CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/9341
them to be better people than players. She did a great job.” He never dreamed of coaching in the NBA one day with two sons who excelled playing at prestigious college basketball programs. It seems like only yesterday that as a kid he would take a loaf of bread and spend the day watching NBA games on Saturday on a fuzzy black and white television. Now, as an assistant for the Bobcats, he loves the pro game but admits that he often misses high school coaching. “I wouldn’t mind doing that again someday,” he says. Felton Jeffrey Capel Sr., played high school basketball and, later, semi-pro baseball for the Rockingham Giants. His positive attitude about life made an impression on his son. Jeff Jr. remembers watching his father play baseball in that old barnstorming league. “He was a competitor and he believed in giving your all,” he says. “He taught me so much. “I still tell every kid I coach, ‘Just do your best, that’s all anyone can expect of you.’ They have to also learn to not let the ball use them. They can’t let the ball define them. They have to use the ball to show people their work ethic, use the ball to get ahead.” That’s exactly what it has done for Jeff III. A standout prep performer at South View High School, he was the North Carolina High School Player of the Year averaging 23.8 points a game for the 31-1 state champions. He set a South View school record for points (2,066), rebounds (668) and assists (663). At Duke, he earned Atlantic Coast Conference honors each of his four seasons, averaging 12.4 points for his career. He ranks 22nd in career scoring with 1,601 points at Duke after helping lead the Blue Devils to the national championship game his freshman year. He led Duke in scoring as a junior with 16.6 points per game and was responsible CityViewNC.com | 53 Above | Jeff Capel Jr., has coached many teams, including Fayetteville’s own Patriots. He now is an assistant coach for the Charlotte Bobcats. Opposite | Jeff Capel III, far left and bottom, is the youngest head coach in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. At Oklahoma University, he holds the record for most basketball wins. Opposite, right | Jason Capel was one of only a few players to start all four years of his playing career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.