Making of a hero: Follow Dawson Garcia from youth hoops phenomenon to Gophers history-maker

After hitting the shot of his life, Dawson Garcia showed everyone what it is to be a hometown hero.

As all eyes were on the Gophers' 6-11 senior after his buzzer-beater from the logo Thursday in overtime against Michigan, Garcia thanked the fans and told everyone watching how much wearing “MINNESOTA” across his chest meant in that moment.

“That’s the reason why you want to stay home and play,” said Garcia, who couldn’t wait to celebrate with friends and family at Williams Arena after the court-storming scene.

Garcia’s game-winner to upset the Wolverines gave the Gophers their first Big Ten win this season and added to his legacy — one that started a decade ago as he climbed up Minnesota’s youth basketball ranks.

The first buzzer-beater of Garcia’s career actually happened with Prior Lake’s traveling basketball program vs. Shakopee when he was a sixth-grader. Yup. Little but not so little 6-foot Dawson wasn’t yet a teenager.

“He was so fun to coach,” retired attorney and longtime Prior Lake youth coach Mike McDonald said.

Believe it or not, that wasn’t the most spectacular game that season.

In a Border Battle in Mounds View, Garcia got the best of former Wisconsin All-America and current NBA guard Johnny Davis in a scoring duel so epic for that age group that folks in his old program still gush about it.

“We would be in these games, and the parents would be going crazy,” McDonald said. “I’d tell the kids, ‘Breathe through your nose and calm down.’ I’d look at Dawson — and he was just fine. He just had that ambience and confidence about him.”

Coaches saw what he’s achieved with the Gophers coming. But that was before he was an McDonald’s All-American in the same 2020 class as Jalen Suggs. Garcia was a budding hoops sensation growing up in Savage.

“He was always a long, taller athlete who was so skilled,” his former D1 Minnesota AAU coach Al Harris said. “He had guard abilities and could shoot the basketball and get to different spots on the floor.”

Garcia’s talent was evident early, but so was his enduring positivity and “even-keeled intensity,” McDonald said. That is important now as the Gophers (9-9, 1-6 Big Ten) navigate through a difficult start to his senior year.

Coaches past and present say that when faced with adversity, Garcia stays true to his beliefs and props up teammates, that he cares as much about representing his state and program as maybe anyone ever to put on the maroon and gold.

“He’s unique, man,” Gophers coach Ben Johnson said. “He’s got a unique perspective. He’s got an unbelievable family. He just thinks different. He’s strong in his conviction and a man of faith. He’s true to who he is and one of the most authentic kids I’ve known. What he says, he believes it.”

On Tuesday at Iowa, the Gophers will see if beating the No. 20 Wolverines will lead to turning things around.

But Garcia’s teammates understand the significance of that game-winner for just the moment itself, “especially when a guy from home does it,” senior guard and Minneapolis native Lu’Cye Patterson said.

Garcia also hit two free throws with 7.4 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime.

“That was a big-time win,” Patterson said. “He’s been here for three years, and he deserves everything God has coming for him. I’m happy for him.”

Garcia is not only rare in the way he approaches the game but also in the way he plays it: shooting lefthanded.

In what soon could become an iconic picture in Gophers basketball lore, Garcia’s left hand is extended in a perfect follow-through on his game-winner against the Wolverines. The ball floats above him with everyone watching, mouths wide open — opponents, teammates, fans all the same.

Funny thing is, if you watch Garcia sign his autograph for fans, he does it with his right hand. He does everything else with his right hand.

“I think I just started shooting a ball with my left hand when I was a young kid,” Garcia said. “I’m not like ambidextrous. I’m really just righthanded in everything in my life. And then on the basketball floor, I shoot with my left hand and [dribble well] with my left hand.”

Garcia said shooting lefty just felt better growing up. His older sister, Madi, who played basketball at Prior Lake, was the opposite. She shot only righthanded and was naturally lefthanded.

“I don’t really think too much of it,” Garcia said. “I think it was just something with genetics.”

Genetics definitely played a part in the Garcia kids being athletic. About 70 miles from Mount Rushmore is Black Hills State in Spearfish, S.D.

That’s where Dave Garcia and Stacey Nelson met as Division II athletes.

A Colorado native, Dawson’s father was mostly known as a standout quarterback in football, but he also played college basketball. Before Dawson’s mother played in college, she was a homegrown hoops star who helped Milbank win the South Dakota Class A title in 1987.

“My parents really got me into the game of basketball,” Dawson said. “My mom played it at Black Hills State, and my dad played basketball for two years and football for all four. I think he was a power forward. He used to get people with pump fakes all the time.”

After they married, Dawson’s parents moved to Minnesota when his father got promoted in his sales job in 1999. But Dawson’s earliest memories were playing ball with his dad and uncle in South Dakota.

“I remember when I was younger going to this gym called Unity Square in Milbank,” Dawson said. “Just had the ball in my hands. Dribbling it around. Falling in love with it at a young age.”

A three-sport athlete in middle school, Dawson loved football. He could hit a baseball harder than most. But a massive growth spurt ensured basketball was his future.

Between his eighth- and ninth-grade years, Dawson grew 6 inches, from about 6-2 to 6-8. He kept growing in high school and joked that hot sauce was the secret growth serum.

“My grandma used to cook for us every single night when I was growing up,” Dawson said, smiling. “I would eat a lot of spicy food.”

Dawson’s future college head coach, then a U assistant, first saw him at the Gophers' team camp: a do-it-all 15-year-old big man on the Prior Lake varsity.

“I remember watching him as a ninth-grader,” Johnson said. “He hasn’t changed. He’s just gotten better.”

Dawson started his college career at Marquette and North Carolina before transferring to the University of Minnesota.

“The reason why I wanted to be here so badly is because it gives me an immense amount of purpose,” he said.

He will be the first Gophers player to lead the team in scoring and rebounding in three consecutive seasons since Randy Breuer from 1980 to 1983. He’s on pace to be the fourth Minnesotan in team history to score at least 1,500 points. The other three are Breuer, Sam Jacobson and Kevin McHale.

Beyond the buzzer-beater, the name Dawson Garcia seems destined to end up on lists of Gophers greats.

“He is everything that this program is about from here going forward,” Johnson said.

8 p.m. Tuesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena

TV; radio: BTN; 100.3-FM

The Hawkeyes (12-6, 3-4) have all three of their Big Ten wins this season at home and are 0-4 on the road in league play. They lost by a combined 34 points at UCLA and USC last week. Payton Sandfort and Owen Freeman combined for 38 points in last year’s 90-85 win vs. the Gophers in Iowa City, which included overcoming a 20-point second-half deficit.