Rosean Burns turns his disadvantage into an advantage for Beechcroft, playing basketball and football one-handed

“I’ve had some people tell me that I inspire them by doing what I do"

Photo by Gabe Haferman / Gabe Haferman, SBLive Sports

Rosean Burns receives a lot of attention every time he plays basketball for Beechcroft.

That’s partially because the junior guard - who plays with one hand after having the lower portion of his right arm amputated when he was eight months old – has unorthodox shooting and ball-handling skills.

And it’s also due to the fact that he often dazzles fans by making spectacular plays, while emerging as one of the Cougars’ best all-around performers, who is averaging a team-high 23.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.

“It’s amazing to watch Ro play basketball, because he does a lot of things differently than the other guys out there, and has a lot of success with it,” said Humphrey Simmons, who is Beechcroft’s head basketball and football coach. “I already knew that Ro’s a great athlete because I coached him in football in the fall, but I honestly didn’t expect him to average over 20 points and lead us in rebounds in his first season with our team.

“We run a fast-paced offense and our summer camps were frustrating for Ro, because he had to learn to fit in our system. But he’s picked up on what we’re doing fairly quickly and he’s developed into a team leader and one of our better players.”

Despite dribbling the ball with only his left hand, Burns is one of the Cougars’ best ball-handlers and he often is counted on to bring the ball up court when opponents apply full-court pressure.

Burns also draws oohs and aahs from fans in the stands by spinning past opponents on his way to the basket, making long 3-pointers, and contorting his body in midair to make a layup or dish the ball to an open teammate.

“I’ve seen him throw the ball between another player’s legs to himself for a layup three different times this season,” said Simmons with a chuckle. “Ro initiates contact when he drives to the basket, so it’s hard to guard him. A lot of teams have to double-team him.”

Burns does use his right arm, which extends a couple of inches past his elbow, to steady and balance the ball when he shoots 3-pointers and free throws. During Beechcroft’s 62-57 overtime loss to Northland on Jan. 27, Burns made 10 of his 15 field goal attempts and was 5-for-7 from the foul line en route to scoring a game-high 28 points. He made three 3-pointers, including one from four feet behind the arc while being fouled, which resulted in a four-point play.

“He used to drive all the time, but we’ve worked very hard on his shooting every day, and he can catch and shoot well, too, now,” said Simmons, whose squad was 7-11 overall and 6-8 in the City League-North Division before playing Eastmoor Academy in its regular-season finale on Feb. 8. “His shots are coming from his belly, all in one motion going up, with goes against everything we normally coach, but he’s become very good at it.

“When Ro’s hot, we don’t say anything to him. We just let him keep scoring.”

Burns, who has a lightning-quick left hand and excellent footwork, prides himself on being a lockdown defender.

“I love to play defense,” Burns said. “No one can get past me when the game’s on the line.”

Burns has quickly gained the respect of his opponents throughout the City-North this season.

“He’s a good player and a tough competitor,” Northland senior guard Davion Bridges said.

Northland coach Tihon Johnson designed his defensive game plan around Burns, trapping him to get the ball out of his possession as much as possible.

“Ro’s a warrior, who has the biggest heart and plays with a never-say-die attitude,” Johnson said. “I love his determination and how he competes.

“I’m amazed at what he can do. He overcompensates for having a handicap by doing so many other things better than other people. Ro comes from a great family, and his competitiveness is inherited and is part of his DNA.”

Debbie Randall said she’s eternally thankful that her oldest son has developed into such a strong athlete, after he survived some major health complications as an infant.

When Burns was just nine days old, Randall rushed him to an urgent care because he was having trouble breathing and his right arm was turning purple. When medical tests revealed that his kidney, liver and other organs were enlarged because his heart was working too hard, he was flown by helicopter to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in critical condition.

A day later, Burns’ hand darkened even further and quit moving. And less than three weeks after being admitted into the hospital, Burns underwent a life-saving, six-hour heart surgery.

Eventually, two blood clots were discovered in Burns’ right shoulder, which were cutting off the blood flow to his arm. Doctors put Burns on aggressive blood thinners in an effort to save as much of his arm as possible, before eventually amputating it just below the elbow when he was eight months old.

“I was a young mother and I cried and cried after seeing my baby get his heart cut open and losing his hand,” Randall said. “The scariest part was having to wait six hours as they performed his heart surgery, because he was such a tiny baby. When he lost his hand, the reality of everything hit me, and I was just real sad.

“But I’m proud to be his mom, and after he got out of the hospital, I started working to make sure that Ro is always 10 steps ahead, so he doesn’t fall behind in anything.”

Randall has worked tirelessly to support her son’s athletic dreams, including securing for him a prosthetic arm to help him lift weights with both arms. She also got in touch with a Johns Hopkins surgeon who has successfully completed a double hands transplant, to see if he could replace her son’s missing hand.

“If I could give Ro my hand, I would,” Randall said. “We tracked down a surgeon who could possibly do it, but he told that if it isn’t broken don’t fix it, and that Ro couldn’t play sports if he had the transplant, because he would be on medication the rest of his life, and so he passed up that opportunity to keep playing sports.

“But I don’t say that my son has a disability. I call it a disadvantage that he turns into an advantage, because he can really amaze people with how he plays.”

Rosean credits his father, Marques Burns, his uncle, Sirjo Welch, and his grandfather, Raymond Smith, for teaching him how to excel in both football and basketball.

Welch, a 2004 Beechcroft graduate, was recruited to play safety at Ohio State University, before transferring to Kentucky State after one season with the Buckeyes. As a senior at Beechcroft, Welch had eight interceptions for the football team and averaged 16 points in basketball.

“I’ve always had a lot of people in my corner, telling me I could do this, and teaching me what they know to make me better,” Burns said. “My dad’s been telling me what I need to improve on. My uncle’s teaching me the right things that I need to do to make it to the next level. And I wouldn’t be nowhere without my mom holding everything down.”

Burns gravitated towards playing sports at a young age, and he spent countless hours playing basketball and football with his older stepbrothers, Marques Burns and Ty Staples.

At the age of 4, Burns began playing youth football - alongside Staples - with the Columbus Raiders, who were coached by his father, Marques Burns. Staples played quarterback, while Burns was a running back and wide receiver.

Staples was a starting safety for Gahanna Lincoln’s Division I regional champion football team in the fall.

On Feb. 1, the senior signed a letter of intent to play football at Limestone University in South Carolina.

“All me and my brothers did while growing up was compete in sports with each other, and I think we all made each other better,” Staples said. “We didn’t see Ro as having a disability, and no one gave him pity or took it easy on him.

“We played little league football together, and he was always the best football and basketball player on his teams in middle school. Now that he’s at Beechcroft, he’s really showing what he can do.”

Burns was a starting running back for Westerville Central’s freshman football squad, before playing the same position for the Warhawks’ junior varsity team the following season.

As a sophomore, Burns was called up to play for Central’s varsity football squad against Hilliard Bradley.

But after he fumbled the ball away on the exchange with Central’s quarterback on back-to-back possessions, he was sent back down to play for the junior varsity team for the remainder of the season.

“That hurt because no one believed in me over there after that,” Burns said. “I had to get over that and move on.”

In March of 2022, Burns transferred to Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School, a Columbus City School which doesn’t offer sports programs, but allows its students to play for the Columbus high school that they live closest to.

“I needed a fresh start,” Rosean said. “It felt good to be accepted by my new teammates right away. I just fit in here more.”

When Burns began training with the Cougars’ basketball team from 7 to 9 a.m. and with their football team from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day over the summer, it didn’t take long for him to impress his teammates.

“When I first met Ro and saw him running around the football field catching balls (with one hand), I was amazed and stunned by how good he is,” said sophomore guard Khalil Samuel, who also plays wide receiver for Beechcroft’s football team. “Ro is always confident that he’s going to make a play, and we have complete trust in him, because he can do everything that we can do.

“In basketball, he makes amazing moves to get around people, that I don’t see anyone else make. He has this move where he puts the ball behind his back with his left hand and catches it with the same hand as he passes his defender. He’s fun to watch.”

In the fall, Burns racked up more than 1,000 all-purpose yards while playing wide receiver and running back, and returning punts for the Cougars’ football team, which went 6-4 overall and 5-1 in the City-North.

Burns had several productive games, offensively. For example, he rushed for 109 yards on just nine carries to lead Beechcroft to a 21-0 win over Bexley, he rushed for 66 yards and two touchdowns in a 64-0 victory at Centennial and he scored three touchdowns in a 49-0 win over Mifflin.

“I was most in awe of watching him play wide receiver,” Simmons said. “He would make these catches with his left hand inside a tight window where I would shake my head and say to myself ‘how did he do that?’”

While playing cornerback and safety, Burns made an equally large impact, especially in Beechcroft’s 14-6 win at Linden-McKinley.

After Linden had driven the ball inside Beechcroft’s 10-yard line late in the game, Burns intercepted a pass to help seal the Cougars’ victory.

“Ro was my best defensive back,” Simmons said. “He guarded the other teams’ best receivers and he shut them down.”

Burns has continued to be success on the basketball court, as he racked up 23 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in a 70-48 victory at Lakewood on Jan. 3, scored a career-high 31 points in a league win at Centennial a week later, and piled up 23 points, four steals and three rebounds in a 81-52 home league win over Columbus East on Jan. 17.

“I’m the person who brings the fire to the court with this team,” Burns said. “I know I’ve got to score for this team to win, so I’m doing my best to lead, because we’ve got a young team.”

“I want to make it to 1,000 points in only two years of varsity basketball here, and I want our team to make a run in the playoffs and to win a championship before I graduate.”

When Burns isn’t training, practicing or plays sports, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing board games and card games, cooking and even giving haircuts to his 8-year-old brother, Marques Burns Jr.

He also enjoys cruising around town in his car and shopping.

“He’s a loving, humble kid with good grades, so I can’t complain,” Randall said. “To see my baby overcome so many things; he’s our golden child.

“No one know what he’s capable of until he gets on the court, where he amazes me on the daily. It crumbles my heart to see my baby doing such amazing things.”

Burns is going to run track in the spring to try to improve his speed, and he plans to continue to work hard in the weight room with the goal of gaining another 20 pounds of muscle.

The 5-foot-10, 145-pound athlete’s long-term goal is to play well enough in football or basketball to earn a scholarship to play one of the sports in college.

“I hope a college coach gives Ro a chance to play football because he’s a special athlete who can contribute, offensively or defensively,” Simmons said.

Ultimately, Burns is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Shaquem Griffin by playing professional sports.

Griffin, who had his left hand amputated at the age of 4, became the first one-handed player drafted in the NFL’s modern era, when he was selected in the fifth round by the Seattle Seahawks in 2018. The outside linebacker played in 46 NFL games, before retiring last year.

“I want to go all the way to the pros to make sure my mom and dad don’t have to work no more,” Burns said. “They motivate me to work even harder.”

But regardless of what his future holds, Burns is enjoying entertaining Beechcroft’s basketball and football fans by making crucial plays in his own unique style.

“I’ve had some people tell me that I inspire them by doing what I do,” Burns said. “I just want to keep playing well to show people that you can do what you set your mind to, as long as you work hard and do the right things.”

Photo Gallery (photos by Gabe Haferman)

Gabe Haferman, SBLive Sports