She knew hardship. A challenging family situation. Heartache. No money. And doubt in and around her through her teenage years.
But well before she died May 20 at age 42 of pancreatic cancer, former Denver Prep League basketball star Jennifer Nuanes went ahead and had a wonderful life, one that may leave an indelible mark on city kids.
“She really did,” said Earl Wylder, soon to be 83 and still practicing law. “She was decorated and highly thought of.”
Wylder would know. Having developed strong values while playing for legendary basketball coach Ray Meyer at DePaul, Wylder has helped Denver kids for decades.
Nuanes will always be one of Wylder’s favorites.
“She was just delightful,” he said.
Nuanes (pronounced NEW-on-us) began at Manual, finished at Denver North and made it to the University of Michigan before working in the field of criminology. Along the way, she touched an array of local lives.
“Oh, my goodness, they don’t come any better than her,” said Denver East boys basketball coach Rudy Carey, who knew Nuanes when he was coaching at Manual in the 1980s. “She was great academically and so personable. I never saw a day that she wasn’t smiling.”
Nuanes was “5-foot-6 and petite,” said Chris Lucero, who had Nuanes come live with her while in high school with the blessing of her father, Bill Sr. Nuanes’ mother was never really in the picture.
Nuanes brought with her a good attitude, work ethic in the classroom and an ever-developing game on the court.
She honed her skills in Denver gyms and was gaining notice as much for her character as anything.
“There wasn’t anybody having as hard of a time as her, but she kept climbing the heights,” said Gary Rhoades, a former DPL scoring machine at Denver West and all-Western Athletic Conference player at Colorado State who’s retired after heading the Harvey Park Rec Center. “Just a sweet girl and competitor. She was refined in culture, like Audrey Hepburn, then played like John Stockton.”
“She was the real deal”
Nuanes was a top scorer during the 1987-88 and 1988-89 seasons. She made 22 free throws during a game against George Washington. She dropped 40 points against Denver East, on the Angels’ home floor.
“She was the real deal and worked on her game all of the time,” Carey said.
It was good enough to land a scholarship at Michigan, where her career overlapped with that of the fabled Fab Five, featuring the likes of Jalen Rose and Chris Webber, for two seasons. Nuanes was a regular contributor for the Wolverines her final two seasons and was named all-academic Big Ten.
Get prepped. Neil H. Devlin and Joe Nguyen blog on the high school sports scene in the Rocky Mountain Empire.
“It wasn’t easy,” Lucero said, “as she was homesick. We tried to visit her when we could. There was no Facebook. No cellphones. No e-mail. She had to finish in four years. There was no money for a fifth year. She just knew this was her opportunity to make it. And she did.”
Nuanes, whose father died while she was at Michigan, earned degrees in criminology and psychology. She had stints at Lookout Mountain Academy, dealt with electronic monitoring and became a probation officer with the federal court.
Wylder, who tried to steer Nuanes toward law school, likes to recall the story when he arranged a meeting between her and federal Judge Richard P. Matsch, who also attended Michigan and heard the Oklahoma City bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Matsch, Wylder said, was tough and had a reputation for being curt with attorneys, but gladly spent about an hour with a wide-eyed Nuanes.
“Most lawyers never would have believed that,” Wylder said. “He just had a trial go off, but he spent that time with her and told her to come back any time.”
It’s basically what she told high schoolers — she coached at Hinkley and Wheat Ridge in addition to helping a Bear Creek youth team — when it was her turn to serve as a mentor.
“You know what she loved doing? Basketball camps for kids at rec centers, coaching and talking to school teams and at banquets,” Lucero said. “If she knew some kids were going to college, she’d talk to them about it.”
Fundraiser for research
Nuanes worked into her 16th year, in 2013, as a probation officer, including about a year and a half after hearing the words “pancreatic cancer” following stomach and intestinal problems that suddenly arose.
“She was beating a lot of odds; from diagnosis until death she lasted 22 months (including 10 cancer free),” Lucero said. “She was just a fighter.
“When we were told about it, we were just floored. She was vibrant. Oh, my gosh, she was so healthy. Ever since college she continued her workouts, even after her diagnosis. She was just a fighter.”
The count at her celebration of life at the Mile Hi Church in Lakewood last month ranged from a few hundred to more than a thousand attendees, but there’s no denying the marks she left on her partner, Celena; her surviving family, including brother Bill Jr.; Lucero; and most everyone else she touched.
They’re still trying to make sense of it.
“I spent my adult life with her,” Celena Nuanes said. “It’s very difficult without her and I’m not used to it.”
There will be a PurpleStride 5K walk-run June 22 at Washington Park to aid pancreatic cancer research. Jennifer ran in it a year ago and Team Nuanes will have more than 200 members. She also was an avid cyclist who remained fit until an end that came too early.
“It doesn’t seem fair,” Lucero said. “And that’s for any young person. I was devastated. In shock. I’ve tried to find peace.
“It’s still unbelievable. But you learn to find peace. You have to.”
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