After leading the Irish to their first 4A State title in March, senior point guard and four-year starter Tayshawn Comer could possibly go down as one of the greatest players to hoop on the Hill. Comer leads the Irish basketball program in many ways but his biggest accolade is becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer. 

Comer, however, says it was all part of the process. “My expectation coming in was that I wanted to be the best to walk these halls. I wanted to do something that nobody has done before. When I first got here, I talked to Scott Hicks, the guy who had the all-time leading scoring record before me. He asked me ‘Are you a hooper?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah of course I am.’ 

“I had always been humble, but my goal was to change this program and give it something it hasn’t experienced before. I wanted to be the first to do it so that I could always be remembered,” Comer said. 

Comer indeed changed the program, leading the team to their first Sectional title since the last time the team went to State, which was back in 2013, when Comer was a third grader and the Irish lost to Carmel. 

Comer said, “I feel like I changed this program by instilling a mentality in the players and how they do things. Talking to (Head Coach Mr. Jason) Delaney, he told me that it didn’t feel normal without me in the spring workouts, but the energy and how hard the players were going made it feel like I was still there. I wanted to leave a legacy and leave what I had here forever so that the young players can come in and have that same mentality to get a state ring. Going to practice and practicing hard every day and things like that, I think that’s the biggest impact I’ve made on Cathedral.

“I tried to instill that regardless of what happens, (that) we’re going to go through struggles and we’re going to go through adversity. Being able to stay together and stay positive through adversity, there will be success on the other side. Understanding that no matter what, we’re always going to be together and stick together, we’re going to play hard and do things the right way and carry ourselves the right way. 

“Even in practice, after a tough loss we come to practice and work hard to fix whatever we messed up and try to do better and go onto the next game.”

Back in his middle school years in Perry Township, Comer had many options for high school. Before he visited on the Hill, Comer said that he was leaning toward enrolling at Ben Davis, Pike or Perry Meridian, where his older brother attended high school.

But as Comer came up the Hill for the first time, he immediately fell in love. Comer said, “I liked that Cathedral felt more like a college campus for me. I liked the smaller class sizes and I felt like I could learn more in a smaller classroom. I got a huge feeling of feeling welcomed and wanted. I knew the Hill was the place to be.” 

Comer experienced many hardships and much adversity through his time on the Hill. Losing three consecutive years in the first round of the Sectional was tough, but for Comer, his sophomore year was one that he wishes would be different. “I would say losing the Sectional games that we lost throughout my first three years here were tough, but also what I went through my sophomore year with my teammates. 

“A lot of people don’t know about the chemistry and the behind the scenes. I just wish I could change that. I was really blind to it because I didn’t expect it out of my teammates, but a couple of the guys were just jealous and weren’t on board with me in how I wanted the team to compete, just some hate and some badmouthing behind my back was something I didn’t expect,” Comer said. 

Everything was in the past, though, when Comer came to play his senior year. He was a senior and didn’t have to worry about any upperclassmen seniority rules. He was one of three team captains and became the all-time leading scorer for the program. About the team’s Class 4A State title game 65-31 win over Chesterton, Comer said, “A lot of people say they felt emotional after that final buzzer hit. For me, it was more of just happiness for my school. I feel like I owed them a State championship. 

“When I came in as a freshman, I told Delaney that I was going to get him a State championship so me doing that, I felt like I accomplished my goal. Winning the State championship was obviously big for me and my family, but I think I was more on the feeling of being happy for my teammates and my coaches that we actually did it. Being able to do it for those guys was bigger to me than anything else.” 

And for Delaney, that was his third State title as a high school coach. Delaney is the only coach in the history of the Indiana High School Athletic Association to coach three different schools (Waldron, Arsenal Tech and Cathedral) to State titles. 

Comer will take his leadership qualities to Eastern Kentucky University this fall where he hopes to make it to the NBA.