Decked out in a bright red Razorback tracksuit, Laquan “Q” Nairn towers over everybody as he walks to class. It’s mid-morning on a Fall Tuesday in Fayetteville. The leaves on the trees match his outfit.

 

Nairn, 21, is a 6’3” jumper on the track and field team at the University of Arkansas. This is his first semester in Fayetteville and he’s been busy practicing before the season officially starts in January. He’s smiling, and even occasionally hums a gospel tune to himself.

 

“I’m always good,” Nairn said. “I can’t tell you the last time I was angry or upset, or stressed about school or sports.”

 

It hasn’t always been that way, though.

 

The Upbringing

Nairn was born in Nassau, Bahamas, and was raised by both his parents in a poor neighborhood. He said his family lived in a house with no light or running water. They slept on one bed with no sheets, and ate the same meal of sweet milk and white bread almost every night.

 

“All my friends sold drugs, and most of them are dead now,” Nairn said. “Growing up was tough, but to be in the position I am now… it’s a blessing.”

 

But still, Nairn didn’t feel like he needed anything thanks to the sacrifices his parents made.

 

“My parents were all about us,” Nairn said. “Some nights my parents wouldn’t eat because they wanted us to eat. They didn’t buy stuff for themselves because they wanted us to have stuff.”

 

Nairn’s mother Monalisa played a pivotal role in supporting him throughout his childhood.  She attended all his track meets and basketball tournaments.

 

LaQuan and his older brother, Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr., became involved in sports at a young age. Lourawls left the Bahamas when he was 13 years old to come to the States, and he’s currently a guard on the Michigan State basketball team.

 

The younger Nairn began his sporting career as a basketball player like his brother, and when he was 15, a coach approached him about jumping.

 

“He told me he could get me to jump seven feet if I would come train and leave basketball,” Nairn said.

 

He said he was the tallest person in his school, so he decided to give it a try but didn’t fully commit. He qualified for the 2012 Carifta games, a track and field event held by the Caribbean Free Trade Association. He barely reached six feet in the high jump event, which he was disappointed in. He still earned a bronze medal, however.

 

“I’m like, man, I’m definitely not leaving basketball because you think you could get me to do something,” Nairn said.

 

He finally jumped seven feet in the 2015 Carifta games, where he earned a silver medal. From then on, he stuck with track. Travis Goepfert, the assistant coach for the track and field program at Arkansas, began to recruit Nairn.

 

“In high school I said ‘yeah, I’m going to be a Razorback,’ that’s my dream school,” he said. “It’s a beautiful place.”

 

Unfortunately for Nairn, his grades didn’t meet NCAA standards, so he started his college career at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, whose athletic department competes in the NJCAA.

 

Nairn’s dream of donning the red and white would have to wait for at least an academic year. He felt attending junior college wasn’t the best way to represent his country, but he understood it was what he had to do to reach his goal of competing for the Razorbacks.

 

“[Junior college] wasn’t setting the right example for the younger ones who look up to me,” Nairn said.

 

The Junior College

 

Nairn struggled emotionally and physically during his first semester at South Plains.

 

“When I got there, I cried every night for two months straight because I didn’t want to be somewhere I felt like wasn’t for me,” Nairn said. “As the months passed, I sucked it up and started to work harder in the classroom and in my sport.”

 

His attitude slowly turned around as he looked towards the future, until he endured a track athlete’s worst nightmare in January 2016: a torn ACL. During this time, without having his family by his side, he felt alone. He thought he was disappointing everyone who supported him, at home and at school.

 

“When I tore [my ACL], I felt like my life was about pleasing other people and I lost a lot of friends,” Nairn said. “I just felt like God did that to show me the people I was trying to please weren’t for me.”

 

It took Nairn six months to recover from his injury. He had a successful 2017 season as a redshirt freshman jumper at South Plains. He met NCAA qualifications with his grades and was finally eligible to compete for the Razorbacks at the end of his spring semester.

 

The Surprise

Flash forward to September 2017. Nairn hasn’t seen his mom since he left home for school two years ago. He didn’t want her to visit when he attended South Plains because he was unhappy there. When he found out she was going to Michigan to visit his brother Lourawls, he knew he had to go.

 

“I was like, you know what, I have to make this sacrifice,” Nairn said. “So I went to the bank and got some money and got a ticket to see her for like two days. It was worth it.”

 

His plan was to surprise her, which worked up some nerves. He didn’t know how she would react to the new tattoo on his left arm that says “Walk by faith, not by sight.”

 

He was at an open gym with his brother and knew she would show up any minute.

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“I was dribbling the basketball and I heard her so I just hid,” Nairn said. “[After a few seconds] I just ran up to her and she turned and saw my face and she just screamed. I lifted her up and we just had that moment for ourselves. She was so happy to see me. It was a priceless moment, and I still think about it every day.”

 

She never said anything about the tattoo.

 

The Now

Nairn is training for the upcoming track season at the University of Arkansas.

“It’s easy for somebody to be in a place where the people around them want to make them a better person and they don’t care about the athletic part,” he said. “The coach, the people who play a role in the sports, they make me really love it here.”

 

His aspirations don’t stop at a seven-foot jump. When he’s not practicing, he spends time with his friends and hosts bible studies. He’s a criminal justice major and ultimately wants to be an FBI agent. He could also see himself in a career as a pastor or motivational speaker.

 

“These are all things in my heart I feel like I could be,” he said.

 

He also intends to move his parents out of the Bahamas and give them a better life in the States, but until then he plans to work hard on the track and in the classroom.

 

“My mom and dad always tell us we can do anything we want to do,” he said. “They know they’re going to get everything. What’s mine is theirs.”

 

Nairn describes his childhood as tough, but he doesn’t view it negatively. His mother told him to never doubt himself, and he lives by that sentiment daily. 

 

“I wouldn’t change anything,” he said. “I’m tough. I overcame all of these things and it made me a better person.”