NCCU coach LeVelle Moton always remembers his roots. His impact goes beyond basketball.
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LeVelle Moton can pinpoint the exact moment when he knew he had to make an impact on others.
Not just the moment, but the date — where he was and how it went down — when he learned a lesson at just 10 years old about leaving a legacy. It was April 1, 1984, and legendary soul singer Marvin Gaye had just been killed.
The news sent shock waves through the nation, including in Moton’s community in Southeast Raleigh. Moton ran to his grandmother’s house to tell her the grim news. Together, they watched the news reports about Gaye’s death.
Gaye’s picture flashed on the screen with the dates of his birth (April 2, 1939) and death (April 1, 1984) separated by a dash. His grandmother’s next words helped shape the man he is today.
“My grandma says, ‘I want you to understand something, that birthday and that death date, none of that matters,’” Moton recalled. “‘The only thing that matters is that little dash in-between, because that’s how people will forever remember you. That’s the legacy, that’s the impact that you left on this world.’
“It didn’t make that much sense at 10,” Moton tells The News & Observer in an interview. “But at 45, it’s gospel.”
Thirty-five years later, Moton has tried to make the most of his “dash.” He’s a successful men’s basketball coach at North Carolina Central, where he has led his alma mater to four trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Over the summer, he earned a Gold Medal as an assistant coach with the USA U19 team.
He’s a renowned player in his own right, with his jersey hanging in the rafters at NCCU’s McDougald-McLendon Arena, where he lit up the CIAA during his playing days from 1992 to 1996. He remains the school’s third leading scorer.
Friday, Moton will be inducted into the CIAA Hall of Fame in Charlotte.
To cap it all off, the Raleigh City Council voted in December to rename Lane Street Park, the park where the Enloe High grad grew up playing basketball, to LeVelle Moton Park.
Moton is The News & Observer’s February Tar Heel of the Month, which honors people who have made significant contributions to North Carolina and beyond. He will be considered later this year for Tar Heel of the Year, the N&O’s annual honor named in December.
Influence off the court
Moton’s basketball accomplishments go on for days. But he still strives to make a difference where he grew up in Southeast Raleigh — and beyond.
For the past 12 years, he has hosted an annual back-to-school book bag giveaway, along with Houston Rockets forward P.J. Tucker, another native of Raleigh. Hosted at the Raleigh Boys and Girls Club, the event serves more than 700 kids, with Moton and Tucker providing book bags and school supplies.
For the last seven years, Moton has hosted a “Single Mothers Salute,” an event that honors hundreds of single mothers throughout the Triangle.
He’s inspired to help because of his own experiences. He and his older brother grew up with a single mother, first in Boston, then in Raleigh. He was the baby of the family and had to share everything with his brother. They shared a room, and if his mom gave Moton a dollar to spend at the store, 50 cents of that went to his brother.
His first act of charity, as he recalls, was giving his brother a pair of Converse sneakers and a Magic Johnson poster he won at a basketball camp at St. Augustine’s.
He learned not to be selfish, even on a day like his birthday, when most people might have permission to be the center of attention. Moton said he doesn’t have that luxury.
“My birthday is on my mother’s birthday, so even on my most selfish day, I have to be unselfish,” Moton said. “I don’t get a chance to just live it up for me. I’ve never been that person. I’ve always been a giver and just got fulfillment through serving others.”
Now, he said he has a bigger platform to help others. It’s always been embedded in his heart to give back, he said.
“Basketball is what I do, it’s not who I am,” Moton said. “Those other 22 hours off the floor I have to be a human being, I have to be a father, I have to be a husband and it’s my responsibility to help people that come from situations who look like me.”
Paying back his community
He first started organizing basketball camps when he was still a high school coach, not the well-known college coach he is now. His first camp was held at West Millbrook Middle School, with 100 kids in attendance.
Moton said some of the campers went on to become NBA players, including John Wall and T.J. Warren. But at the time, the camp wasn’t full of future pros, just a gym packed with young players wanting to learn the game.
He recalls growing up and needing money for a basketball tournament, and women in the neighborhood selling fish plates to raise the money. Those women are still there, and that’s why Moton goes to community meetings, to speak up for those women who are affected by everything from crime, property tax hikes and gentrification.
He frequently returns to the two-bedroom apartment he grew up in on Jones Street, just to remind himself of where he came from.
Lane Street Mini Park is located four blocks away from the governor’s mansion in downtown Raleigh.
Moton attended nearby Enloe. Late last year Moton, along with Tucker and Nate McMillan, coach of the Indiana Pacers, all returned to Enloe to have their jerseys retired.
Enloe principal Will Chavis spoke about what it means to have alumni like Moton return to their roots.
“For them to be here today paints a story for our students to see that success comes in multiple ways, shape, forms and fashion,” Chavis told The News & Observer in February 2019. “The story leads to success after having some levels of shortcomings and adversity.”
As a child, Moton recalls spending every day at the park playing basketball and avoiding pitfalls that could have sent his life in an entirely different direction. But it wasn’t just a court. In fact, he referred to it as a “multipurpose athletic facility,” where you could play hoops one minute, football outside the gates the next, all while putting the spin moves on temptations.
“When I was growing up, it was where they were selling crack on the block,” Moton said. “Ten yards away, you had the dope boys selling crack, and inside the gate, you had a basketball game going on. That’s just what it was. That made it extremely dangerous. That was my mom’s biggest fear.”
Moton admits he has a case of survivor’s remorse, which motivates him more than anything. In the past 40 years, he estimates that only six kids he grew up with from his neighborhood made it to college. Some ended up in jail, he said, while some died way too young. Others remain, unable to leave the neighborhood.
“There’s a sense of (survivor’s remorse),” Moton said. “It’s difficult for me to go back and look at people that I grew up with, and they didn’t make it out, or they didn’t have the career that I had.”
People assume he was the best athlete in the neighborhood and the brightest student in the classroom, he said. That couldn’t be any further from the truth.
For him, it simply came down to making the proper choices.
“I was able to say ‘no’ when they said ‘yes,’” Moton said. “For some reason, God said, ‘I have to take care of this one, because he’s the dumbest of them all, so let me make sure I keep my hands and fingers on this guy and help him.’
“Now that I’ve made it out,” he said, “I have to send the elevator back down.”
LeVelle Moton
Age: 45
Hometown: Boston and Raleigh
Family: Wife, Bridget; daughter, Brooke; son, LeVelle Jr.
Education: North Carolina Central University, bachelor’s degree, 1996; master’s degree, 2013
Accomplishments: Two-time MEAC Coach of the Year, Two-time NABC District 15 Coach of the Year, Two-time BoxToRowHBCU.com Coach of the Year, CIAA Hall of Fame Class of 2020
This story was originally published February 22, 2020 at 11:57 AM with the headline "NCCU coach LeVelle Moton always remembers his roots. His impact goes beyond basketball.."
