“I’m 6’6” on a good day,” says Colby Men’s Basketball small forward and shooting guard Gordon Fischer as he meticulously adjusts his backwards flat-brim Yankees hat. His Colby Basketball sweatshirt, which is cut at the neck, looks like it has received a lot of love. Perhaps that is because Gordon has so much respect for his team, and the game itself. As he sits up a little straighter, he smiles, and adds, “[My teammates] are my brothers. We’re a tight group for sure.”
As a sophomore, Gordon is still trying to find his major role on the team. However, he gets playing time in nearly every game, despite his underclassman ranking. He says modestly, “Right now I just want to get in, stick a couple of threes, get steals, blocks, rebounds, and some hustle plays.” When Gordon walks out on the court before a game, a look of determination and intensity comes over his face, but his body language remains calm and relaxed. He tucks his #14 jersey messily into his shorts, and it hangs loosely over his torso. He scuffs his basketball sneakers against the floor several times, claps his hands, catches the basketball, and prepares to shoot. He releases his jump shot high above his head. The ball arcs through the air until it falls gracefully through the net. He repeats this process several times until he feels loose. Now, Gordon Fischer is ready to play.
Off the court, however, Gordon has a whole different routine to prepare to play—he listens to music. “I put on anything from James Brown to Tupac to the Wu-Tang Clan.” Gordon’s love for music has led him to participate in other activities at Colby. He DJs Sunday nights from 8-10 on WHMB (Colby’s Radio Station), he is trying to get the Colby Hip Hop Alliance started, and he raps (mostly for fun). But not every boy from Maine is born with the gift to freestyle. Gordon puts it simply, “My dad’s from Detroit, and my mom’s from Brooklyn. I’m from Maine, but it’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’ve been.” One of Gordon’s freshman-year roommates, George Manley ‘13, got Gordon to start rhyming (or freestyling) casually in their room. Gordon admits, “I started sitting there in classes writing rhymes, writing my notes in rhymes. It comes like a therapy, honestly.”
But it was Gordon’s parents that really sparked his love for music. When he was growing up, his parents always had blues, jazz, or funk blaring from their stereo speakers. They have also had a profound effect on his DJing at Colby. Gordon says, “I was raised by city folk in the country. My parents just influenced me. Now I love music, and DJing is just kind of my thing.” In terms of what he plays, Gordon confesses, “While I DJ, I try to keep current. But showing people what was great in the past is really important, too.”
Like sharing his music at Colby, Gordon looks to spread other kinds of knowledge in the Waterville community. He mentors a forth-grade boy at the South End Learning Center through Colby’s CCAK program. “He’s really fun to hang out with; he’s cool. I help him with his spelling, with his homework, we play a little basketball, some board games, eat soup and sandwiches. It’s so good to see yourself make a change in someone’s life.”
In terms of his major, Gordon hasn’t officially decided, but he is leaning towards English with a creative writing concentration. Eventually, he wants to be able to tackle big and important subjects in life, and then write about them. Although this is kind of a vague aspiration, Gordon doesn’t seem to be too worried. He says, “Whatever form that writing comes in, I’ll figure it out.”
So how does Gordon balance all of the things he does? He is always relaxed, and ready for anything. “I go with the flow of the day. Wherever events take me, from thing to thing, from place to place, music gets me through. I go from activity to activity like a DJ goes from song to song.” Gordon is a really versatile person. He can be ferocious on the basketball court, sweet at the South End Learning Center, and zen on the turn-tables. “Running through everything, I’m always Gordon Fischer. But I try and get in touch with different sides of me. I tell people I’m a different person on the court. If you’re an athlete, you get in the zone. On the freestyling tip, I’m not even good at that, I’m just trying to wake up that part of my mind.”
Gordon hopes to continue to improve in all of his Colby activities. Next year, he is looking to have a monumental season on the basketball court. He hopes to continue to train the part of his mind that generates his freestyling and writing as a way to get a better view of the world. And obviously, he wants to keep DJing. So be sure to catch Gordon and the rest of the Colby men’s basketball team get a couple more wins before the end of the season. And don’t forget to tune into Gordon’s radio show, entitled “The Birth of Cool” from 8-10 on WHMB 89.7 FM Sunday nights to find some great new songs for your iPod!
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Colby chapter.