Grand Canyon University Athletics
Insider: Hoops manager goes viral
6/14/2019 5:21:00 PM | Paul Coro, Lopes Insider Blog
Drake shares composite photo created by GCU student
Drake, meet Grand Canyon men's basketball student manager Bryce Wheeler.
Bryce, meet Team Drizzy.
Amid an overnight celebration of his beloved Toronto Raptors' NBA championship, Drake shared a composite photograph created by Wheeler for the international rap star's 58 million Instagram followers to enjoy. About 2.6 million "liked" the image in the first day.
For an Alaska teenager who just finished his freshman year at GCU and whose favorite music artist is Drake, Wheeler's elation might not be that far removed from what Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry or Raptors fans at Jurassic Park felt Thursday night.
Wheeler spent about five hours working on the image, which combines a classic Michael Jordan trophy-embracing photo from 1991 with a Drake photo that Wheeler edited to fit, right down to transporting Jordan's forehead vein and adding Drake's reflection on the NBA Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.
Drake, a Toronto native and famously passionate Raptors fan, posted the Wheeler-created image in the wee hours of a citywide celebration and commented, "Got one," in reference to the pictured trophy. Wheeler was sitting at home when a friend messaged him about Drake's post.
"I shook my head for a second and said, 'Wait, what?' " Wheeler said. "I read Drake's IG handle five different times to make sure it wasn't a fake account. I looked and it was his real account that posted my work.
"I'm getting a bunch of support and a bunch of kind words of people saying, 'Great job,' and 'We're proud of you.' It's a great feeling."
But Wheeler also was not credited when the image was shown on Friday's episode of ESPN show "The Jump" and a post by former NFL quarterback and current FS1 analyst Michael Vick, who shared it on his Facebook account with 2.5 million followers.
"There is a silver lining, which is that it's still on TV and it still got posted by the hottest rap star in the world," Wheeler said. "I'll take that as a win."
Wheeler, a GCU sports management major, created and saved drafts of the composite image before Game 6 so that they could be posted immediately following a Raptors title-clinching win. It shows the talent of a Wasilla, Alaska, transplant who started graphic design on his phone six years ago and later invested money for software and time in tutorials. It also shows the passion for basketball that led Wheeler to become a GCU men's basketball student manager last year and aspire to work in creative services for a NBA team.
"A year ago, I never would've imagined that I would've made it this far," Wheeler said.
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
Bryce, meet Team Drizzy.
Amid an overnight celebration of his beloved Toronto Raptors' NBA championship, Drake shared a composite photograph created by Wheeler for the international rap star's 58 million Instagram followers to enjoy. About 2.6 million "liked" the image in the first day.
For an Alaska teenager who just finished his freshman year at GCU and whose favorite music artist is Drake, Wheeler's elation might not be that far removed from what Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry or Raptors fans at Jurassic Park felt Thursday night.Wheeler spent about five hours working on the image, which combines a classic Michael Jordan trophy-embracing photo from 1991 with a Drake photo that Wheeler edited to fit, right down to transporting Jordan's forehead vein and adding Drake's reflection on the NBA Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.
Drake, a Toronto native and famously passionate Raptors fan, posted the Wheeler-created image in the wee hours of a citywide celebration and commented, "Got one," in reference to the pictured trophy. Wheeler was sitting at home when a friend messaged him about Drake's post.
"I shook my head for a second and said, 'Wait, what?' " Wheeler said. "I read Drake's IG handle five different times to make sure it wasn't a fake account. I looked and it was his real account that posted my work.
"I'm getting a bunch of support and a bunch of kind words of people saying, 'Great job,' and 'We're proud of you.' It's a great feeling."
One issue: Wheeler's watermark with the "@BWVisual" for his account name was cropped out of the Drake post, among others. The Instragram accounts of Ballislife (4 million followers) and theScore (1.3 million followers) credited Wheeler's account with theScore commenting, "The internet is wild."
But Wheeler also was not credited when the image was shown on Friday's episode of ESPN show "The Jump" and a post by former NFL quarterback and current FS1 analyst Michael Vick, who shared it on his Facebook account with 2.5 million followers.
"There is a silver lining, which is that it's still on TV and it still got posted by the hottest rap star in the world," Wheeler said. "I'll take that as a win."
Wheeler, a GCU sports management major, created and saved drafts of the composite image before Game 6 so that they could be posted immediately following a Raptors title-clinching win. It shows the talent of a Wasilla, Alaska, transplant who started graphic design on his phone six years ago and later invested money for software and time in tutorials. It also shows the passion for basketball that led Wheeler to become a GCU men's basketball student manager last year and aspire to work in creative services for a NBA team.
"A year ago, I never would've imagined that I would've made it this far," Wheeler said.
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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