Not that he has any reason to want to do so, but it is difficult for Ponca City senior basketball player Luke Seals to go anywhere without being noticed.

He owes that distinction to his height. At 6-foot-8 he is accustomed to being the tallest person in the room.

That is likely to change as he goes from being a Ponca City Wildcat basketball player to the next phase of his life. Earlier this year he signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Newberry College in South Carolina where he is likely to encounter a few others who stand at approximately his height.

He is beginning to get into the training regimen his Newberry coaches are asking him to adopt until he reports to the South Carolina school in August.

“I really don’t know what all is included,” he said. “I just received the program today and was in the process of getting started.”

The regimen likely will include some exercises and working with weights, he guessed. “I know the coaches want me to make 20,000 three-point shots,” he said.

Making three’s isn’t foreign to Seals, as he knocked down a few of the long bombs during his high school career. Despite his height, he was sometimes employed as a ball handler, working against the opposition’s full-court pressure. But, as one might expect of one who is 6-8, he also was known to dunk the ball.

What gives him the most pleasure--hitting a three or dunking?

“Dunking makes me the happiest,” he said without any hesitation.

Speaking of dunking, he was invited to participate in a dunking contest during the most recent basketball season. It was an online contest where the participants submitted a video of themselves doing some dunking and then visitors to the website would vote on who they thought were the top dunkers.

“I eventually lost out, but I’m not sure which round,” he said.

During his younger years, he was a two-sport athlete, playing baseball as well as basketball. He dropped baseball after his sophomore season.

“Whenever I play basketball, I am happy,” he said. “I found a stronger connection with basketball. That decided it for me.”

Newberry is a member of the South Atlantic Conference that competes in NCAA Division II. Other conference schools include Anderson University, Carson-Newman University, Catawba College, Coker University, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Lincoln Memorial University, Mars Hill University, Queens University of Charlotte, Tusculum University, University of Virginia’s College at Wise and Wingate University. Limestone College will join conference beginning next year.

What drew him to Newberry?

“I love the campus,” he said. “The coaches were very nice. I felt that it was the place for me.”

He visited Newberry during the Ponca City basketball season and while doing so missed the Wildcats’ participation in a tournament in Altus. Originally an open weekend for the Wildcats, the Altus event was scheduled at the last minute after the Newberry visit had been arranged for Seals.

The Wildcats had completed their season when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association to cancel the State Tournament weekend.

Seals found himself as a team leader of sorts during his final season as a Wildcat, partly because he was the only senior.

What did he take away from his senior year?

“This was the funnest group of guys I ever played with,” he said. “When you walked into the locker room it became fun. It is going to be sad to leave. It was so good playing with them. And one can’t ever be upset around Coach (Ivan) McFarlin.”

The Wildcats finished around .500 for the season, the best year they had had in quite a few years.

Seals’ future plans include getting his degree and then maybe playing at the next level — overseas somewhere “to make some money.” He is looking to a major in sports management with an eye to becoming a coach.