How an Uber ride helped Jacob Beccles find a home at Cornell

Call it serendipity. Call it kismet. Call it whatever you want.

The talent, intelligence, and perseverance of Jacob Beccles, however, is truly what opened the Ivy League doors that often have been welded shut for Philadelphia Public League basketball players.

A fortuitous Uber ride in May also didn’t hurt.

Beccles, an ultra-athletic forward who graduated from Constitution High School in June and nearly gave up his hoop dream along the way, committed to Cornell University last week.

The versatile 6-foot-4 standout could become the first Public League basketball player to play in the Ancient Eight since Northeast High School’s Willie Oliphant at Penn in 1980. It has been a difficult journey full of ups and downs through which Beccles has been guided by several prominent figures in his life, including a new face from a familiar place.

“I’m just proud of myself for sticking through it,” Beccles said in a phone interview. “I’m just really proud that I stuck to it and just kept going.”

During high school, Beccles, who is now completing a postgraduate year at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, had grown weary of the recruiting roller coaster.

His height, length, and leaping ability made him an early prospect as a sophomore. At some point, he said, Temple coaches were contacting him almost every day. Then his phone stopped ringing.

“Early, everybody is kind of flirting with you,” said Constitution coach Rob Moore. “When you’re in 10th grade, a lot of people are calling you. They want to feel you out.”

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The pandemic had also become an obstacle. The NCAA, in response to its lost 2020 seasons, granted college athletes another year of eligibility. Less stringent transfer rules in addition to the transfer portal, which functions as a de facto pool of free agents, likely also shifted priorities.

“I tried to explain to Jake that his problem was that the pandemic created a backlog of Division I basketball players,” Moore said.

For college coaches feeling the pressure to win, relying on an incoming freshman is perceived as riskier than a known player in the transfer portal, Moore said.

But Beccles took it personally.

“When Temple stopped talking to me,” he said, “I just felt like giving up because I didn’t think I was good enough.”

He did, however, keep working on his game.

Before his sophomore season ended, Beccles caught the eye of Kevin Durant’s father, Wayne Pratt, after Constitution played in the Washington, D.C., area.

Pratt, who runs Team Durant — the NBA star’s AAU team and member of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League — spoke to Moore and Beccles at Constitution’s hotel.

“My motivation came back when Team Durant offered me to play with them,” Beccles said.

Suddenly he was holding his own against new teammates Judah Mintz, now a guard at Syracuse, and Dariq Whitehead, now a forward at Duke.

“Playing with those type of guys in practice, you have to step your game up or you’re going to get [embarrassed],” Beccles said.

The exposure helped, and college coaches called again, but Beccles still didn’t receive a scholarship offer. After the pandemic scuttled nearly half of his junior season, doubt crept in again.

“That’s when I wanted to give up,” he said. “I felt like I was doing everything I could. I was watching my friends get offers, watching everybody else get offers. Of course, I supported them, but I was like, ‘Dang, I’m putting in the hard work, too. So where’s mine?’”

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It was difficult for Danett Candelaria to watch her son struggle. Often, she said, he looked “defeated.”

“You know as a parent, our little Spidey senses kick in and we just want to jump in and save the day,” she said. “I just had to back up and allow him to have those feelings and go through that process.”

Eventually, her son emerged from the disappointment. Candelaria, 49, told him to channel his pain into improvement.

It worked, but Beccles still had doubts.

Before his senior year began, two talented teammates at Constitution transferred. The thought also had crossed his mind. He wondered if a Catholic League school might give him the exposure he sought.

“I just couldn’t do that to Rob because I’m a loyal person,” Beccles said. “If we’re in this together, we’re in this together.”

Beccles eventually averaged nearly 25 points per game as a senior and led Constitution to a runner-up finish in the PIAA Class 2A tournament.

Still, when his senior year ended — no offers.

Several Division II schools were interested, Moore said, because they knew Beccles would have been a steal.

Penn had shown interest, and Moore knew Beccles was an exceptional student.

Ultimately, Moore explained that a year of continued good grades at a prep school might show Penn that Beccles could handle the school’s academic and athletic rigors.

But Beccles balked.

“What if I go through the same thing after prep school?” he asked. “Then I’ll regret all the Division II schools I turned down.”

Ultimately, he trusted Moore, who had gone through something similar.

In 2011, Constitution star Xavier Harris committed to Penn but spent a postgrad year at the Peddie School in New Jersey. Penn didn’t work out, and Harris eventually played at Fairleigh Dickinson.

“My goal as a coach is to let people know that this is an option for every kid,” Moore said. “It doesn’t always have to be a big-time Division I program. You can get a great education, a great experience, and do something life-changing.”

Lawrenceville coach Doug Davis did exactly that.

Davis, 33, is a Philly native, who attended Abington Friends School and Prep Charter before graduating in 2008 from the Hun School in New Jersey. Davis later played at Princeton. He hasn’t known Beccles long, but he has worn his shoes. Davis even played for Cornell coach Brian Earl, who was an assistant coach at Princeton.

“Our paths were pretty similar,” Davis said of Beccles. “When he got here, it was just getting him to understand that he was just as capable as every other kid and to bring the same confidence to the classroom that he brought to the basketball court. When he did that, you really started to see him open up. He’s a very likable kid. When he smiles, everybody smiles.”

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In May, around the time Beccles pondered prep school, a teacher at Constitution, who also is an Uber driver, made a fateful pickup.

In a phone interview, the teacher, who asked not to be identified, said he spoke with a passenger who happened to be an assistant basketball coach at Cornell.

The teacher mentioned Beccles’ name, that he was a great student, a good kid, and a talented player. He also mentioned that Beccles likely was going to spend a year at prep school.

The coach was aware of Beccles, the teacher added, but didn’t know about the prep school option. The next day, the teacher told Moore about the exchange. Soon after, the Cornell assistant called Moore, got in touch with Beccles, and became his main recruiter.

Last week, he invited Beccles and his mother to tour campus, watch shootaround, and stay for a game.

Candelaria, who earned a master’s from Penn in social work, said the decision was all but made during the drive to Cornell. But she wanted her son to make the final call after the visit.

At some point during their postgame meeting with the coaching staff, Candelaria left the room. There was some confusion when she returned.

“So I’m looking at him and I’m giving him the eye because I had went to the restroom, so I didn’t know if I missed it,” she said, laughing. “So I’m giving him the eye and he’s like, ‘Mom I got it.’ It was awesome to see him own that moment.”

Beccles told the staff he wanted to commit. Hands were shaken, hugs exchanged, and a dream was fulfilled.

“It just makes me feel great,” he said. “I’m proud of myself.”

Later, he added: “I just want to thank Rob for believing in me and putting me in positions that I never thought I could be.”

Candelaria, who raised five sons by herself, didn’t want the moment to be about her, but when asked, she reflected on self-doubt that seemed similar to what her son experienced during the recruiting process.

“I definitely feel good about myself,” she said. “There were times I doubted myself: ‘Could I have done things differently? Should I have done less of this and more of that?’”

Later, she added: “But seeing him achieve what he’s achieved thus far makes me feel like I did something right.”

Her son agrees.

“I just want to thank her for everything she’s done for me,” Beccles said. “I couldn’t have wished for a better mom. I’m just speechless when it comes to her. I just love her so much for making all those sacrifices for us without a co-parent.”