NC Central coach, Raleigh native LeVelle Moton tackles important topics on new TV show
LeVelle Moton grew up watching “Teen Summit.”
Moton, now the North Carolina Central men’s basketball coach, would park himself in front of the hour-long television program, learning about everything from sex to drugs to how to cope with the traps that waited for him everyday outside his Southeast Raleigh apartment.
The talk show, which aired on BET from 1989 until 2002, was more reliable than anything he was hearing on the streets. He made a vow to himself to educate future generations, if he was ever in a position to do so.
“That’s a lot of what the teens are missing nowadays,” 47-year-old Moton told The News & Observer. “These kids are depressed at 13, 14. Triple the amount of stuff we dealt with as teenagers. Everyday they wake up their self esteem is low, their confidence is at an all-time low, it’s crazy.”
In 2020, before COVID shut the world down, Moton’s vision came true. He created a show called “The Connect,” which aired on PBS.
Just like “Teen Summit,” the show he created brings teenagers together — in a judgment free zone — to share, listen and learn.
“What I did was try to put some things in place to save and affect lives,” Moton said. “Just so people can have the same information that I had, and have a safe space where they are not feeling like they are being judged for opening up.
“A lot of times adults, we tend to think just because we are older than you we don’t have to listen to you. That’s part of the problem itself. I wanted to create a safe space where it’s kids their age having discussions and we have a professional in the area of whatever they are discussing.”
Emanuel Chapman grew up in the same area as Moton and played for him as a guard at NC Central from 2010-14. He has seen firsthand as Moton has poured time and energy into the youth.
“Once you make it you think that’s the goal, that’s the destination,” said Chapman, now the Enloe High boys basketball coach. “... When you see him be the first person that’s successful at the college level, successful as a pro, and still coming back ... coming back and giving to your community is the standard.”
For his efforts outside of basketball, Moton was recently named an NABC Guardian of the Game pillar award recipient.
‘The Connect’ is therapeutic
Moton really showed who he was last season when he allowed an ESPN film crew to follow him and his team around all season for a documentary.
Away from the court, the cameras rolled in Moton’s home — shedding light on a part of his life he felt was just as important as basketball. In one of the later episodes, a camera crew followed along as Moton went to his weekly therapy session.
“That’s good to show the world,” Moton said. “I felt like it was necessary for people to see me in a humble and vulnerable situation. That means you don’t have it all together and it’s the best thing. I love seeing my therapist.”
Moton said the past two years have been the most challenging of his adult life. He lost six friends during the pandemic. He broke down crying when he was a pallbearer at the funeral for one of his oldest friends. With everything going on, he decided it was time to see someone.
“I didn’t tell anybody, but when I say rock bottom, I was rock bottom,” Moton said. “I was at a place of depression. It was really bad. Everything had just built up, so I had to go find some help. We are going through so much as Black men, but it’s taboo to discuss. We bottle it up because it’s the manly thing to do. The human thing to do is express yourself.”
Free expression is exactly what he wants young people to get out of “The Connect.” Moton said he gets just as much out of it as the kids who participate.
“It’s therapeutic because it’s my purpose,” Moton said. “Basketball is just a metaphor to open up so many doors for me. I know my main thing is my main thing. I don’t really have any other habits outside of playing golf. I chose to use my downtime pouring into other people. It’s purpose driven. All I’m doing is being the person that my younger self needed.”
Moton returns home
The first episode of “The Connect” aired in February of 2020. The topic for the inaugural episode was, “Hip Hop and the impact it has on society.” It was filmed at Enloe High, Moton’s alma mater. The guest panelists for the day were music producer 9th Wonder, and producer and activist David Banner.
Raleigh City Council member Corey Branch, also a graduate of Enloe, told The News & Observer the show is exactly what the kids need.
“LeVelle is giving the kids an opportunity to express themselves in a positive manner,” Branch said. “He’s giving back. A lot of times we see people go off and be successful and don’t always come back home. He’s coming back home and giving. I think it’s tremendous.”
Filming will resume in the spring, with new episodes to start airing in August.
“I just look for it to be successful,” Branch said. “And continue to give kids a positive outlet to share their concerns and challenges. You never know, they might solve one of our next major issues.”
Future topics for the show will include exploring if college is an ideal place for everyone; the impact of social media; and the difference between love and lust.
Moton said the location will move around from school to school within Wake County.
“It was just about connecting those two gaps,” Moton said. “That’s what I wanted to be able to give these kids, a mutual understanding.”
Giving others what he didn’t have
Looking back, Moton wishes he had a local resource like “The Connect” growing up.
“I needed help being able to make decisions,” Moton said. “I was growing up fast and I didn’t have the information and I didn’t feel comfortable talking to people, because I didn’t have anyone to talk to.”
He found that in “Teen Summit,” and hopes local youth have the same relationship with his show as he did with the popular BET program he grew up on.
“This was a show that was speaking directly to me,” said Moton, who played at NC Central from 1992-96.. “The kids looked like me, the host looked like me, the topics were associated with me. It was like, ‘I get it.’ I used that as a form of education to better myself.”
As the NC Central basketball coach since 2011, Moton has led the Eagles to the NCAA tournament four times and has won more than 200 games. Away from basketball, he sponsors a book bag giveaway each fall, honors single mothers on Mother’s Day and has an annual Thanksgiving food drive.
Pat Cole, the MEAC Player of the Year for the 2016-17 season, played for Moton and remembers going with his teammates to the book bag giveaways and other community events his coach sponsored.
“It shows you that life if bigger than basketball,” Cole said. “The Single Mothers Salute, me personally, coming from a single parent household, that meant a lot to me. The community giveback that he does in Raleigh, it’s amazing. Everything that he’s done with basketball, he’s shown us that life is bigger outside of that.”
Knowing the lives he can impact now, Moton refuses to be defined by the sports he played and now coaches.
“I never had this glass ceiling or that boundary that society tends to place on guys who can shoot a basketball,” Moton said. “So many times in life people define you by what you do and not who you are.
“Basketball is what I do, it’s not who I am.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 5:53 AM.
