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Reaching the NBA is an elusive dream shared by many talented athletes. It’s a strong sense of belonging to an exclusive fraternity that only a few can acclaim. Once every year, the NBA draft welcomes young, talented athletes to their fraternity, consequently resulting in the reshuffling of other players in or out of the league. Reaching and staying in the NBA is a coveted accomplishment pursued by many. Darrell Armstrong’s accomplished road to the NBA is one of a heart-warming, hope-giving story. His story simply serves to prove that success comes to those who persevere.

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Magic Guard Darrell Armstrong has to be the only NBA player whose biggest three-pointers in college came off the basketball court. As a walk-on kicker for Division II Fayetteville ( N.C.) State in 1989, he twice booted school-record 48-yard field goals. “That was a big thrill,” Armstrong says. “A lot of people didn’t think I could kick it that far.”

Armstrong has made a career of proving skeptics wrong. Before signing with the Magic as a free agent in ’95, he spent four years toiling in the Global Basketball Association, the USBL, the CBA and pro leagues in Cyprus and Spain. Few 6’1″ players make it from those basketball backwaters to the NBA. But then few work as hard as Armstrong does. He dives for loose balls, takes charges and plays like a hoops version of a special teams kamikaze. “He’s a spark plug,” Orlando All-Star guard Penny Hardaway says. “When he’s in the game, good things happen.” Indeed, Armstrong is a big reason the surprising Magic led the Atlantic Division at week’s end. On Sunday he had 19 points, eight assists and three rebounds in just 25 minutes as Orlando beat Houston to improve to 8-2.

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