Danny Cheek can get up in the air in a hurry on a basketball court.
The junior goes by “N-Flight” as in get out of the way because Cheek’s about to take off. His grandmother, Cathy, just gave Cheek the nickname.
Grandma hasn’t watched him play at Corona del Mar High this season. The Sea Kings are enjoying one of their finest starts in school history at 16-3, much of it stems from Cheek’s guard play.
Cathy lives in Washington, D.C., where Cheek said he grew up before moving to Orange County as an eighth-grader. The distance from Cheek didn’t stop Cathy from coming up with the perfect nickname for her grandson.
One picture Cheek mailed her was all she needed to see. The 6-foot-3 Cheek looked like a high-flying act and he has lived up to it on the eighth-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Division III-A coaches’ poll.
“I don’t really think it was an actual dunking picture,” said Cheek, who believes he was leaping in the air for a rebound while the photo was taken. “She called me N-Flight, and ever since then I just put that on everything.
“If you look at my book bag, I have N-Flight 13, the number is for the one I wear on my jersey. I know I’m going to get ripped for this one. [My teammates are] going to let me have it when they see this.”
Teammates already have, and they called out Cheek for a different reason.
At the start of Pacific Coast League play, N-Flight was grounded. Cheek sat out the opener at Laguna Hills on Jan. 8 after arriving late to practice.
Cheek wasn’t alone, but he blames himself for him and Ramon Mejia losing their starting jobs. Instead of being on time to practice, the two played video games.
When the two finally made it to the CdM gym, it was game over for the both of them.
“I knew that I was going to have to deal with Coach [Ryan] Schachter],” Cheek said. “I told Ramon to go ahead and practice. Coach, he was upset. He told us being [the top] players, we’ve got to set an example.”
Schachter wound up making an example out of Cheek and Mejia. The two got benched.
They came off the bench in the Sea Kings’ first two league contests. CdM easily won both by a margin of 28 points per game.
In order for Cheek and Mejia to regain their spots in the starting lineup, Schachter gave them one ultimatum, besides being on time.
