Scout's Honor: US Open Court Attendant Overcomes the Odds

There was the fire that took her right leg and half her left foot as an infant. There was the abandonment and the subsequent horrific life in the orphanage in China. It included manual labor, beatings, near starvation and no education. She also never set foot outside the door of the orphanage for seven years.

That is the way Scout Bassett entered the world, as her parents left her on the doorstep of an orphanage in Nanjing, China, when she was under a year old with just a bib around her neck with a name, Zhu Fuzhi, and birthdate. There was no way to verify that her name was correct, and Zhu was a very common Chinese last name.

The orphanage was her home until an American family adopted her when she was seven years old and brought her to Harbor Springs, Mich.

Now 13 years later, at age 20, Bassett has overcome all the odds and is an accomplished athlete with international and national success in triathlons, all with a prosthesis that goes above her knee. She has also been a court attendant at the 2008 US Open and having a fantastic time.

Bassett, along with Kelly Bruno, a ballperson with a prosthesis, are two of the first physically challenged athletes to ever serve on the field of play at a major sporting event.

Bassett, a sophomore at UCLA, is an above-knee amputee, although she did not have her first amputation until she was eight years old and living in Michigan. In the orphanage, a leg was fashioned for her using scraps belonging in someone’s garage, including masking tape, leather straps and metal rods, so that she could walk.

When she was older and could get around, she was put to work washing floors, washing dishes and feeding babies during the day, with hardly any interaction with the other orphans.

“I had a very unusual childhood and at times horrific,” Bassett said. “I would sleep on the floor instead of my bed because it was so hot, and (the floor) was cooler. When they found us, they would beat us on the head. (As severe punishment) they would drown us in hot water in the bathtub until we couldn’t breathe, then they would pull our heads up. In their minds, they were making us physically and mentally tough.”

They were given just three bowls of rice to eat a day, and Bassett was so malnourished when her parents, Joe and Susi Bassett, adopted her at age seven. She weighed just 25 pounds with her ribs and bones sticking out. It is one reason for her small stature as an adult at four-feet, eight-inches.

She could not read or write. Forbidden to go outside, she had no idea what cars or trains were - not knowing what lay beyond the windows. When her blonde-haired blue-eyed mother and bald father first arrived to visit, they looked nothing like any people she had ever seen before. As awful as the orphanage was, starting a new life was just as scary.

“I didn’t know there was a better life. I was devastated when I left,” she recalls of being adopted. “It was the only thing I’d known. It (being adopted) was the best thing that ever happened, but it was sickening at the time. I wanted to go back so at least I knew something. It wasn’t until I learned to speak English that things turned around.”

Named after the little girl in her mom’s favorite book and movie, "To Kill A Mockingbird," Scout learned English very quickly – in about six weeks – thanks to her parents’ efforts to constantly talk to her and her brother, Carter, and sister, Palmer. Learning to read and write English fast also helped her catch up to her age group in school, after originally beginning in kindergarten as a seven-year-old but then skipping half of both second and third grade a few years later.

The Bassetts also adopted Carter and Palmer from China, all within 10 months. Carter and Scout came from the same orphanage, with Carter one of the few boys. He was born without some fingers and toes. Carter, now 17, runs cross country in high school, and Palmer, 15, is a dancer.

Her parents took her right away to a prosthetist in Petoskey, Mich., to get a better leg, where she was told her stump was too unusual to be able to make her a leg. After consulting with doctors in Ann Arbor, she finally had her first amputation less than a year later to remove a bone sticking out of the back of her stump, as well as reconstruction of her left foot, including removing her large toe that had been deformed in the fire. After a few months of healing, she was able to have a leg built.

But growing up in a small town of 1,600 people, it was not easy to be a child with a prosthesis. Bassett was always having to explain her leg and could hardly go anywhere without stares or calls from other children or calls of, "Mommy, look at her!"

“Growing up with a prosthetic leg, that might have been harder than being in the orphanage,” Bassett said. “Kids can be cruel. You are trying to fit into a world that is not catered to you. In our small town, (I thought), how am I ever going to find my place in this world, where people do not understand what it is like? I wanted to be normal, and I couldn’t.”

Bassett tried playing team sports through elementary school and junior high, including basketball, softball, soccer and volleyball. But coaches would never put her in the game.

After going to the prosthetist in Ann Arbor for five years, Bassett met one in Orlando, Fla., named Stan Patterson, when she was 13, who changed her life.

“He has brought me from walking to walking really well to doing sports and things I never thought possible,” Bassett said of Patterson.

It was Patterson who suggested Bassett might find more success in individual as opposed to team sports. In 2002, she was in Florida for a visit with Patterson and also went to the Track and Field World Championships for disabled people. She decided she wanted to try running the race, and Patterson made her a special leg for running.

From there, the rest is now history.

“I finished last,” Bassett recalls of the race. “(But) it did light a fire in me to be active on a different level. That’s when I started running. I learned how to bike about four years later and swim around the same time.”

Also in 2002, she met people from the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), which has given Bassett the means to be competitive, receiving her first grant from them about a year later to travel to competitions. She is now a spokesperson for CAF.

“Now I was in the company of amputees who were also athletes,” she said. “Seeing them do it, I knew it was possible.”

Bassett also realized the older she got, that many of the looks and comments she received as a child were not necessarily with ill-will but merely curiosity.

“Over time I got more comfortable, and I realized I had an opportunity to influence other people’s lives,” she added.

She just started competing in triathlons last year – and did not receive any coaching or lessons until last year. In fact, she only really learned how to properly swim in January 2007. Through CAF, she was able to get a trainer.

Bassett, whose family moved to Palm Desert, Calif., two years ago, had first watched the San Diego Triathlon Challenge, a half ironman competition, in 2003. For the next three years, she competed in the bike portion of it, riding the 56 miles as part of a tandem.

The Iron Bruin Triathlon at UCLA – ironically, before Bassett knew she would be going to school there – became her first full triathlon. She started at the sprint distances.

“It was a start, and just finishing was important,” she said. “I knew I could do it.”

It started at that one and just kept going – and the success kept coming. Triathlons were a great way to stay active after she graduated from high school in 2007, where she had played golf and tennis.

The year then brought the USA Triathlon’s Physically Challenged National Championships, hosted by the New York City Triathlon, where she finished third in the above-knee category (based on where her amputation was), competing in Olympic distances (1,500 meter swim, 40 km bike, 10 km run). Then at the ITU World Championships in Germany, she won silver.

All in all, Bassett competed in 10 triathlons in 2007 and five so far in 2008. This year at nationals she placed second and won another silver at worlds, where she shaved two hours and 11 minutes off her time from last year. Next up for her is the Malibu Triathlon in California in just two weeks.

“It was crazy (all the success). I thought I wanted to do triathlons to be fit. I never thought I would do so many,” she said. “The success was completely unexpected. I became so passionate about it and had a thrill I never got in any other sport. The hardest thing I did was to prepare for a triathlon.”

Patterson designed Bassett a special leg for long-distance running and another one for biking. She does not use a leg at all when she is swimming.

“CAF gave me the resources and fostered the environment, but it’s been that constant, encouraging me to do things I didn’t think were possible,” she said. “(And) Stan has been like a dad in many ways.”

It was through John Korff, a USTA board member and owner of the New York City Triathlon, that she came to the US Open. He suggested Bassett and Bruno – who knew each other from competing in some of the same events - try out to be ballpersons for the 2008 US Open.

Bassett was a little hesitant at first, but the thought of creating more awareness of what disabled people can do and being an inspiration to other people convinced her. Both she and Bruno tried out, but just Bruno was selected. However, there were a few other options open to Bassett, who became a court attendant. She loves the game of tennis and still plays recreationally

The job is not glamorous, but she had a blast working in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Monday was her last day at the US Open, as she had to return to class at UCLA. Court attendants are responsible for getting the court ready to play (and putting away things at night), including setting up the chairs, towels and stocking the coolers with drinks for players.

During changeovers, they come to the net and make sure the coolers are filled with the drinks those particular players want and fulfill any special player requests.

“We are just there to make sure the players, the umpires – all their needs are met,” Bassett said. “I love it. It is electrifying to be out there.”

“It has been special, and the best part is the people I have met,” she added. “Everybody is so nice and welcoming. I’m going to remember the people (most). They made it so memorable.”

It has been difficult to keep up her training during the Open, but Bassett has tried to go to the gym in her hotel every morning and use the stationary bike, as well as work on strength training with the competition in Malibu approaching.

Bassett is also on the national team for triathlons for the first time this year and has done more big races this year than last. After Malibu, she still has a full schedule of competitions, including ones in Las Vegas, New York and Los Angeles.

While she is still undeclared as to her major at UCLA, Bassett knows one thing about her future: She wants to help other people improve the quality of their lives, the way so many people helped her lead the life she loves so much now.

“I just have a passion for living my life. I want to help and empower as many people as I possibly can,” Bassett said. “It’s been an exciting and amazing year. I am the most blessed person. I’ve had the support of so many amazing people and reached heights I never thought I could reach. I can’t believe this is my life, it is so special.”