This year Santa Claus was very kind to the St. Anthony boys’ basketball program. Playing the part of jolly old St. Nicholas was recent Saints alum Elijah Price, who made a $10,000 donation to his alma mater last week.
Price, a 2022 graduate of the Saints, is now a standout forward for Nevada, where he’s averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds per game.
“I’m not making 20 million a year but we’re getting paid now,” he said with a laugh. “I wanted to give back early while I’m still young and still have a relationship with the guys playing for coach (Alan) Mitchell. I’m close to them in age, so they can see the next step in their career and what it looks like.”
Price is a modern basketball story through and through. A standout post player with the Saints, he had scholarship offers that fizzled out due to COVID-19 and the extra eligibility granted to NCAA players at the time. That led him to a year of prep school basketball after high school, where he continued to develop his body and his game. He signed with Drake, then transferred to Fresno State for his redshirt freshman season.
Price was the clear-cut best freshman in the Mountain West, leading all conference freshmen in scoring and rebounding and setting a Fresno State record with 11 double-doubles as a freshman.
That led him to transfer to Nevada, where he’s having another standout season in the paint. Price is averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds per game and had a 19-rebound game in November that was the most by any Nevada player since 2016.
“I’ve just stuck with it and worked hard every year and tried to keep getting better which is what’s made me successful,” he said. “Every year I’ve added something to my game and gotten bigger and stronger.”
Saints coach Alan Mitchell said he appreciated Price coming back to make the donation, and felt the ceremony where he spoke directly to the current team was impactful.
“The youngsters listen to their peers more than they listen to coaches and adults,” he said. “Having those guys who’ve already been in it come in and preach it is great. He’s made himself available via phone and text with the boys and some of them already reached out to him, too.”
Mitchell said he was emotional when he heard about the donation.
“I damn near got tears in my eyes,” he said. “It just shows you you’re doing things the right way–you don’t come back and give back to someone if they mistreated you.”
Mitchell said the team plans to use the donation to help with equipment costs as well as scholarships. He said the program’s Fear the Halo Invitational will also be renamed the Elijah Price Fear the Halo Invitational going forward to recognize Price’s generosity and accomplishments.
Price said that it meant a lot to him to make the donation, and meant just as much to be able to talk to the current team.
“I told them a lot about the history of St. Anthony,” he said. “A lot of them are new faces and didn’t necessarily know the culture. There’s real history behind St. Anthony hoops and a certain standard we hold ourselves to–I wanted to share that face to face instead of them just hearing about it from their coaches.”
