Alexander Olivas is an ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism student covering Cesar Chavez High School for AzPreps365.com

A leader on the court and excellent in the classroom, Alexander Clontz is setting the example of defining a great student athlete at Cesar Chavez. 

Alexander, a junior, is a student and also a player for the varsity boys basketball team where he’s the team captain. He’s a remarkable player on the court, but is also a remarkable student off the court and impresses everyone around him with the little things that he does.

“Just his work ethic on and off the court, he’s crazy, he’s in here early in the morning getting shots up, his grades everything is good, he gets stuff done in the classroom, he’s a good guy all around,” said teammate Gabriel Briones. “He’s a good captain, he’ll text us to login when coach has something to say early in the morning, he’ll tell us to get things done, he’s a good captain and leader.”

Off the court, Alex boasts a 4.5 GPA while taking some tough AP classes year round, while also staying on track with basketball and never having any issues in the classroom. But, even with all the success on and off the court, Alex gives full credit to those around him, especially his father Danny Clontz, who also coaches the team as an assistant coach.

“I just gotta thank my dad to be honest, he really made me responsible and he made my work ethic go up a lot, I didn’t used to work hard as I did,” Alex said. “He started preaching to me that every single day that I got to work hard and take it serious every single day.”

That hard work soon paid off for Alex as he continued to develop success entering high school where he dropped 40 points in a game as a freshman on varsity while breaking a school record of 10 3-pointers made in a game. His most favorite accomplishment during his time at Cesar Chavez so far was when he broke 1,000 career points this season and is something that he’ll for sure keep in the back of his mind.

“It was a great feeling, especially because I broke the school record for threes in a game, it was ironic because me and my dad talked about that before the season,” Alex said. “My favorite is probably my 1,000 point landmark, I do want to get the school record which I believe is about 1,500, but 1,000 points it’s a pretty big deal, it was always a dream of mine, I’ve always dreamt of doing it.”

The path to 1,000 career points, however, wasn’t easy as there were many ups and downs throughout the time ever since Alex first played basketball. According to Danny, it was hard for Alex at a young age as he struggled a lot during the early time of his playing days but constantly worked hard and soon revolutionized his game.

“It was never easy for him, when he was a younger kid he struggled a lot, he couldn’t even stay upright on the court, he was falling all over the place, even when he started getting involved in club basketball there was certain teams where they wouldn’t even play him,” Danny said. “We had serious conversations as he started to get more into basketball, I told him that you’re gonna have to outwork everybody, his work ethic has gotten better and better, now I don’t know a kid who works harder than him to improve his game.”

Some of the other accomplishments made so far by Alex were even earning several awards including the most recent being named the 2023-2024 6A West Valley Region Player of the Year. He’s even earned some athletic scholarships from multiple schools including Division 1 schools and his most recent one being offered by South Mountain Community College right after a stellar performance in a playoff game against Canyon View. 

Alex has also been very impactful for his team as many in the program describe him as being very dependable and reliable when the team needs him most in important moments. He’s always battling through tough barriers and doesn’t let anything stop him from helping out the team no matter if it’s on or off the court.

“Just his dependability, he’s sick but will still be at practice, if he’s hurt he’ll still be at practice, so his teammates know that they can always count on him to be there,” Danny said. “He goes to all the optional work that we do like charity work that coach Wright has the team do, they were picking up trash at 51st and Baseline last weekend and he was there, so you can always count on him to do the optional stuff and be the first in and last one out of the gym when it is basketball related.”

With many goals in mind, Alex is set out to achieve them and with his biggest one being to one day achieve his dream of taking his level of play to the NBA, but he’s also got his eyes on pursuing a career in engineering if the NBA route isn’t possible. He’s shown great character as an athlete and person whoever he’s around with, but for Danny, he’s proud of the person and player Alex tends to be and knows the future is bright for him with a lot of great potential.

“I think the sky's the limit for him because he outworks everybody around him, he’ll go as far as his genetics and hard work will take him and I think that’ll be pretty far when it’s all said and done,” Danny said. “It’s hard for high school kids, but if anybody is gonna make it out of here it’s going to be him, he's a super smart smart kid with high academics in the classroom, so no matter what happens he’s going to be successful in life and that’s what matters.”