What I was seeing was a guy who could impact our team in so many ways. He’d been told his whole life he wasn’t good enough. I was ruthless on him because he didn’t know how good he could be. I’ve never been harder on a player than I’ve been on Jimmy. Often times, Jimmy wanted to leave and go home. Butler was accustomed to being the main guy, and a leader, but this was not the case at Marquette.ĭuring his sophomore season, he was relegated to a role in which he found himself coming off the bench. With his mother’s guidance and help, Butler decided to opt for Marquette, but things got off to a rough start. He needed a good education and a degree to fall back on.” Jimmy Takes the Guidance and Runs With It I told him he should go there because basketball may not work out long-term. “He had a lot of offer, but I was impressed by Marquette for academic reasons.

Michelle played a key role in his decision to attend Marquette. Jimmy now had a mom to go to for guidance and help him with this tough decision. The fantastic play gained offers from Kentucky, Clemson, Mississippi State, and Iowa State. His fantastic season earned him honorable mention JUCO All-American and coaches all around the country began to take notice. He continued to have 30 point games followed by a few 40 point games. Playing in his first conference game, Butler dropped 34 points and it did not stop there. The guard made a splash from the beginning. Jimmy would not let this ruin his chances of achieving his dreams as he enrolled at Tyler Junior College just down the road. Butler was not on the radar of any scouts, mostly because he didn’t play AAU basketball.ĪAU basketball is where the majority of scholarships generate, where the scouts come out, and this killed Jimmy’s chances of playing Division I. I couldn’t believe it.” Jimmy’s Feel Good Story Was Falling Shortĭespite the fantastic senior season from Butler, he still did not gain any interest from any Division I schools besides Mississippi State, and they ended up passing on his scholarship offer. “They accepted me into their family, and it wasn’t because of basketball. Jimmy averaged 19.9 points, and 8.7 rebounds per game. He responded to the family support and went on to have a monster senior season for Tomball High School as team captain. Anything I asked him to do, he did it without asking questions.” “I told him my kids looked up to him, he had to stay out of trouble. The number one thing she wanted Jimmy to do is to be a role model. Michelle had rules though, and he had to follow them in order to be a member of the family. He was now part of a family, and would get to experience life the way most high school kids should. The household decided to accept Butler as one of their own. After a few months of begging, the family agreed to take him in for good. Every night that he came to stay at the household, the kids would pull a “fast one” and a different kid would say “tonight’s my night to have Jimmy stay.” The kids showed that they really liked having him around and they wanted him to be apart of the family. The family agreed to let him stay, but it would only be for one or two nights at a time. He was considered trouble because he didn’t have a home, because he had no money, and nowhere to go… not because he did anything wrong. Jimmy was considered trouble, but that wasn’t the actual case. Michelle Lambert, Leslie’s mother, was unsure of the situation at first because there were already four kids in the house and money was tight.

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