Champions Are
Chiseled Out of Stone
"I only see my goals. All obstacles must give way." — Napoleon
This is the life of Gregory V. Jones, Jr. — a young man with incredible basketball skills who barely survives segregation, racism, and an abusive father. Greg learns early that he possesses a special gift: shooting a basketball from any angle, any distance, with near-perfect precision.
Growing up under Jim Crow Laws in Durham, North Carolina, Greg attends a predominantly Black school where his dream of basketball cannot be pursued. Every year he begs his father for permission to attend Northern High School — a predominantly white school — on the Freedom of Choice Plan. Every year, his father says no. Finally, in the eighth grade, permission is granted.
What follows is a trial by fire. Rejection by his own community. Cruel treatment by teachers, administrators, and fans. Threats from the KKK. But inside that crucible, Greg finds an unlikely ally: Coach Roland Miller — rigid, tough, bold, and unyielding — who sees something in Greg that cannot be broken. A mental, physical, and spiritual toughness that no amount of hatred can extinguish.
Coach Miller sends Greg to the camp of his idol: Pete "Pistol" Maravich — the greatest pure shooter who ever lived. Pistol Pete befriends Greg, teaching him the fundamentals of shooting and the deeper truths of the game. Greg goes on to become a high school All-American, player of the year, and ultimately a 3-time college All-American.
Throughout it all, it is his mother's faith, prayer, and instruction that filters through in his darkest moments — her voice the constant beneath the noise of a world trying to break him. And at the end, the moment Greg had longed for his entire life: his father, on his deathbed, crying out for forgiveness.
No alcohol. No drugs. Only champion-level determination. And the truth that carried him from the beginning: "Pure Shooters Are Born, Not Made."
"A story of a young man's struggle to be the best — and finding out at the end that education is what saved him."
