Editor’s Note: This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.

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The maroon bleachers. The polished wooden basketball court. The white walls that echo the sounds of squeaky basketball shoes. The Cairo Pilots have been here before. A few months prior, in fact, they took third in the Appleknocker Holiday Tournament, an annual competition of southern Illinois basketball teams in Cobden, another rural town about 40 miles north of where Cairo sits at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

It’s February and the Pilots are back in Cobden hoping for a title in the regional tournament. For Domarion Nunez and Kevin Robinson, the team’s only two Pilot seniors, a lot is on the line. This could be the last time they lace up their sneakers and run through a tunnel of their teammates as the lineup is called, the final chapter in a formative season of their lives. They have a big challenge: the No. 1 seeded Goreville Blackcats, a team with a record of 32 wins and only three losses. A height comparison between the teams resembles the biblical battle between David and Goliath. Goreville has eight players listed at least 6 feet tall, with the tallest two measuring 6 ‘6 and 6’ 7. They tower over Cairo’s players, only two of whom are six feet tall.

“We don’t have the depth, we don’t have the height, but we have the heart,” said Steven Tarver, a school board member and Pilots basketball historian.

“We’re a smaller team so being fast is always a strength…the other teams we’re going against, they’re not just going to lay down and let us get a win,” he said.

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The Cairo Pilots are heavy underdogs heading into the game. But being the underdog isn’t anything new to this basketball program and being counted out isn’t anything new to Domarion and Kevin. 

A Town Called Cairo, a Tradition of Basketball

Cairo is Illinois’ southernmost city — a small town with a population around 1,600 located minutes from Kentucky and Missouri. A hotspot for river trades in the 1800s, the city developed quickly, causing a growth in businesses and population, peaking in population around 1920. 

The eventual decline of river trading and the increase in railroad trading struck the city economically. River flooding became an environmental problem and the town faced decades of racial tension and violence causing businesses to close and residents to move away. 

A housing crisis reached a head in 2017. When the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the demolition of two major housing complexes, it also contributed greatly to population decline. 

 But the game endures, a reflection of the town’s grit-and-grind culture. 

On nearly every street, you’ll find a basketball goal — some new with bright white nets, others weathered, some with no nets, others with no backboards.

This is a basketball town.

The trophies tell the story — hundreds of them: Cairo’s school boasts so many trophies that they spill out into the hallways, library and classrooms. They overflow into other buildings across town. They are for basketball, track, baseball and several other sports, but mainly basketball, Cairo’s crown sport.

In 1981 and 1993, the Cairo High School basketball team placed 3rd at the Illinois High School Sports Association (IHSA) State Championship. In 2003, the Pilots finished 4th place in the State Championship. Some, like local legend Tyrone Nesby, made it to the NBA. Lorenzo Duncan was drafted to the NBA in 1986 and the Taylor brothers are the school’s all-time-scoring record holders and were apart the last teams to lead the Pilots to a competitive state run in 2016 and 2017.

Yet, despite being a town known for developing some of the best talent in the state, Cairo has struggled to keep players through high school. Many families and players choose to transfer to bigger schools for better exposure and more resources. Tarver, the school board member and longtime Cairo resident, has seen the change firsthand. 

Cairo is considered an independent school and due to this they cannot compete for a conference title. Every season, the athletic director goes out and finds games and tournaments for the basketball team to play. 

“One of the obstacles we have is exposure. We have some very great athletes in our community but we are not in a league or any of the conferences,” Tarver said.

The Pilot Standard

The Pilots know their Cairo basketball history and that they should expect to win, even if the competition is stiff. Pilot’s coach Josh Baldwin, who graduated from Cairo High in 2008, played for the Pilots. Now, he’s tasked with leading the basketball team back to greatness, to the highest standard: The Pilot Standard. 

“I was a part of it…I watched it as a kid being built, and I got to participate. And it’s a certain level of expectation, it’s a certain level of competition…what I’m trying to do is bring the competitiveness back, the intensity back, the importance back,” Baldwin said  

Baldwin also recognizes that winning isn’t everything for these kids. What the game of basketball itself can do for them is more important.  Many kids who grow up in communities that suffer from limited resources will also grow up in communities that have higher crime rates, making it pivotal for children to have outlets — like basketball.

 “I think having extracurricular activities can keep a lot of kids safe, keep them out of making bad decisions, and have them around more positive people,” Baldwin said. 

Baldwin hopes to take the basketball team back to the “glory days,” but knows providing a good role model for students is more important. 

Throughout his first season as head coach he faced numerous obstacles. Coaching a young, undersized team, which consisted of mostly underclassmen, was challenging but one of the biggest challenges was becoming head coach in the middle of the season. 

“It was difficult, trying to find my voice when the kids were used to another coach’s voice for so long..difficult for me to find my coaching style, I didn’t have anyone to learn from and I didn’t have any support,” Baldwin said 

“”It takes a lot out of you..the adjustments, trying to keep everyone focused, controlling the bench, dealing with referees..it is hard to do by yourself”

The basketball team loads onto the bus to take a five-hour ride to Indianapolis, Indiana for a basketball game Jan. 24, 2024 at Cairo Junior/ Senior High School. The team played their crosstown rivals Meridian at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Later that evening they attended an NBA Basketball game that featured the Indiana Pacers and the Philadelphia 76ers. 

Despite these challenges, the students gravitated towards Baldwin.

“I didn’t expect them to want to be around me, to want my attention as much. A lot of these kids don’t have positive role models, that’s part of it. I feel like, as much as I can try to get them to see a parallel from the basketball court to real life, as much as I can do that, I feel like the better they would be… And I just want to be an advocate for them, to let them know there’s people here that do care about you,” he said.

The Seniors 

Domarion Nunez didn’t start playing basketball until eighth grade.

“Whenever I first started playing basketball, I would often get frustrated and, you know, try to quit and give up. But I was like, if there’s something that I really want, and I really want to do, I gotta fight through the tough times to get better, I have to fight through, you know, not having nobody to really try to help me and train me,” Nunez said.

By his junior year, Nunez had become a top scorer for the team. His breakout game came against Crab Orchard, which happened to be the number one seed in their conference that year. During that game he led the team in scoring with 27 points. But despite those efforts, they still fell short. 

As a senior, Nunez took on a leadership role on and off the court. Nunez has lived in Cairo his entire life and seen the reference to it as a “dying town,” but he refuses to be limited by those characterizations. 

In 2022, he started his own car detailing business, became a school officer, and joined BETA Club, in addition to his role on the basketball team, all while preparing to graduate high school. Basketball aside, Nunez stands out among his peers in everyday life, a quality his coach recognized and praised. 

“He’s pretty mature to be 17. He got a good perspective on life. He’s already started a business, he’s got flyers, business cards…his future is just as bright as any other kid because he knows that he wants more for himself,” Coach Baldwin said.

Domarion Nunez rinses the tires of a school bus during the Senior Class of 2024 Car Wash April 26, 2024. The car wash was a fundraising event that the seniors hosted, raising funds for their senior class trip from the local community. 

One of the biggest shocks for Robinson after moving was the sports culture. Growing up in North Carolina, he played football. But once he moved to Cairo, Robinson realized that there wasn’t an active football program. The football program, which had existed for 80 years, closed down in 2006 due to the limited number of available players.

“Over the many years basketball has become the only sport that’s really been concentrated on in our community…because of enrollment we don’t have a large enough student population to do football…Basketball is one hundred percent (Cairo), our kids know, play, eat, drink, sleep basketball, and it’s been generations and generations,” Tarver said. 

Since he couldn’t play football, Robinson quickly began playing basketball in Cairo, a challenge that he was ready to meet.

“It’s good to have the youth playing basketball, keep them out of trouble and everything but giving them something to do…of course it can still happen but that’s what everyone’s trying to do,” Robinson said.

“The community really comes together…like at sunset park we will have 20-30 people out there playing basketball..we really emphasize basketball down here because it’s something positive to do… it always keeps our youth engaged in something so they won’t fall into the traps of a small city,” Nunez said.

The Final Whistle 

Sweat runs down the faces of the Pilot players, exhaustion can be seen in their eyes. There is a silence from the bench that shows reality is beginning to set in. As the clock winds down to zero, cheers and claps begin to erupt from behind the Cairo crowd. It’s the grandmothers, parents, siblings and community members applauding the team. The scoreboard reads 97-65. Goreville wins.

Despite coming up short in that February regional semifinal game, Cairo still shows its appreciation. The cheers were not meant for a winning team, but for any team wearing the Pilot’s jersey.

“Becoming a school officer, joining National Honor Society, joining the Beta club and competing with people all across the state of Illinois in chemistry and physics competitions” are among Nunez’ favorite memories. He graduated in May, the school’s Valedictorian.

Nunez is on his way — he has now become a solar electrician and his detailing business is taking off. He recently purchased his own equipment — an upgrade from the local car wash vacuums. He has high hopes for his detailing business, hoping to grow it to where he can expand it and increase opportunities for himself and provide jobs in his community. 

“I feel like my purpose in life is really to help others… A lot of people think their purpose is different things. But I feel like we should all fall into the category of helping others because if we all help each other, we can all reach our goals,” he said.

Robinson credits sports for having a big impact on his experience and helping him create connections. 

“In the future,” Robinson said, “I want to go to Shawnee Community College, to their trucking program to get my CDL license to drive trucks. I want to get certified in a bunch of different things…not limiting myself to one thing” — a drive that he credits his father for inspiring.

In 10-15 years he’d love to retire his parents. “That’s all I really care about..making sure my people straight, my household family,” he said.

Coach Baldwin is looking ahead towards his second year of coaching, building the team back to a culture of winning. Baldwin said that after Nunez and Robinson graduated, the team has lost two of their toughest players and he’s still looking to fill the hole. The team has gotten better physically, spending more time in the weight room and conditioning. 

“We are small so we have to be able to play faster and longer than other teams that are bigger or have more players than us,” he said

The future is bright for Cairo basketball. Last season the junior high basketball team won their regional championship and went to the Class S State Tournament being led by Anthony Duncan Jr. and Rahjon Woodson, possibly the next two great players to come out of Cairo. 

The future is looking up for the city too — in August a 3-D printer started building single-family homes in town in hopes of building back some of what has been lost. This past summer, a new grocery store,the Rise Community Market opened. It is the only store that sells fresh produce, celebrating its one-year-anniversary. 

Coach Baldwin feels that the town is headed in the right direction. 

“We making some strides, some positive changes..we got some people here that are really fighting for this community..for these kids,” he said.

 “I tell people, if you can make it here, I feel like you can make it anywhere.” Baldwin said 

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