CityView Magazine

48 | July/August 2016 As fate would have it, a tryout was being held the following week in Spartanburg, South Carolina. His former coach paid for him to attend, and Johnny was able to showcase his talents. Methodist College (now Methodist University) showed interest. "I came to Fayetteville for a visit and said, 'is is where I'm supposed to be.'" He and his wife saw the diversity and opportunity in Fayetteville and decided to make it their home. Not long aer Johnny came to Methodist, he and his wife separated. "I had a tough time. I wondered if I should quit basketball altogether, but there were so many people in my path that wouldn't allow me to quit." While playing basketball, he struggled to pay child support and spend quality time with his son. He balanced his studies and worked as a full-time bartender at Ruby Tuesday. "I had low moments, but my advisors and professors expected the best. Coach McEvoy depended on me to be the leader of the team." Johnny laughed as he recounted his leadership role on the Methodist team. "It took me about a year to realize I wasn't going pro. All of my teammates called me 'grandpa' because I was 23." Knowing he wasn't going to go pro, Johnny wanted to spend his life positively affecting youth. He earned his degree in Criminal Justice. "I knew I wanted to work with kids, but I didn't want to lock them up," he said. When he graduated from college at age 26, he wanted to make a local impact and dis- covered FUM. Aer working with FUM for a year, his grandmother passed away. "When I was a kid, my nightly prayers were traditional. At the end, I would always add, 'Lord, please watch over my grandmother. If something happens to her, I don't know what will happen to me.' As an adult in college, I prayed for the same thing, 'Lord, please watch over my grandmother until I can get out of school.'" She had been in declining health and was still caring for Johnny's younger sisters who were 9 and 5-years old, one of whom has epilepsy and required care at Duke. Johnny as- sumed guardianship. e leadership at FUM amended Johnny's schedule so he could care for his sisters. Among the obvious challenges of raising three small children as a single man, he recount- ed fondly, "I had to learn to do their hair." Today, his sisters are 24 and 20, a traveling nurse and a student at Bennett College, respectively. Johnny's own son, a graduate of Terry Sanford High School and St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, recently returned to the United States from playing professional basket- ball in Germany. Of their bond, Johnny said proudly, "He is the best man I know. We have a great relationship. Even when he was in Philly or Germany, we would call and talk. We've never been texters. I love that rascal." "I wouldn't trade it for the world," he said, of those years. "It was hard, but I adapted. Many people helped." With his son and sisters grown and successful, Johnny focused his time on the com- munity of people served by FUM. He sees himself in those he helps to serve.

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