Sparkman sophomore Landon Howard is a portrait of success

HARVEST – As a hobby, Sparkman High’s Landon Howard uses his talents of being a sketch artist utilizing colors. If he chose to draw a self-portrait, he could choose among a bevy of his looks of his 15 years as a resident of Harvest. He could select a look of being a part of a close-knit family, a baseball player or the confines of a basketball gym where he has exceled to the point he is one of the top players for the seventh-ranked Sparkman Senators.

“Competitiveness drives me. If my opponents set the challenge, I go get it, no matter who it is,” said Howard, who headed into the most competitive section of Sparkman’s season schedule is averaging scoring 16 points per game along with 5 assists 4 rebounds and 4 steals per outing. “My 10-year older brother, Darren, who currently plays pro basketball overseas, got me started in being competitive as I had to keep up with him in everything he does.”

A former stellar youth baseball and soccer player, Howard, now 15, turned to strictly a basketball athlete at age eight where his team won the division championship while playing at the Monrovia Recreation Center and earning MVP honors. He soon made his way to Sparkman Middle School as a starter in the seventh grade, and graduating to the high school ranks, he played junior varsity through halfway point in his freshman season only to be promoted to varsity where he has earned his spot among the current team where he has performed as a veteran player. “I began to take the sport seriously at eight years old as my brother would take me with him to the gymnasium and pushed me even like he does today,” said Howard. “Playing my friends challenged me to be better as at one time I was a ranked player in Alabama just prior to the time of COVID. By the time I made the eighth grade, I knew I had exceled and I could play at a high level.”

Howard began playing in AAU action at age 10. He currently plays for the B. Maze Elite, a 15-under team based in Knoxville, Tenn., as he’s grabbed MVP Awards and team titles along the way.

When he takes to the court for Sparkman, you quickly see he’s a good defender and is usually assigned defensive duties against his opponents’ best player. Howard makes shots, makes big plays, is a good ball handler and a terrific passer.

“My teammates trust me with the ball in my hands as I feel I’m good at handling pressure,” said Howard, who has a point with his self-assessment. In a recent hard-fought games against Grissom, he hit two free throws at the end of the game to win the battle by one point. Against rival James Clemens in the Christmas time Rocket City Classic, he hit four consecutive shots which he said boosted his confidence in the Senators’ victory against the Jets.

The 6-foot-1, 165-pound sophomore admits he hasn’t exceled on his own, giving credit to his parents, Darren and LaShonda Howard, his older sister, Cesiah, who is a cheerleader for Fayetteville high across the state border in Tennessee, and another brother, 21-year old Darrion.

“He is autistic as we’ve been very close and I feel he’s my right hand man in my life,” added Howard of Darrion. “He’s my supporter. He works around the house and helps all of us. During games, I many times look at him and we connect eyes. He smiles and claps his hands in response.”

Howard said he prays before each game and his parents will text him a message of “good luck.”

“When I was six years old, I was walking to our mailbox to pick up the daily delivery. While there, I met a neighbor by the name of Malik and we soon began playing basketball every day. We played at goals around the neighborhood and my parents would drop me off at the Boys & Girls Club in Huntsville at 7:00 a.m. I would stay there all day.”

As he continues to grow as a teen, a basketball player and respected member of the Harvest community, the belief is he’ll have many more self-portraits of success.