Recently Carmelo Anthony went back to his high school roots, where he received an honor alongside his then-coach. The Oak Hill Academy Lifetime Achievement Awards Ceremony honored the 10x All-Star and Steve Smith. The legendary head basketball coach served for 37 years and announced his retirement in 2022. During the ceremony, Melo admitted he didn’t really have basketball goals when he came to the Virginia school. But he had one major priority that he wanted to achieve and that was to help his mom.
“I didn’t realize or recognize what was our goals. My goal was really to get her (pointing at his mom) out of West Baltimore, that’s it. Steve knew that, Lisa (wife of Steve Smith) knew that, and I knew that. So our conversations was always real conversations. ‘Yo Steve, my mom is in, he’s like ‘I got you, I got you. Imma figure this out, Imma figure this out.’” Carmelo Anthony said during his visit to Oak Hill.
His mother, Mary Anthony, raised three children on wages earned as a member of the maintenance staff at a hospital in Baltimore. Melo’s father passed away when he was just two years old. So his mother cut corners and worked hard to send Carmelo to private high schools. Helping his mother out of Baltimore fueled a fire inside of him. “I got to take this serious. If I don’t, I am going back to Baltimore. So that was my approach, but I also learned discipline.”
The disciplined approach made him great at basketball. As this year, he received a nomination as the first ballot Hall of Fame. “And I also learned how to approach being great. My work ethic, stemmed from: I just wanted to be the best player. What I always like to say man, when in doubt, STAY ME7O. Peace,” Melo ended his speech as he reminded everyone of his tough journey.
How Carmelo Anthony’s mother raised three children in adversity
Mary Anthony was a hooper when she was young. She was the second oldest of 12 children and was a star basketball player in high school. Plus, she also ran track, and age of 21 married Melo’s father and later moved from New York to Maryland and put Carmelo Anthony in a private school. But she never imagined when her son’s dream would turn out to be true.
“This is like a dream; I never expected this to happen. I’m excited just being here and knowing that Carmelo’s a part of it.” She said to the NY Times when Melo was playing at Syracuse in 2003. She was the one who pushed the Knicks legend to attend college rather than going to the NBA directly. Since education was big for her, she wanted her son to prioritize his studies as well. The mother of the Syracuse legend did not persuade her son to stay for three years in the program.
She laughed and stated, ‘‘I can’t say that. He did what I said: one year. I said just start, if it was only for a year or two. Whatever he does after that, that’s his choice.” As it turns out, it was one-and-done for Carmelo Anthony with the Orange squad. That would be the stepping stone for his success in the NBA. Ahead of what could be his potential HOF year, Melo continues to honor his mother, who guided him through his journey.
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