Ishmael Waldron waited 12 months to take the court, so his excitement was understandable.

With a North Hills crowd curious to see him for the first time, Waldron lined up for layups. Routine for most, Waldron was overjoyed — so much so that he threw down a dunk that drew a technical.

“I felt like I wasn't even in my body,” he said of his Dec. 4 debut. “I couldn't believe it. I was just warming up and saying, ‘Is this really happening? Can I really play?' ”

A year ago, the answer was no.

The WPIAL and PIAA took away his junior season after he transferred into the North Hills district from the Bronx section of New York City. Waldron had moved in with an AAU teammate, so the governing bodies decided his transfer was athletically motivated and ruled him ineligible for one year.

“I really didn't come here for basketball,” said Waldron, 17, whose friends call him “Ish.” “It was really to put me in a better situation. Back there, I had a bad situation. I was doing bad in New York with school and stuff, and I really needed help.”

Waldron was disappointed with the WPIAL's decision but stayed.

With his one-year punishment over, Waldron was in uniform for this winter's season opener.

Ten games into his senior season, Waldron has become a star for the Indians and “a really likeable personality” in the classroom who others gravitate toward, his coach said. The 6-foot-6 forward averages double digits in points (15.1) and rebounds (10.5) and has embraced a newfound appreciation for school.

“He could have easily left and said, ‘You know what? I'm homesick. I just don't like it here,' ” North Hills coach Buzz Gabos said. “The thing I give him credit for is, when they took basketball away, he said, ‘I realize what I have here and how good this is. People care about me at home, at school.' They look after him. He doesn't miss a day of school. He doesn't miss assignments. Teachers are after him. Guidance counselors are after him.

“He's in a situation now where academically, down the road, he's put himself in a position where hopefully he could play at the next level. That wasn't the case a year and a half ago.”

Waldron had lived in the Bronx near Prospect Avenue and 163rd Street, a tough neighborhood by all accounts. At his old school, “there were fights everywhere, and they don't stop it,” he said.

In at least an indirect way, basketball provided him a way out. Waldron joined his high school team as a sophomore and played summers with the New York Gauchos. The AAU team also had Nick Smith, a guard from North Hills.

“We were friends right away,” said Smith, a 6-1 junior. “He was kind of like the first guy on the team that came up to me and made me comfortable. We've been boys ever since.”

Their AAU coach approached Smith's parents about moving Waldron to Pittsburgh, Gabos said. He's visited the Bronx only once since, for several weeks in the summer, when his Dominican heritage earned him an AAU trip to Puerto Rico. He's hopeful his mother can attend senior night in February.

“His AAU coach was trying to make things a little better lifestyle-wise for several guys and get them out of tough situations,” Gabos said. “It was a big undertaking by everybody — to take on somebody and for him to leave home.”

PIAA rules allowed Waldron to practice last winter but not play. He's now one of three double-digit scorers at North Hills, with Smith (23.3 ppg) and junior Andrew Paulauskas (10.8) the others. The Indians (6-5, 3-2) are tied for third in Section 3-AAAA.

“He put in a lot of time,” Gabos said. “That's not easy, when you're saying to somebody, ‘Hey, for the next four months you're not going to be allowed to play in any games, but all your teammates are.' And he just did it.”

Waldron had 23 points and 16 rebounds in a section win over Shaler on Tuesday.

“He's a big part of what we do,” Gabos said. “If we don't have him, I don't know where we'd be at this point in time.”

Without North Hills, Waldron still could be in the Bronx.

“If I'd stayed in New York, I probably would have done nothing with my life,” he said. “I'd just sit there. This changed my life. It motivated me to do something now. They've given me everything. They've given me the tools. Now I just have to work with them.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

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