After his mom died, Eastview basketball player Henry Shannon III did what she would want him to do

Just beneath his left collarbone, right above his heart, Henry Shannon III has his mother's name inked on his chest with a date: April 5, 2020.

It was the day his mom, Kelly Batt, died of cancer.

Her death came just weeks after the onset of the pandemic, which halted his junior season on the Eastview boys' basketball team.

In a whirlwind spring, amid life-altering restrictions of the state's lockdown, Shannon said the weight of losing his mother didn't truly hit him at first.

It wasn't until last summer that he felt the gravity of what had happened, and he started having frequent breakdowns.

Batt had been diagnosed with cancer about a year before her death, during Shannon's spring break.

"I broke down," he said. "But then me, her and my sister just looked at each other, gave a smile and said, 'We're going to fight it together.' "

Shannon, the recipient of the Star Tribune's Courage in Competition award, described his mother as a "behind-the-scenes" single parent who wasn't able to come to most of his games. But when she was there, she made sure he knew it. Shannon said she was among the loudest Eastview parents, and having her in the stands raised his spirits.

When Eastview head coach Paul Goetz heard of Batt's death, he told Shannon to take a few days off from his virtual classes. Goetz promised to talk to the school counselor and get his absences excused.

"He said, 'No, I'm going to go to school the next day, because that's what my mom would want me to do,'" Goetz recalled.

Shannon finished his junior year living with his aunt and uncle before going to St. Louis for the summer to live with his father. When summer ended, his dad wanted him to stay and enroll in school in Missouri.

But Shannon wanted to finish high school in the place he knew, where friends and teammates supported him. He wanted to go home.

His grandmother helped him convince his dad, and Shannon made his way back to Minnesota for senior year. It turned out to be his best season yet.

His Eastview basketball career started on the ninth-grade B team. He moved up to junior varsity as a sophomore and varsity as a junior, mostly coming off the bench behind standout forward Steven Crowl, who went on to play at Wisconsin.

When Shannon's senior season arrived, he was ready to step out. He averaged 16.2 points and seven rebounds in his final year.

"I just flourished," Shannon said.

Colleges took notice. Shannon had heard from a few Division III schools his junior year, but by last January Division II University of Minnesota Duluth had reached out. He signed with the school in April.

Shannon's route from B team to varsity starter to Division II scholarship player wasn't common. But Goetz said that with Shannon's work ethic, it wasn't much of a surprise.

"When we have a ninth grade group and we make teams, I would tell them … look at what Henry did," Goetz said. "He's going to be a success just because of what kind of person he is."