But Clemente never thought anything of this incident, and barely mentioned it to his parents or friends. One day during the season, his father came down for a game and took Clemente to a doctor in the Square. That physician couldn't see anything wrong and referred him to another doctor the next day. Clemente missed the appointment because he had practice.

He missed the appointment for a week, and in the intervening time played both Navy and B.U., two losses.

"My appointment was after the B.U. game, and I went there and it was kind of weird," Clemente said. "I was in Boston and they kept sending me from doctor to doctor. I was there for about two hours, and I knew something was a little off when the guy came in and told me I needed to have surgery that night, if I didn't get it fixed I might go blind."

Clemente had a detached retina. Along with "blind" comes "out for the season" or "never play again." The kind of things a college athlete, or anyone for that matter, never wants to hear.

Clemente had the surgery, and his thoughts immediately turned to basketball. The doctors' prognostications had him out at least four months for recovery--a full season-- and he looked into getting a medical redshirt, which would give him another year of NCAA eligibility.

In a cruel twist, it turned out that the game against B.U. had put him over the limit. He had played one too many games, and so was in position to lose an entire basketball season.

Clemente refused to give up. "I kept going back to the doctor every three weeks once I got back to school [following winter break]," Clemente said. "He kept saying, 'OK you can ride the bike now,' or 'OK you can run now,' until one time in February he said, 'I can't say it's going to be better in two months than it is right now.'"