DEARBORN — Edsel Ford High School counselor and basketball coach Ibrahim Baydoun loves his job.

“I’ve never missed a single day,” he said, after 17 years of counseling and 12 years of coaching at the school.

Baydoun was just as obsessive about what he loved to do as a teenager, when he was a star guard at Fordson High School in the 1980s.

“I used to practice five or six hours a day year-round,” he said.

Baydoun, 43, still holds various school records in steals and assists that he set more than two decades ago.

Today Fordson’s cross-town rival lays claim to the 5-foot-9 basketball guru, but he’s looked-to by the students for help with more than just their skills on the court.

“I try to mold these kids into responsible, contributing members of society,” he said.

“I expect a great deal from these kids.”

Keeping them in class and out of trouble is his main goal, and he puts his money where his mouth is.

In addition to holding free basketball clinics for the students, Baydoun said he personally offers $1,000 scholarships to senior players who can maintain 3.0 grade-point-averages.

In his 17 years at the school, Baydoun has watched Edsel Ford’s Arab American population increase from a handful to about 40 percent of all students.

“There’s definitely been tension,” he said about the struggles that the students face in the diverse environment.

He said most of the Arab students come from K-8 schools in the city’s South End, and have to transition from their close knit communities to a larger, more wide-ranging atmosphere of the high school.

“They don’t know much about the non-Arabs,” he said. “They come to me for advice and direction. And my door is always open.”

He said the greatest part of his job doesn’t come on the court, but when the students that he guides graduate each year.

“It’s very gratifying when you see these kids get their diplomas,” he said.

In March, Baydoun was inducted into the Dearborn Recreation Department Hall of Fame, as a legend in the city’s youth and adult basketball leagues. He led 11 teams to titles and scored a ridiculous average of 44 points per game.

“It was one of the greatest honors of my life—next to going to the Hajj.”

He said that as Hajj, and as a 12 year volunteer at the Islamic Center of America as a Sunday school teacher, his students look up to him, while at the same time being able to relate to him as a friend.

“I’m a kid at heart,” he said.

Baydoun doesn’t like to be interviewed. The attention makes him uncomfortable, he said. But he loves the idea of the kids at Edsel Ford seeing him featured in a newspaper and taking away a message of the fruits of devotion to community and faith.

“I really love my job,” he said.