Jayhawks lose one of their toughest teammates

The Kansas men’s basketball program lost an honorary member of its team earlier this week, when 20-year-old JP Bemberger died after a battle with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a form of pediatric cancer.

Bemberger, a Lenexa native whose given name was Jonathan Phog Bemberger, died Tuesday a little less than 8 months shy of his 21st birthday.

KU play-by-play voice Brian Hanni dedicated Wednessday’s game broadcast to Bemberger, writing in white marker atop his headset, “Forever our teammate. KU loves JP!”

The Jayhawks also dedicated Wednesday’s win at TCU to Bemberger, noting on social media after the 74-61 victory in Fort Worth, Texas, “This one’s for JP.”

KU previously announced it was playing for Bemberger before the home win over Arizona State on Jan. 8.

But it wasn’t just these Jayhawks who had a special bond with Bemberger and his family. Far from it.

There are people within the KU program who genuinely believe that the 2021-22 Jayhawks would not have won the national title in 2022 without having Bemberger in their corner.

“No way we get it done without you,” former Jayhawk Christian Braun posted on social media in response to Bemberger’s passing while adding, “The toughest friend I will ever have. Rest Easy Champ.”

Braun, who now stars for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, has been writing Bemberger’s initials in his shoes on game nights during the past couple of weeks.

It wasn’t that Bemberger had a keen eye for scouting — though he did participate in scouting sessions including one in New Orleans that season at the Final Four and another in Chicago during the Jayhawks’ time at the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight — or that his skill development was off the charts, — though his follow-through on his jumper was good enough to put on some sort of how-to shooting video — it was more about the impact he made on the players he spent time with.

How fitting, given that Bemberger and the Jayhawks connected through the Team IMPACT initiative, a nationwide program that pairs young people facing serious illnesses and disabilities with college sports teams. Counting Bemberger, there are currently 7 Team IMPACT collaborations at KU alone.

To date, Team IMPACT has paired nearly 4,000 young people with 815 different college campuses in all 50 states, reaching more than 90,000 student-athletes.

Bemberger’s treatment prevented him from making it to Allen Fieldhouse for a game this season. But he was there at Late Night in the Phog last October. And he received a standing ovation and loud roar from the Allen Fieldhouse crowd after being introduced on the video board.

Bemberger joined the Jayhawks in 2020, complete with an official visit, a signing day and all the fanfare that typically accompanies a new player joining the squad.

Throughout the next four years, he became a key part of everything the Jayhawks did. With the help of his parents, Tom and Michelle, he attended several games, showed up at practices and in the locker room and often tagged along when the Jayhawks participated in outreach opportunities like visiting the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, or the Brown vs. the Board of Education exhibit in Topeka.

No matter how you painted it, he was a part of the team. And he didn’t need to score a point or record a single statistic to solidify that.

See, it was his mere presence that made him so valuable and so loved.

On a daily basis, Bemberger showed up to fight for his life while still making time to show up for the Jayhawks, as well. That fact, along with the stark reality of what he was fighting on his own time, opened the eyes of countless Jayhawks to how good they truly had it.

Tough practice? Big deal. JP had it 10 times worse that day.

Bad game? Big deal. There’s another one coming up to make it right. JP’s future was never guaranteed.

On and on the lessons went, with the young man’s influence on some of KU’s biggest stars bringing an entirely new perspective to what fighting with a purpose meant.

“He’s tougher than anyone in that locker room, coaches included,” KU coach Bill Self said after Wednesday’s win over TCU.

Bemberger’s deepest impact reached one big culmination in the fall of 2021, when the then-17-year-old high school student showed up to KU’s annual boot camp determined to participate.

At the time, he was two weeks removed from surgery, which was merely part of the treatment plan that included several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, as well.

And the idea was that he would show up for support and to see some of his friends and teammates.

Somewhere along the way, the plan changed and Bemberger decided he wanted to be a part of the annual conditioning grind that the Jayhawks endure at the start of each season.

So, with KU staff member Fred Quartlebaum by his side and his parents there to guide him, with his father lagging behind with his wheelchair just in case, Bemberger ditched his wheelchair, grabbed a walker and got to work on completing some sprint work.

Everyone in the practice gym cheered as Bemberger, decked out in KU shorts and a gray Kansas basketball hoodie, knocked off the steps required to make it from one baseline to the other.

As Quartlebaum recalled it, no one knew that he would turn around and make the journey back, just like his teammates had to do when they ran sprints.

That decision — Bemberger’s desire to fight and keep going — turned the simple sprint into one of the defining moments of that season. Quartlebaum said it was then that the 2021-22 team really came together and understood that there was always something bigger than yourself to show up for.

A little more than 6 months later, the Jayhawks were crowned national champions in New Orleans, showcasing that signature Bemberger grit and toughness to get through the early rounds and come back from 15 down at halftime in the national title game against North Carolina.

“His Jayhawk teammates saw his strength and courage every time he came around,” Hanni wrote. “And you could tell what a profound impact he had on them.”

That’s how Quartlebaum will forever remember it. And, quite frankly, how he always saw it while Bemberger was around.

Quartlebaum last saw Bemberger and his family on Monday, a day before the Jayhawks made the trip south for Wednesday night’s game at TCU.

He had planned to visit him when they returned but was encouraged to check in on Monday instead.

That story, like so many things Bemberger brought to the table, makes Quartlebaum smile — and likely always will — and he’ll forever be grateful that he found a way to get over there one last time to see one of his favorite Jayhawks of all-time.

“JP truly embodied the essence of what it means to be a Kansas Jayhawk,” Quartlebaum wrote on X earlier this week, summing up his feelings about the young man and what he meant to Kansas basketball. “His positive impact touched the lives of countless teammates, coaches, managers and everyone connected to KU Athletics. JP’s unwavering spirit and passion will forever live in our hearts and in the legacy he leaves behind. Love you.”

Added KU great Wayne Simien Jr.: “We’ve had many incredible teammats be a part of our program, but none with more fight than JP. He is truly an inspiration to all of us.”

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