<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The heart inside Derrick Tarver's muscular 6-foot-4, 215-pound frame beats healthy and strong. Forget about the thick, five-inch scar that stretches across the left side of his chest. Tarver can show his friends the exact location where doctors removed an automatic cardiac defibrillator almost four months ago. His story is all about heart, in so many ways. It's heart that drives him to pursue a dream he's had since he was a child. As NBA teams send selected players to Las Vegas for a summer league, Tarver has joined that fraternity. The ex-University of Akron guard who led the Mid-American Conference in scoring in his senior year at 22.7 points a game is on the Cavaliers' summer roster. The 2005 Reebok Vegas Summer League consists of a 16-team, six-game schedule this month. Cleveland's team is made up of draft picks, free agents and young veterans. Notable players on the Cavaliers' roster are 7-foot-2 center Martynas Andriuskevicius, last year's No. 1 draft pick Luke Jackson and John Lucas III, son of former Cavaliers head coach John Lucas. But Tarver's story is not just about him -- it includes his twin brother, Darren. Key date May 9, 2002, was a day that changed the Tarvers' lives forever. Darren, 21 at the time, was a junior at George Mason University and playing in a pickup game at the school gym when he suffered a heart attack caused by arrhythmia. When Darren was released from the hospital, he was told his basketball career was over. ``When I found out I wouldn't be able to play anymore, it was very disappointing, but I had to try to stay positive,'' said Darren, who works in Lansing, Mich., for Quicken Loans, the company managed by Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. ``It was a situation where I had no control.'' Darren later had an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) implanted to monitor his heart. Derrick's health became a concern, even though he never experienced heart problems. Derrick, who played two years in junior college in Texas and San Francisco, had signed to play at Akron that year. After Darren's problem, officials in the Akron athletic department wanted to make sure Derrick was healthy. ``Akron wanted me to get a defibrillator because they wanted to take the proper precautions and I understood that,'' Derrick said. ``I had no choice, because if I didn't do it, I wasn't going to be able to play, and basketball is my life.'' Tarver had the defibrillator implanted in October 2002 and received medical clearance to play two days before the Zips' first game. Playing in high school in Akron, the dream for the Tarver brothers was to make it to the NBA. ``To be honest, when I heard he made the (Cavaliers') summer-league team, I almost started crying,'' Darren said. ``We've gone through so much for so long. I couldn't control what happened to me but Derrick can and he's determined to make it for the both of us.'' Derrick said: ``Every time I go out on the floor, I'm not only playing for me, I'm playing for my brother, too.'' Cavaliers star LeBron James, who has known Tarver since they were youngsters, is confident Tarver will make the most of his opportunity. ``I'm glad to see he's getting a chance to play in the summer league,'' James said. ``He's always been a hard worker and I know he's been preparing himself for an opportunity like this.''</div> Source
