By Rich Palzewic
Staff Writer
DE PERE – Cain Delos Santos, a student-athlete at De Pere High School, is among eight Wisconsin high school seniors who were recently chosen as Milwaukee Bucks Perseverance Award winners.
The Bucks, in cooperation with the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association and Safe Sport Zone, selected student-athletes who overcame physical, emotional or personal adversity to compete and/or excel in interscholastic sports.
The Perseverance Award winners will meet the Milwaukee Bucks front office personnel, take a tour of Fiserv Forum, receive a $1,000 scholarship or donation to the high school program of their choice, receive four tickets to a Bucks game and be honored with a plaque on the court during a game.
“With COVID-19 and everything getting canceled, I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance to go to a game, but it’s a great honor for me,” Delos Santos said. “My counselor came into one of my classes and told me about the award in front of the whole class. It was quite surprising.”
Delos Santos, the sixth of seven siblings, said he grew up in a home where education was valued.
He has three older sisters, two older brothers and a younger sister.
“My mom always stressed school and doing your best, no matter the circumstances,” said Delos Santos. “I took that advice to heart and always did what was asked of me. She told me doing extracurricular activities couldn’t cost me my education.”
When he was 11 years old, his dad died from organ failure.
“For much of my life, my dad was sick,” Delos Santos said. “I didn’t know a time when he could walk around much or be outside doing things, but he did what he could. The day it happened is etched in my brain. The entire family was there, and he passed in his sleep. It was a struggle knowing you were watching it happen and couldn’t do anything about it.”
Delos Santos said because of his dad’s death, the family had to move out of their living situation because they couldn’t afford it.
“It was scary, because there were so many of us, and we were still young,” he said. “My siblings that could work did to help support us all.”
Then in December of his junior year, his mother died from esophageal cancer a week before Christmas.
“It didn’t hit me right away that my mother had passed,” said the 18-year-old Delos Santos. “A lot of her sickness occurred at the house we were living in, so it was hard to go back there for a while. The first step I took back into the house was difficult. My mom was always there for us, so it was heartbreaking having her gone.”
Delos Santos played football for four years, rugby for three and was in Jam Session show choir for four years.
He was a second-team Fox River Classic Conference defensive lineman on the football team this past fall and earned the rookie award as a sophomore in rugby.
“I was busy for a long time while in high school,” said Delos Santos, who will be attending Carroll University this fall to study environmental science. “For a while, I didn’t have a job, so I’d use the extra time for music and sports. I loved De Pere, and I will miss it.”
Delos Santos said he has a simple message for anyone struggling with life.
“I’d tell them, ‘Things stink now, but there’s still so much left to live for and give,’” he said. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, you can do anything and help anyone. It only takes a little bit of time. You have to persevere and be confident in yourself.”