How grief and loss forged No. 6 Birdville basketball’s bond beyond the court
The ups and downs of the Texas high school basketball season aren’t daunting for Birdville.
The Hawks, ranked No. 6 in Class 5A by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, will start the postseason against Aledo on Tuesday. The bi-district matchup will tip off at 7 p.m. at Argyle.
The playoffs will be difficult, but Birdville basketball has already faced far greater challenges off the court.
In 2022, the program endured a tragedy when Londyn Tippett, daughter of assistant coach Sean Tippett, died in a car accident.
Seven months later, Edward Zachariah, the brother of current senior Gabriel Zachariah, was murdered.
“Man, it was difficult because we have always talked about ourselves as being a family,” Birdville head coach Anthony Holman said. “And that family dynamic was shook in a lot of ways, with different losses that we’ve experienced.”
Birdville’s support
When Edward died, Gabriel wasn’t a part of Birdville varsity basketball yet. But his cousins, Joshua and Matthew Zakaria, were. They eventually became all-district athletes, but it was a tough road to get there.
“Matthew and Joshua were upset and torn apart,” Tippett said. “And I just sat with them and told them, ‘Look, guys, we can cry together. We can talk about whatever you need to, if you just need time to sit and be. We can do that.’”
The first game after Edward’s death, Tippett had Joshua and Matthew in his office.
“And I told them that I cry, and I struggle every day,” he said, “but the thing that keeps me going is coaching them, coaching this team, and honoring my daughter. So I told them, ‘You go out there, and you honor your cousin by playing as hard as you can and playing for him.’ And then, since Gabe has come here to us, I pretty much relayed the same thing to him.”
Gabriel Zachariah said, at first, that he was emotionally closed off, but that the support of the Birdville community helped him to open up.
“First, it was hard, you know, really didn’t know how to deal with it, because that’s my first time experiencing loss,” Zachariah said. “So, when I came to Birdville, I got accepted. Everyone shows love.”
If anyone understands what showing support can mean in those moments, it’s Tippett. When tragedy struck his family, he was flooded with it.
The day after Londyn’s death, Holman and a few others came to Tippett’s house.
“They offered support and just sat with us,” Tippett said. “There were no words, but we just felt the togetherness of it.”
Two days later, Tippett and his family were at home when the Birdville community showed up in droves. Over 200 current players, former players or community members stood outside their driveway.
That support meant the world, Tippett said.
“My wife and I and our son wouldn’t have been able to make it through,” he said. “Not without the support that we had, and a big part of that is the Birdville basketball community.”
Holman said the team had to come together to support the Tippetts while also balancing the daily grind of high school basketball. He said it is inspirational that Tippett honors Londyn with everything he does, which includes being a hardworking coach.
“I couldn’t imagine,” Holman said. “I don’t know how he shows up every day. I have a daughter and a son.
“And so what it reminds me is that if he can show up and work as hard as he works and give everything that he has to our kids and to our program, then what’s my excuse? What do I really have to complain about in comparison?”
Basketball as therapy
Holman, who said he considers Tippett to be his best friend, said the losses were so far beyond the world of basketball. At the same time, the game was the best form of therapy, so the Hawks turned to it.
“Basketball, to me, was the way to get our mind off of it,” Holman said. ”A way to get our kids’ minds off of it. A way to get a coach’s mind off of it. It’s a release. It’s a blessing to have that release.”
Although the game can be a temporary distraction, the pain doesn’t go away. For Zachariah and Tippett, the loss is something they’ll always carry with them.
While they carry the pain, they do their best to honor their memories. For Gabriel, playing the game is a great way to do that, since Edward played basketball at Hurst L.D. Bell.
“If I’m on the court, I’ll play as hard as I can,” Zachariah said. “Basketball can take me a lot of places. I just want to honor my brother as best I can.”
Tippett said he can honor his daughter’s memory by “giving everything I have, both in my coaching and teaching.” He is also setting up the Londyn Tippett Memorial Scholarship for a Birdville basketball player.
“It’s something that I want to continue even when I’m gone from here,” Tippett said. “Because I don’t have a lot of years left before I retire, and so I just want to keep it going and going and just help players. And honor her memory at the same time.”
Bonded through loss
Although the losses were terrible, the shared experience brought Zachariah and Tippett closer together.
“There are days he comes and talks to me, if he’s having a struggling day,” Tippett said. “And if I have struggling days, I talk to him about it, too. … I can tell, and I think he can tell when you’re having one of those days. We offer each other support.”
It can be as simple as acknowledging the loved one’s death date or birthday, Tippett said.
“The loss, it just helps our connection grow, because we have the same understanding,” Zachariah said. “And he supports me. I support him whenever I need to talk to him. He’s always available. Anytime. So our bond is really strong.”
Moving forward
Through it all, Birdville basketball has become one of the premier programs in the Fort Worth area. The Hawk student section stands out as one of the best in Texas with reputation of creating a thunderous playoff atmosphere.
In 2025, the Hawks made a run to the Class 5A Division I state championship, where they fell 63-57 to Beaumont West Brook in overtime.
The state championship heartbreak pales in comparison to what the team has endured.
“We have been a team that has learned how to be resilient to loss,” Holman said. “We’ve learned together as a family how to respond to the most adverse situations. … The adversity was nothing new to us. You know, it wasn’t anything that we couldn’t handle, especially given the things our team had experienced outside of basketball.”
Last year’s squad set a very high standard. Now, this year’s squad is in the process of overcoming midseason setbacks, like two district losses to No. 3 Denton, and capitalizing on state championship potential.
“We just got to be us,” Holman said. “So many times we have this expectation — we can’t be anyone else. We can’t be last year’s team. We can’t compare ourselves to other teams or their rankings. We just got to be us.”
Regardless of wins or losses, the bonds the Hawks share will always be bigger than the game.
“We’re able to just focus on how basketball can bring us all together, keep us all together and give us something like a united fight,” Holman said. “This united goal to fight for and kind of move the hardships of life outside of our perspective. Just for a minute.”
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