When Kobe Newton was diagnosed with a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in his right ankle midway through the 2023-2024 college basketball season, a thick wave of panic and fear settled into the mind of the senior guard from Portland, Oregon.
MRSA is a staph infection resistant to many common antibiotics, meaning there are not many ways to treat it through common medicine. Newton, whose family and himself have had a history of run-ins with staph infections similar to MRSA, knew just how deadly it could be when he was diagnosed.
“I knew exactly what it was,” Newton said. “I had an uncle, he passed away kind of through gradual complications with staph, which is like the little bug of MRSA if you will. I have had staph infections earlier myself, as well.”
“One of the main things the doctor told me when I had staph was ‘at least you don’t have MRSA’,” he continued.
Newton’s condition from the infection in his right ankle quickly deteriorated, leading to him having to be hospitalized. He shared that this was likely one of the scariest times in his life, as his entire life as it stood was put into question.
“I’m one of those people who assumes the worst, unfortunately, that’s where my mind goes when things go wrong, I just assume the worst is going to happen,” Newton said.
“I know [MRSA] could mean me never playing basketball again. I know that it could mean me always having to deal with this, because MRSA is antibiotic-resistant. It can be losing a limb…there was a lot of fear for that.”
Newton didn’t know when or how he would ever get back to being able to live his life normally, let alone compete back on the hardwood for the Cowboys. However, Newton attributes his rather speedy recovery, which allowed him to return to play by the end of last season, to the people who surrounded him during his time of need.
“A big reason I got through it was my girlfriend…she was there for me every step of the way and just kept me grounded,” Newton said.
Newton also mentioned the name of his head coach at the time, Jeff Linder, who is now an assistant at Texas Tech, as someone who visited him every day alongside his teammates at the time.
“Linder showed up every day, sometimes he would check on me twice a day,” Newton said. “We would just sit there and talk and he would just check up on me and make sure I’m doing well mentally, checking on how I’m doing physically.”
Newton mentioned that the timing of his infection came at an inopportune time last season, as he was just beginning to find his footing at the D-I level after transferring to Wyoming from Fullerton College, a community college in California. While he was able to return to the court last season, Newton was severely limited due to the tedious process of recovering from his MRSA infection. With the Cowboys promptly making a first-round exit in the Mountain West tournament last year, losing to Fresno State in the opening round, the season was over before Newton could settle back into things.
“I had to go to the hospital every day at 2 p.m. to get my antibiotics administered…it was frustrating having to go to the hospital every day, sometimes I’d miss practices, sometimes I would miss games,” Newton said. “Then, just the pain I felt in my ankle for a pretty long time after, I was just really worried that I would never feel the same.”
Luckily for Newton, things did get better. Newton is healthy and playing better than he ever has in the Brown and Gold, as he is currently one of the leading scorers on the team and a coveted lockdown defender on the defensive end. With the 2024-25 season being his last at the collegiate level, Newton is looking to make the most out of his final year as a Cowboy and has done that already with his part in leading the Cowboys to a 5-3 record.
Back & forth all day.@KingKobe360 with some style. pic.twitter.com/n8dt2aAzr9
— Wyoming Cowboy Basketball (@wyo_mbb) December 5, 2024
“This year, it’s just going to be about giving everything I got and continuing to have that mindset of not leaving anything left on the floor, not having any games where I have a sense of regret,” Newton said. “It’s my last year, I don’t want to leave this year a be like ‘well, I wish I would have done this differently.’”
Not only has MRSA given him a new appreciation for his opportunity to play at one of the highest levels in college basketball, but it’s also given Newton a new appreciation for life, knowing that if things hadn’t gone his way, MRSA could have stripped his life of everything he had known it as before.
“There’s little things that you take for granted that you don’t understand how essential those things are to your everyday life until it’s taken away from you,” Newton said. “It wasn’t just about basketball for me, it was about a lot of things other than basketball that I had to really appreciate.”
