'Complete circle' opportunity allowing McMaster's Jeppesen to support student-athletes

Burlington, Ont. (by David DiCenzo) - One thing Keenan Jeppesen has always loved about basketball is the relationships the sport has enabled him to develop. Jeppesen, the Associate Director of High Performance Sport at McMaster University, has traveled the world and welcomed many new people into his life – much of it through basketball.

Matt Curtis is one of them. Curtis is among Jeppesen’s best friends, in part because they shared a court together over 25 years ago playing for Blessed Sacrament in Hamilton.

“Our team won the provincial championship when I was in sixth grade,” says Jeppesen, the MVP of that group. “Matt was our all-star point guard. To this day, we’re best friends. We both came back to play university basketball at Western together, and now, we pretty much live close by. I’m in Ancaster and he’s in Brantford, he’s got two boys and we have a 13-month-old son and my 14-year-old stepdaughter. We reminisce about those days when we’re with the kids.

“There were two things I loved most about playing basketball – the opportunity I saw in it and the relationships I formed, and still have to this day.”

Connecting with people has always been important for Jeppesen. He’s been fortunate to have a wide range of life experiences, from Ivy League student-athlete to a diverse and successful working career in the communications world, and now, a family man creating opportunities for others in his current McMaster assignment.
It’s a great fit for Jeppesen, who believes growth is crucial.

“I see it through the same lens that I have taken throughout my athletic career,” he says. “Our role as a department is to develop human potential through sport. We ask what high-performance sport means and we define it in three pillars – sport performance, student-athlete development, and creating a high-performance environment.

“We do want our athletes to reach their highest potential and our teams to win championships, but that’s just a part of what we set out to do. They are student-athletes. We must support them in their academic endeavors and aspirations, looking at pathways into what’s next. They might continue in sport, whether it’s going into coaching, refereeing, or administration. There are also pathways coming out of their academic pursuits, like jumping into the corporate world or post-graduate education.

“We want to help create well-rounded, future leaders,” he adds, noting the importance of creating a safe, inclusive environment so McMaster’s approximately 1,200 student-athletes can thrive. “The experiences I had were so influential in shaping the person I am, and I truly believe we can mould some of our greatest people in society through sport and the life lessons they learn.”

Jeppesen has no shortage of interesting experiences. Born into a big family in Vancouver when his father Keith Gooch was playing for the CFL’s BC Lions, he eventually moved to Stoney Creek, Ontario, with periodic stints in California. Like many kids, Jeppesen played T-ball, and his coach suggested he try basketball given his size and athleticism. He started playing in fourth grade and quickly morphed from a gangly kid to a skilled player. Jeppesen joined the Blessed Sacrament house league and after taking MVP honours at the provincial tourney, he earned a scholarship for a hoops session at Olympia Sports Camp.

“That resonated with me,” says Jeppesen. “I enjoyed basketball, but it made me believe that the sport could bring opportunities that I might not otherwise have. That was a big deal. I believed that if I put more focus and energy into it, I could go places.”

He did exactly that. By the time Jeppesen starred at Stoney Creek’s Saltfleet District High School, city champions in 2004, he was an imposing 6-7, 230 pounds. Numerous NCAA schools sent recruiting letters. Jeppesen prioritized academics and ultimately chose Brown University, despite the Ivy League’s policy of not granting athletic scholarships.

“I fell in love with the campus and my future teammates on a visit,” he says of his first trip to Providence, Rhode Island. “I spent three amazing years there and had an incredible experience. It was a bit of a culture shock. I remember calling my Mom from a pay phone in my dorm after a few weeks, wanting to come home.”

His coach at Brown was Craig Robinson, brother-in-law of President Barrack Obama. Jeppesen, a self-described political junkie, met the future Commander-in-Chief on two occasions, both in his days as an Illinois Senator. Obama visited Brown, filling up a huge lecture hall with Jeppesen and some teammates in attendance. In a Q&A, one Brown student asked that given the Senator’s love of basketball, tenures at Columbia and Harvard Law School, and ties with Coach Robinson, whom would he be cheering for during the Ivy league basketball season?

“He took it in stride like the true politician he is,” says Jeppesen. “He subverted the question but said he would be at some games and asked when the home opener was. Craig was down in the front and knowing I was a big Obama fan, said, ‘You’re going to have to ask Keenan.’ Everyone turned around and looked at me and I just slinked into my seat and got really shy.

“We got a chance to meet him after the talk. I shook his hand and he said, ‘Keenan, where were you 15 minutes ago?’”

Jeppesen would spend three years at Brown, earning All-Ivy Second Team honours in 2006. He took a break from the team in his junior year to address mental health issues and was injured heading into his senior year. Jeppesen decided to leave Brown but did complete his degree in Economics. He connected with his childhood buddy Curtis and took the advice to join him for another year at Western. Jeppesen was named an OUA First-Team All-Star with the Mustangs in 2009 and after falling to a heart-breaking Carleton buzzer-beater in the national semifinal, he moved to the Marauders basketball program as a graduate student, completing his MBA at the DeGroote School of Business. He capped his collegiate career in style, winning the team MVP, Marauders’ Athlete of the Year award, the OUA West Player of the Year award, and receiving a First-Team All-Canadian nod.

Jeppesen also represented Canada at the 2009 FISU Games in Belgrade, Serbia, where he had the unique honour of going up against his first cousin Quincy Pondexter, a University of Washington player at the time, who went on to have a 10-year NBA career. He became a carded athlete, and the designation helped Jeppesen receive support for the MBA. There were some offers to play pro ball overseas, but he tore the meniscus in his knee in that final year of collegiate basketball and opted to pursue his career instead of rehabbing the injury.

Jeppesen moved back to the United States for a job at Black Entertainment Television, owned by Viacom. He had done co-op stints at the company while at Brown and accepted a finance and strategy role.

“It was an incredible experience for personal and professional growth,” says Jeppesen. “It was also very cool. As someone who identifies as Black but grew up mixed race, it was probably the first and only time in my career that I was surrounded by minority professionals. I challenge someone to find a more diverse environment.

“It was a special time. When I left that environment, I began to appreciate the differences, because that was my introduction to the workforce.”

Jeppesen moved to tech company Ubiquiti Networks, working directly for the CEO Robert Parra, who became the youngest majority owner in the NBA when he purchased the Memphis Grizzlies. He traveled the world for two months and was looking for meaningful work. Impacting lives and making the world a better place became more important. He came home to Canada and after doing some freelance consulting to pay the bills, reconnected with McMaster Coach Patrick Tatum. Jeppesen joined the staff and coached for two years in the role of Director of Basketball Operations.

“Connecting with young student-athletes, especially off of the court, really filled my tank,” he says.

In 2020, both the pandemic and the theme of social justice were prevalent. The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor dominated the news. In that climate, Jeppesen’s fellow McMaster alum and friend Wayne Purboo asked him to join his new Onyx Initiative, with a focus on bridging the gap between the corporate world and high-achieving Black students. As Director of Outreach, Jeppesen engaged over 50 Canadian businesses in recruiting over 500 scholars across the country.

McMaster called again in late 2021 – and he answered.

“It felt like a complete circle,” says Jeppesen, who still prioritizes the relationships in life. “In my role as Director of High Performance, I get to touch sport directly and also support our large number of student-athletes with some one-on-one connections.

“The timing worked out. It’s been fantastic.”