Coach Mike Dunleavy urges students to follow their passion

December 15, 2017

As a freshman in high school, Brooklyn native Mike Dunleavy Sr. started at shortstop and batted third on a team that win a city championship.

"i was the last man on the basketball team and never played," he said. 

But when hisbaseball coach told Dunleavy he could earn a scholarship if he were to focus on one sport, he chose basketball. 

"I took a lot of abuse for that," Dunleavy told a gathering of students at Wednesday night's Coaches 4 Character program at Redemption Church in Greenville. "Nobody really believed in me. But I believed in me,"

Dunleavy said he followed his "passion" and advised the students to do likewise. 

After an outstanding basketball career at the University of South Carolina. Dunleavy spent 11 years as a player and 20 years as a coach in the NBA.

He's in his second season as the coach at Tulane University, and all along, Dunleavy said he's never felt any pressure

"At the end of the day," he said, "I can look in the mirror and say, 'Whatever I put out there today was the best I could do' If I won or if I didn't win, I gave it my best effort. That's all anybody can ever ask of you.

"And you know what? You don't lose, The only time you can say you lose is when you quit. If there's something out there you want to do, it's never over till you say it's over."

Before Dunleavy addressed the students, Coaches 4 Character executive Greg Blatt introduced a new initiative: Trio Tribute, a collaboration between Coaches 4 Character, The Greenville News and a local high school. 

Berea High School was the first recipient of a check for $500 to be donated to an organization chosen by the school's student council. 

Representing Berea was student body President Jainada Williams, who said her school selected Homes of Hope because of the impact it had on "people in our school and our neighborhoods."

"The first thing was I wanted to keep it local," Williams said, "I wanted to make sure that the money is benefiting our community.

"And then at Berea specifically, you can see the people around you that it's benefiting. A lot of students in our school have homes because of this organization."

By: Bob Castello -- Greenville Online

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