Ryan LeChanc Francis (March 17, 1987 – May 13, 2006) was an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player. At the time of his death, he was the starting point guard for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...

. He was murdered during a trip to his hometown in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties ...

, after his freshman season at USC.

College career

As a freshman, Francis was the starting point guard during the 2005–2006 season for the USC Trojans and averaged 7.1 points, 3.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He ranked seventh in the

Pac-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

in assists and fifth in steals which was good enough to make the honorable-mention pac-10 all-freshman team selected by the conference coaches. His jersey number was 12. It has been suggested that after basketball he planned to enter coaching or work with criminals.

High school career

Francis was a standout at Glen Oaks High School in Baton Rouge,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. He averaged 22 points and five assists per game in his senior year and led his team to a perfect 36–0 record and the Class 4A state title in 2005. Francis also won the MVP award for the state championship game and was named the 2005 Louisiana Class 4A Outstanding Player.

Murder

Francis was shot and killed about 3:30 a.m. May 13, 2006 while riding in a car in his hometown of Baton Rouge. As the vehicle pulled up to a stop light, the driver of another vehicle got out and opened fire. The shooter was identified as D'Anthony Norman Ford, also 19.Trojans attend service for teammate in Louisiana
USCTrojans.com, May 21, 2006. According to the police report, Ford was driving an SUV and pulled in front of the car carrying Francis after recognizing the car's driver as someone he had been involved in a dispute with earlier that night, Francis was sitting in the back seat where he was shot multiple times; the two other occupants of the car identified Ford in a police line-up.

Being honored

Francis' funeral was held on May 20, 2006 at Greater King David Baptist Church, North Location in Baton Rouge, he was buried in nearby Southern Memorial Gardens.
USCTrojans.com, May 15, 2006. Coach

Tim Floyd Tim Floyd (born February 25, 1954) is a former American college basketball coach, most recently the head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He was formerly the head coach of several teams in the NCAA and the NBA. Floyd is also k ...

and the USC Basketball team flew in to attend.

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

rules permitted USC to pay for both the entire funeral expenses and the team's travel to Louisiana. USC established The Ryan Francis Endowed Scholarship in honor of Francis. For the 2006–2007 season, the Trojans Men's basketball team wore black #12 on their jerseys in honor of Francis. USC announced a tribute to Ryan Francis in a basketball game on March 17, 2007, the day that would have been Ryan's 20th birthday. The day was during the post-season tournament period in college basketball, and defying pre-season expectations, the USC basketball made it to the 2007 NCAA basketball tournament, and was placed in its first game on Friday, March 16. Honoring a promise to the memory of her son, Paulette Francis flew to

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

to watch the Trojans basketball team play their first game in the NCAA Tournament, speaking to the team before their 77–60 victory over

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

.Ben Bolch
USC Report: Francis' Mom Gets to Game
''Los Angeles Times'', March 17, 2007.

References

External links