Portion of Book Proceeds to Benefit the Boys & Girls Club of America
RALEIGH – A college basketball coach who participated in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association program as a high school student and coach has co-authored a book.
Coach LeVelle Moton, head men’s basketball coach at North Carolina Central University, is sharing his personal experiences of overcoming the challenges of boyhood in low-income neighborhoods of Boston and Raleigh in a new book that was released earlier this month.
Entitled The Worst Times Are The Best Times, the book is co-authored by journalist Edward G. Robinson III and published by MR Publishing, LLC. It is written especially to motivate and inspire young people, and is also relevant and engaging to anyone facing personal challenges.
As part of an ongoing commitment to give back to the community, a portion of every book purchase will be used to purchase books to be donated to the Boys & Girls Club of America – an organization that played a vital role in Moton’s upbringing. Moton and Robinson hope to provide complimentary books to every teen Boys & Girl’s Club member across the country.
As part of the book launch celebration, Moton hosted his annual LeVelle Community Day event at the Boys & Girl’s Club of Raleigh, his childhood club. He, Robinson, members of the N.C. Central University basketball team and other community representatives provided a day of fun and food for area youth in need, including complimentary copies of the book for students along with a backpack full of school supplies.
Moton was an athlete at Enloe High School in Raleigh and later coached at Sanderson before moving to the college level.
“The Boys & Girls Club of Raleigh was an incredible gift to me as a child – a place to feel safe, stay out of trouble and be inspired to make things happen in my life,” said Moton. “I wrote this book to help do the same for others, whether young African-American boys with similar childhoods and a lot of tough decisions ahead of them, or businessmen and women looking for a push to work hard and create their own paths to success. I have had so many great mentors that have guided me along the way, I hope I can share just a little of that with others through this book.”
The Worst Times Are The Best Times tells the stories of Moton’s personal experiences with a relatable and motivating perspective. Each chapter includes Inside the Locker Room and Chalkboard sections, detailing lessons learned and calls to action the reader can apply to his or her own life, respectively. It was purposefully designed to be moving for adults, poignant for youth and informative for basketball fans, all while still being relevant and engaging to anyone facing an obstacle.
“The Worst Times Are The Best Times is an honest look at growing up struggling with the world working against you and finding a way to the life you dreamed for yourself,” said Robinson. “As a journalist, I covered N.C. Central University’s basketball program and Coach Moton for years and was struck by his determination, humility and friendship. It was a story I had to tell, and an honor to work alongside him on this project.”
Neighboring ACC basketball coaches, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, UNC Chapel Hill Coach Roy Williams and N.C. State University Coach Mark Gottfried, provided book forwards. The book also includes special commentary sections detailing related personal experiences of Moton’s mentors and friends: Mike Tomlin, head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers; Patrick Douthit, better known as 9th Wonder, a hip hop record producer, DJ, lecturer and rapper; and two members of New Edition, the multiplatinum selling R&B group from the same neighborhood as Moton.
The Worst Times Are The Best Times was released September 2 in hard cover as well as digital formats for iPad, Kindle and Nook. For more information or to pre-order a copy of the book, visit www.theworsttimesarethebesttimes.com. Special discounts are available for bulk purchases by organizations and institutions. Please contact MR Publishing, LLC for more information at 919-200-5510 or info@mrpublishingllc.com for more information.
About the Author: LeVelle Moton
LeVelle De’Shea Moton is a graduate of North Carolina Central University, where he was a standout basketball player, becoming the third all-time leading scorer in school history. He went on to play professionally overseas for four years and in 2004 was named to N.C. Central’s Hall of Fame. He returned to his alma mater in 2007 as an assistant coach and then became head coach in 2009. In his fifth season, 2013-14, he led the school to its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and a berth into its first men’s Division I NCAA Tournament. The success earned him recognition as the MEAC coach of the year. Moton was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Raleigh, overcoming a tough upbringing with personal determination and the mentors he gained at the Boys & Girls Club of Raleigh, an organization he still avidly supports to this day.
About the Author: Edward G. Robinson III
Edward G. Robinson III is an award-winning sports journalist who has worked for several newspapers, including The Washington Post, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The News and Observer in Raleigh. He’s currently a contributing writer for The Washingtonian Magazine. He has received numerous awards throughout his career including The Society of Professional Journalists, whose Washington D.C. chapter presented him the 2014 Dateline Award For Excellence in Local Journalism, as well as recognitions from The Associated Press Sports Editors, the North Carolina Press Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation. Robinson attended American University where he earned a bachelor of arts in print journalism, and Johns Hopkins University where he earned a masters of arts in non-fiction and fiction writing.
