Honors keep coming for Duke’s Nolan Smith, a leader in Durham both on and off campus
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The News & Observer Tar Heel of the Month
The News & Observer’s Tar Heel of the Month honors residents who have made significant contributions to the Triangle, North Carolina and beyond. At the end of the year, a Tar Heel of the Year is named. Do you want to nominate someone? Email metroeds@newsobserver.com.
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Chris Kenan expected to come up short as he took inventory of equipment before another Safe Zone Friday. The events target some of Durham’s underserved kids, and this one was at Hoover Road.
Kenan, the organizer of Building Leaders for a Solid Tomorrow (BLAST), was wondering how he would make do with his supplies when an unexpected visitor pulled up.
Nolan Smith brought Kenan more than enough basketballs for the event — one less thing to worry about.
Smith, who is Director of Basketball Operations on Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s Duke basketball staff, previously told Kenan that he couldn’t make it. But seeing him wasn’t a total surprise. As Kenan has learned, even when Smith doesn’t have the time, he shows up for those in need.
“He comes wherever we at — and we’re in these neighborhoods — we’re not at downtown Durham,” Kenan said. “This is somebody who is with Coach K at two o’clock. And at four o’clock he’s with some of the baddest kids in the city, some of the poorest kids in the city. In an hour’s time, he’s leaving Duke and he’s coming to McDougald Terrace or Oxford Manor.”
Kenan, a football coach at Neal Middle School, and Smith did not know each other until this summer. Smith was one of many former star athletes in the area who Kenan contacted to march in Durham after George Floyd’s death in Minnesota. Shortly following his participation, Kenan said he and Smith just started brainstorming different ways they could make a positive impact on kids in the community.
BLAST is just one of the outlets Smith is involved with that helps extend his connection with the community far beyond Duke University and Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Nolan Smith, the ‘People’s Champ’
Smith played on Duke’s 2010 NCAA national championship team. After his professional playing career ended, he returned to join Krzyzewski’s staff in 2016.
His involvement with basketball gave Smith a bigger platform, especially in the Triangle.
“I will never take that for granted, because I know how far that goes with a young child,” Smith, now 32, told The News & Observer in an interview. “In our community here in Durham and Raleigh, and in North Carolina as a whole, the fact that they love Duke basketball players and North Carolina basketball players, we are looked at as role models. So I think it is our duty to give back to the community and to love our communities. And that’s really where it all begins.”
Smith was recently named a George H.W. Bush Points of Light Inspiration honoree for “his activism and community outreach efforts during the recent social justice movement,” according to a news release.
For his work on and off the court, he is The News & Observer’s Tar Heel of the Month for October, which honors people who have made significant contributions to North Carolina and the region.
Of course, it’s the wrong name for a former Blue Devil, but this is why he’s the people’s champ. When informed of the distinction, Smith simply said, “It’s an honor” and that he appreciated being recognized.
Krzyzewski said he recruited Smith to serve on the board of directors for the Emily K Center, the nonprofit that the coach founded, because of how he connects to young people. The center has a program to help youth from low-income families reach college.
Smith said Krzyzewski has been one of his biggest supporters. In August, Smith organized a rally on campus after Jacob Blake was shot by police in Wisconsin and NBA players declined to play their scheduled games. At the conclusion of the rally, he also helped put together a voter registration drive.
Krzyzewski marveled at how far Smith had come since when he was a kid first enrolling at Duke.
“They still think he’s the mayor here of Duke from when he played — the people’s champ,” Krzyzewski said on a video call. “He’s done an amazing job during this pandemic and with all the social unrest. Actually, we have a Brotherhood Zoom (Wednesday) with all of our former players. The stuff that we’ve done as a result of that, Nolan kind of started that. In our community, he’s like the Pied Piper.”
Jon Scheyer played with Smith at Duke and is also on Krzyzewski’s staff as a co-associate head coach. Scheyer said what the public is now seeing from Smith isn’t really new to those who know him best.
“Even when he was in college, he’s always been a guy who loves to give back,” Scheyer said. “It’s been about more than basketball for him. He’s a guy that not only talks the talk, but he walks the walk. And that’s not a recent thing. That’s been ever since I’ve known Nolan.”
More work to do
Smith’s work in coaching is being recognized far outside of Durham. University of Memphis coach Penny Hardaway recently attempted to woo Smith away from Duke to take an assistant coach job on his staff with the Tigers. It would have been a bit of a promotion for Smith.
In his current position as a director of operations, he is limited in the amount of coaching he can do. As an assistant coach, his responsibilities would have expanded into recruiting and on-floor coaching. Krzyzewski said those opportunities will keep coming for Smith and predicted he’ll be a head coach soon.
An undervalued reason why Smith turned down Hardaway and Memphis was he wanted to see some of the community projects he’s been working on come to fruition.
“It played a huge role, a huge part of my decision to stay here,” Smith said. “Obviously, I am home and I’ve called Durham home for a long time. But with everything going on, the work that is being done here, it really wasn’t the right time.”
Mayor Steve Schewel, who is a Duke alumnus twice over, said he first met Smith at a church event when Smith was a youth leader. But the two really got to know each other more during the summer. Schewel called Smith a “real leader” during the protests in Durham, calling his voice “positive, powerful and constructive.”
Schewel said what makes Smith so special is his presence. He added that he couldn’t remember the last time someone in Smith’s position was out in the streets on the frontlines with protesters.
“It’s very unusual, and I’ve lived in this town for 50 years,” Schewel told the N&O. “Our coaches do a lot of great things — I was really proud of Coach K’s comments, supporting black lives matter — but Nolan is different. Nolan, in his ability to relate to young people, has been extraordinary.”
BLAST began a program this week called “Training in the Trenches” to give kids access to sports trainers to put them through workouts. That will rotate locations between Eastern and Twin Lakes park in Durham. Smith’s larger goal is to help establish more community centers.
Where he grew up in Prince George’s County, Md., community recreation centers were a fixture of every city and town, he said. They were open to all and helped keep kids off the street and safe in an active learning environment.
One place in particular, Bowie Gymnasium, was like his sanctuary when he was 8 years old and his father died of a heart attack, Smith said. Derek Smith, Nolan’s father, played on the University of Louisville’s 1980 national championship team and nearly a decade in the NBA before becoming an assistant coach with the Washington Bullets.
“I go home now, and some of the coaches who worked the door are still there,” Smith said. “It puts a smile on my face to see them because I know that as a community they are there and they’re taking care of the kids. There’s nothing better than knowing that your kids are going to a place where there’s a community leader that loves and takes care of your child. And I’m blessed and fortunate that I had that.”
For Smith, it’s only right that he passes that on, even if it means being recognized as a Tar Heel.
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 6:15 AM.
