Jadin Booth Awarded Inaugural Ryan Turell Character & Inspiration Award

 

Kansas City, MO – Small College Basketball is honored to announce Jadin Booth of Florida Southern College as the recipient of the inaugural Ryan Turell Character & Inspiration Award winner. The official announcement was made this afternoon at the Small College Basketball Social in San Antonio, Texas. The Ryan Turell Character & Inspiration Award is sponsored by the Kraft Family Foundation. Ryan Turell had this to say about Jadin Booth:

 

"Jadin’s selflessness, compassion, unwavering faith, and resilience in the face of adversity are truly inspiring,” stated Turell. “He exemplifies the very essence of this award—remarkable character and the ability to uplift those around him— and I could not be more excited for him to receive the very first Ryan Turell Character & Inspiration Award."

 

A native of Omaha, Neb. Booth started his college career at Nebraska – Omaha before transferring to Florida Southern College. During his redshirt freshman season, Booth appeared in 26 of 30 games, making two starts. During his second season at Florida Southern, Booth appeared and started in 27 of 28 games, averaging 35.3 minutes per game. During this second season at Florida Southern, Booth led the team in scoring, points per game, and assists. He finished the season with 25 double-digit scoring contests, with 17 20-plus point performances and four 30-plus point performances. In just one season, Booth had increased his scoring average from 7.3 ppg to 22.0 ppg.

 

During just the second game of his redshirt junior season, Booth suffered a severe injury that required major reconstructive surgery. Even at Booth’s lowest moment, his true character shined. Booth is a person of deep faith and he knew that he could handle this obstacle and adversity. A week after his surgery, Booth was on the bench cheering on his teammates as Florida Southern defeated #1 Nova Southeastern, snapping their 62 game regular season winning streak. Booth had this to say about being named the inaugural recipient:

 

"First off I have to give all glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for allowing me to be back on the court this past year and to have the year I did,” exclaimed Booth. “I would like to thank Ryan Turell for seeing me as fit for this award and I have the utmost respect for his game, the way he's handled himself the last few years, and of course all that he stands for. A huge thank you to John McCarthy and SCB as well for all the work that he does. This award would not be possible without the incredible help and encouragement from my family, teammates, Coach Donnelly and staff, Toni Cecil our AT, Paul my PT, and the best surgeon in the business Dr. Jablonski at Orlando Health. I have a different perspective now for the game and just how fragile our time is to be able to do what we love at such a high level. Receiving this award represents the community that I am apart of here at Florida Southern and the great support I received when I injured my knee. I had a lot of grit and determination to come back from it, but truly, it takes a large effort from a very good group of people, and I had just that and I am forever grateful."

 

After this devasting, season-ending injury, Booth made a remarkable, inspiring comeback during the 2024-25 season, leading the Mocs to a 26-9 record, and averaged 21.0 points per game, 5.3 assists per game, and 4.7 rebounds per game. He also led the team with 65 steals while shooting a remarkable 92.2% from the free throw line for the season.

Two years ago, Booth started a summer basketball camp back in Omaha to provide not only skills training, but character development as well. His camp strives to develop positive character traits that will empower kids to have success throughout their life even after their basketball career concludes. Both is not only committed to the younger generation, but he also donates a substantial amount of the camp proceeds to various charities. This past summer, Booth gave a check to one of his former teammates Noah Louis. Louis’s younger brother was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. Booth donated to the Louis family to help offset their financial burden and costs. Caring for others is what makes Booth so special. Mike Donnelly, Head Coach at Florida Southern, had this to say about Booth:

 

“This is an incredible award and recognition for Jadin,” mentioned Donnelly. “Witnessing Jadin persevere and comeback from his devasting knee injury has inspired our entire basketball program. His work ethic, determination, and commitment to his faith has uplifted his teammates and coaches. Jadin is a special young man. He has represented our program with the utmost class and dignity over the last four years both on and off the court. We are very proud of Jadin!”

 

Booth has helped to create an incredible culture both on and off the court at Florida Southern. He leads weekly bible sessions with his teammates and coaches. His teammates and coaches join Booth at Church on Sunday mornings. He is active member at Grace City Church in Lakeland. Just as he leads on the basketball court, Booth has helped to lead his teammates spiritually as well.

 

Ryan Turell turned down multiple NCAA Division I offers to follow his faith and attend Yeshiva University in New York. During his four year career, Turell led the Maccabees on a historic 50-game win streak and helped the team become the #1 ranked team in all of NCAA Division III for the first time in school history. Turell broke the school’s single game (51), season (786) and career (2,158) scoring records, while shooting 58% from the field and 44.9% from the 3-point line for his career.

 

In Turell’s senior season he won the Travis Grant Award, given annually to the nation’s leading collegiate scorer averaging 27.1 ppg. He was named as a First Team All – American for three straight years by D3Hoops, and was named as a 2022 NABC NCAA Division III National Player of the Year. He then became the first Orthodox Jew to be drafted and play in the NBA G League for the Motor City Cruise.

 

Beyond the remarkable playing career, Turell became a worldwide inspiration and role model in the Jewish community at large and a hero in the Orthodox community. His play garnered global attention, while his charisma, character, smile and kindness made him among the most celebrated and recognized small college players of all time. Turell has become a beacon of hope and inspiration to the Jewish community – and far beyond.

 

The intent of the Ryan Turell Character & Inspiration Award is two-fold: 1) To keep the story and legacy of Ryan Turell alive and continue to tell his story to the next generation, and 2) To provide a national platform to honor a player that has faced adversity, handled it with tremendous character and perseverance, and ultimately became an inspiration and role model for others. We shall use the various platforms under the Small College Basketball umbrella to fulfill these intentions. For more information on Small College Basketball, please head to smallcollegebasketball.com.

 

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