya's prowess as a formidable athlete and competitor on the basketball court. He was willing to play whatever role was conducive to the team's success.
 
Western was ranked No. 1 in the region and No. 15 in the country with a 21-6 overall record heading into the NCAA Division II West Regional Tournament. They were also the tournament's host because of their top regional seed.
 
They sat atop the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings, as Amaya earned his seventh-straight league title. The GNAC tournament's inaugural season was not until 2011, and thus the team with the best conference record was named champion.
 
"I'm super proud of that," Amaya said of his seven-consecutive titles. "That'll always be with me."
 
The Vikings kicked off the West Regional against Brigham Young University—Hawaii, who entered the game at 16-8 overall. It was a close game throughout, but BYU Hawaii couldn't keep up down the stretch.
 
Amaya and Western advanced to the semifinal game with an 80-69 victory.
 
Western's Ryan Diggs led the way with 21 points while Grant Dykstra turned in 18. Amaya dropped in 11 points and tied junior center Tyler MacMullen for a team-high in rebounds with 9.
 
The semifinal game was against fellow GNAC member school, the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Alaska Fairbanks came into the contest at 20-8 overall and also had the GNAC's scoring leader in senior guard Brad Oleson, who averaged 24.4 points per game during the 2004-05 season.
 
"We dropped a dud against Alaska Fairbanks," Amaya said. "We had our worst game of the year when we needed our best."
 
Western was held to 66 points after averaging over 91 points per game as a team during the season. It was the team's lowest scoring output all year, and the Vikings' season was over.
 
Amaya was voted GNAC newcomer of the year, averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds while also leading the team with nine double-doubles. Western finished 22-7 overall.
 
The following season, the Vikings' roster was virtually identical to the previous year. Only one of the team's 14 members didn't return, as senior Craig Roosendaal graduated and was replaced by freshman center David Brittinen.
 
On Dec. 29, 2005, Amaya erupted for a career-high 32 points in a 112-106 overtime victory against the University of Alaska Anchorage. He was 14-for-16 from the free-throw line and pulled down 8 rebounds.
 
Western began the season losing only one of their first 17 games. That included a 15-game win streak, the second-longest in school history at the time.
 
When their winning streak was snapped against Humboldt State University on Jan. 28, 2006, the Vikings were ranked No. 2 in the country among NCAA Division II schools.
 
A week earlier, WWU had faced the No. 3 team in the country: fellow GNAC member Seattle Pacific University. Amaya poured in 19 points and grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds in the 95-84 victory.
 
The latter half of the regular season was more of a struggle for the Vikings. Including the loss to Humboldt State, Western went 5-5 over their final 10 games of the regular season.
 
Within that stretch was a one-point loss to Northwest Nazarene University in which Amaya had 27 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Of those 27 points, 20 of them came within the final 2:08 of the game. He made four straight 3-pointers that nearly willed the Vikings to victory, or at least over time, had Northwest Nazarene missed just a single free throw down the stretch.
 
Western finished the regular season at 21-6 overall. They were still nationally ranked, but had fallen to No. 16 while GNAC champion Seattle Pacific was ranked No. 10.
 
In the West Regional quarterfinal, Western got their revenge on Humboldt State, advancing with a 100-86 victory. Ryan Diggs posted a new program record for points in a game with 47, which still holds to this day.
 
The Vikings' semifinal matchup was a decisive victory over Chaminade University of Honolulu, 101-91. They would go on to face a familiar foe, tournament host Seattle Pacific, in the West Regional Final. A win would send them to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.
  "To me it boils down to this last play," Amaya said. "About 30 seconds left and I go baseline. I take off outside the key, cock [the ball] back – they've got this 6-8 guy coming in to block my shot, and I just dunked all over him. He meets me right at the rim, boom. I dunked all over him."
 
His dunk put Western down by one, 76-75. The referees blew the whistle, and Amaya thought he had a chance to tie the game with an additional free throw.
 
After a conversation amongst the referees, they waived off the foul. The Vikings were forced to continue fouling to extend the game, but it wasn't enough. Seattle Pacific won, 81-77.
 
"Our season is done, my college career is over," Amaya recalled. "It was heartbreaking, I felt like we had the squad to go all the way."
 
Western finished the season 23-7 overall. It was Amaya and six other Vikings seniors' last collegiate game.
 
"I'll never forget walking off that court. It was a really long walk, you know, like 'man this is it,'" Amaya said. "Nothing from here is guaranteed. I don't know what's going to happen from here. A lot of tears in the locker room."
 
Amaya started in all 30 games, averaging nearly 15 points and a team-high 8 rebounds. He was named an honorable mention GNAC All-Star for his efforts.
 
It was the end of an era for WWU basketball.
 
"We started the same five guys for two years in a row, I don't think our lineup ever changed," Jackson said. "That team was extremely fun to watch and very, very good."
 
THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG 

Before Amaya joined Western, he wanted to play in the NBA. That was why he originally wanted to go back to a Division I program. He let go of those dreams by coming home.
 
"I still felt like I was good enough," Amaya said. "I still felt like I was going to get there. Part of me still feels like I am. You know, I didn't really think about overseas [play] until I got to Western."
 
Rob Visser, a Western legend as a player and assistant coach for 19 years, offered to help Amaya find a professional gig. Visser connected both Amaya and Ryan Diggs to a friend of his in Holland.
 
That was the beginning of the next six-year chapter in Amaya's life as a basketball player.
 
Basketball-wise, Amaya continued doing what he'd done his whole career. He was a team player, not focused on his individual statistical production. His primary goal was winning.
 
On the other hand, his teammates were playing for themselves – trying to make sure they still had a job when the season ended.
 
"We were playing in a league with guys that have veteran teams and veteran leadership," Amaya explained. "Whereas I felt like the team I was on just tried to get the six best players they could and didn't realize they got three shoot-first point guards. So it was tough, it was a struggle."
 

Amaya established some relationships on the team but was jobless come summertime. His agent wasn't finding him any work. That is until his old friend and coach, Tommy Lloyd, connected him to a team in Düsseldorf, Germany.
 
The difficult adjustments for Amaya continued in the lack of team basketball.
 
Amaya spent nine months in Germany. Throughout his time there, he saw multiple players come and go. He referred to overseas play as "a revolving door," in which you could be sent home quickly if the team wasn't happy with your play.
 
Later in the season, the team began playing as a unit and winning games. They were able to make a run at the playoffs but fell just short. Amaya was suddenly a free agent once again.
 
In the summer of 2008, Amaya flew back home and joined the Bellingham Slam, a minor league team that competed in the International Basketball League. The roster was made up mostly of former WWU players. It was also where Amaya and his now-close friend Paul Hafford grew a longstanding friendship.
 
"We had a lot of success over the years," Hafford said. "Tyler is one of the best people I know, he is a super competitor. He is not going to give you an inch."
 
The group went on to win the IBL championship that season, with Amaya and Hafford each winning co-MVP. Amaya returned to Bellingham each summer afterward to play with the Slam.
 
That was also Amaya's first year competing in Jamal Crawford's "The Crawsover" Pro-Am league, which is held annually on Seattle Pacific University's campus. Hafford also played in the Pro-Am for more than a decade alongside him.
 
His next professional experience was with the Guangdong Southern Tigers, the best team the China Basketball Association had to offer. They had won the CBA championship four of the previous five seasons before the acquisition of Amaya.
 
The experience there was more of the same brand of basketball that didn't fit Amaya's style of play. His teammates wouldn't pass him the ball, and he knew the only way he could continue to compete was to shoot more often.
 
He suffered a groin injury during the season and attempted to play through it. His production dropped because of it, and he was waived from the team.
 
"I think if I would have played there three years later, I could have been a guy that scored 30 [points] a game," Amaya said. "I had a little different mindset. I started learning through these experiences."
 
He didn't take another overseas offer until 2010 while he rehabbed his groin injury. Amaya signed with a team in New Zealand not long after, a country he had always wanted to visit.
 
Amaya got much more comfortable being a leading scoring option. His team was composed of 18 and 19-year-old players from around the area, and thus he was forced to take control.
 
After six months there, Amaya returned home to play with the Slam.
 
In February 2011, he signed another contract to play in Syria. Amaya lived in a small village that put him up in a big house all by himself.
 
"They all made me the same [food] dish, showed me love, asked me questions," Amaya said of the Syrians he stayed with. "Just very sincere, genuine, kind – the best people I've ever met."
 
Amaya was there to play a five-game series that determined whether his team remained in the top league or went down a competition level. The third game of the series was held in Aleppo, Syria. The U.S. government had forbidden any American travel to Syria due to the budding crisis, but he had traveled there before the ban was put in place.
 
In that game, he had 40 points and 20 rebounds. They won, and the entire gym went wild. On his way out of the building, team personnel notified Amaya that he needed to run to their travel bus but didn't tell him why.
 
"I run like two city blocks to this bus," Amaya recalled. "I've never felt more alive in my life. I was like, 'what is going on?' It was crazy to me."
 
He was the only member of the team that had to run to the bus, and none of his teammates would say anything about it. All he can do is speculate about the threat that may have been present, he said.

 
In the following game, Amaya tore his MCL. His team ended up losing the series, and that was the end of his time in Syria. The village he was staying with threw him a party the night he departed.
 
From there, Amaya played short stints in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and Bahrain.
 
While in Saudi Arabia, he scored his career-high of 50 points. His game was still growing. He planned to return to Saudi Arabia on another contract for the 2012 season but began experiencing tendinitis in his knee.
 
"I never got healthy enough to take it," Amaya said of the contract. "So that kind of ended my overseas career. That was really tough because I feel like I finally broke into my niche."
 
The end of Amaya's professional playing career did not mark the end of him playing basketball.
 
He continued to play for the Slam each summer, eventually assuming the role of a player-head coach in 2014. By the end of that season, he was the first person in minor league basketball history to win a championship as a player, assistant coach and head coach.

 
Amaya went back to China in 2014 for a 16-city tour alongside NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady. They went 15-1 throughout the tour, and Amaya loved every second of it.
 
"It was bananas, dude," he said. "We'd show up at hotels and there would be hundreds of people out there."
 
From the tour, he landed a tryout in Kuwait but realized he was ready to stay home, permanently.
 
"I realized it wasn't about the money or even the hooping anymore," Amaya said. "I've had all these experiences; I can let this go. I wanted to put my roots down somewhere."
 
He was an assistant coach at Skagit Valley College for two seasons, from 2014-15. Amaya thought he wanted to become a college coach, but realized that meant moving around more.
 
On Sept. 4, 2015, Western announced that Amaya would be returning to the program as a graduate assistant. He returned to school to earn his bachelor's degree in physical education and health.
 
Now, Amaya runs his training gym in Burlington, Washington. At the age of 39, he brings two decades of basketball experience to kids from the age of eight and up. He has also trained with recent Vikings players turned pro, Logan Schilder and Deandre Dixon.
 
Amaya also created his club team, the PNW Rain, which he competes within "The Crawsover" after the Slam was dissolved.
 
Many of his bonds were formed around the game of basketball, but are not limited to it.
 
"He has always been a faithful friend, he has always had a big heart for people," DeVries said. "I genuinely love that guy and care for him as a friend, as a brother."
 
Jackson emphasized Amaya's loyalty to all of those around him. If he is your friend now, he will be your friend for life.
 
His extensive legacy on the court still does not surpass the effect he has on bringing the light into a room.
 
"He is not on this earth to be a downer, to be critical," Fraser said. "He's on this earth to make people happy, to do what he needs to do."
 
Even though the spotlight has always been on him, he consistently pays homage to his coaches, friends and family that were always working in the background.
 
"The story is not really about me," Amaya said. "It's about the legendary players that I have played with and against, the legendary coaches that I have had, and my front row ticket to experiencing different cultures."