By Austin Lewter, Jefferson Jimplecute
Oklahoma State University basketball player, and Jefferson native, Dee Mitchell was surprised with a scholarship earlier this week while working his shift at Walmart.
The heartwarming moment was also caught on camera.
The walk-on joined the Cowboys in 2019.
Since then, he has been paying his way through school while working at a Stillwater Walmart.
On Sunday, OSU head basketball coach Mike Boynton had a big surprise for him.
“I thought today was a good opportunity to let him know that he’s going to be on scholarship,” Boynton said in a video the university posted on social media. “Nobody has exemplified what I want our program to mean more than you have.”
The team surprised Mitchell, the OSU junior, with a scholarship.
He has been working 40 hours a week on top of his class schedule and basketball practice.
“I didn’t know what was going on, it’s real surprising, breathtaking. I thought I was in a movie or something,” Mitchell said.
OSU posted a video of the surprise on Twitter.
Mitchell’s scholarship covers the rest of his time at the university.
The 20-year old Mitchell is a graduate of Jefferson High School.
“Dee is a great kid,” Jefferson ISD athletic director Antwain Jimmerson said. “A great human being… I’ve know his family since before Dee was born… I graduated high school at Jefferson with his uncle Cecil… we used to babysit his father… the relationship goes back that far and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
He is the son of Casandra Stapleton and Derrick Mitchell and he is majoring in sports and coaching science at OSU.
“Coaching is a career that could suit him,” Jimmerson said, “Dee is the type of player who you could give notes and trust him to run practice. He is that far ahead of his peers. He is really a coach on the court… He is the type of person who you know will be successful whatever he does in life.”
Prior to his college career, Mitchell was the District 16-3A MVP in 2017-18 as a Bulldog.
He was AAU teammates with Oklahoma State signee Avery Anderson, of Justin, Texas, who joined the Cowboys in 2019-20.
At JHS, Dee was a multi-sport standout.
He was named first-team all-district as a wide receiver and defensive back for the Bulldog football team.
“Dee actually attend a football camp at OSU,” Jimmerson said. “And he fell in love with the campus. He got an offer to play football at Wyoming and didn’t want to do that. After not getting an offer at OSU for football, he decided to attend anyway. He loved the campus that much… sometime after that, the basketball team had open tryouts and he went out. And he made the team. Can you imagine that?”
Mitchell posted a +5.0 plus/minus per 40 minutes, as a sophomore, which ranked third on the OSU roster.
Also during his sophomore year, Dee:
- – Earned time in 19 games (112:50) for the Cowboys thanks to a relentless work ethic and a strong defensive presence.
- – Was a game-high +18 without taking a shot in 17:45 minutes of playing time in the win over TCU. That earned him game MVP honors from coach Boynton.
- – Earned his first career start in the win at Houston, where he had two points, one rebound, one assist and zero turnovers.
- – Earned a start against Minnesota, and finished with a career high three assists.
- – Was 3-of-7 (.429) shooting on the year, and scored in four games.
- – Added in eight assists, three steals and one block on the season.
- – Saw 10 minutes of action against Wichita State and hit a three-pointer.
- – Played in 11 of OSU’s 18 Big 12 games, as well as the Big 12 Championship first-round game against Iowa State.
During his freshman year, Dee:
- – Joined the Cowboy basketball program following the walk-on tryouts and first suited up for the game against Texas Tech on Jan. 13.
- – Proved a capable member of the squad and saw 24 minutes of action in five appearances for OSU.
- – Knocked down a clutch go-ahead three-pointer at No. 11 Texas Tech that helped the Cowboys take that game to overtime.
- – Mitchell played 12 key minutes at Texas Tech, including the entire overtime period when he knocked down a pair of free throws.
- – Logged nine minutes against Kansas State, where he shot and made two free throws for his first points in a Cowboy uniform.
The Cowboy basketball team next takes to the court tomorrow (Jan. 23) at 1 p.m. at home against the number two ranked Baylor Bears.
The game will be broadcasted on CBS.
They will then take to the road Monday against Iowa State in an 8 p.m. tipoff that will be broadcasted on ESPN 2.