Former Lake Highland standout Joel Berry II is a finalist for the AAU Sullivan Award
When Joel Berry II returned from the mountains near Pittsburgh — fresh off a week spent with some students he never had met, Marines from Quantico, crawling in caves, and learning about team and confidence building — he was transformed.
Berry was early into his highschool career at Lake Highland Prep, and he looked different when he came home. He desperately needed to shave. His mother, Kathie, said he looked like Wolfman Jack, the late disc jockey and actor who gained popularity in the 1960s and ’70s. It wasn’t only his appearance. Berry removed everything from his bedroom and painted the walls.
“Whatever he got there, it made him want to start over,’’ Kathie said. “It also let him know that sometimes as a leader, it’s OK to be a little uncomfortable and step outside your zone.’’
Berry sparked Lake Highland to back-to-back state basketball championships before playing four seasons, three as a starter, and helping North Carolina win its sixth national championship in 2017.
His talent is apparent, but the 6-foot Berry never would have gotten this far without scoring high on intangibles. He is a finalist for the 88th annual AAU Sullivan Award — set to be presented Tuesday night in Manhattan to the top amateur athlete in the United States — largely because of his acute leadership skills and an ability to overcome almost any obstacle.
“The accolades and everything are good for basketball,’’ Berry said. “It’s not just who I am. This award would just be a testimony to my character and to what my ultimate goal is, which is to connect with people and how you set an example to live life.’’
Berry turned 23 years old on April 1, but he already has left a lasting imprint.
“I’ll miss Joel Berry’s toughness,’’ said North Carolina’s Roy Williams, a college basketball head coach for 30 seasons. “He’s at the top of the list of those kind of kids that I’ve ever coached. I’ll miss that toughness, that competitiveness, that fearlessness.’’
The installation of those qualities began at home.
Joel Berry Sr. and Kathie stressed respect and discipline to their five children, partly through an insistence that they learn martial arts.
For Joel and his siblings, each chop and kick provided a continuing education in serenity under pressure and how to make good decisions quickly.
“Good leadership — not just having somebody follow you or somebody being a boss or bully,’’ Joel Sr. said. “Being able to be a good example for your friends, whether they’re older or younger than you and the right time, just being noticeable.’’
When he was younger, Joel II usually played up in age on the AAU circuit. He was only 12 or 13 years old one summer, and his squad was in trouble after three of its starters, including former University of Florida guard Kasey Hill, fouled out.
Berry took over as the point guard, forced to grab the wheel of a team careening to an almost certain defeat. He fueled his team’s comeback victory.
“From that point on, it was like, ‘Hey, I can actually lead a team,’’’ Berry’s father said of his son.
Founded in 1970, Lake Highland’s campus sits about a mile from downtown Orlando. The small private school was never known for basketball before Berry arrived from his home in Apopka.
The Highlanders had nine postseason victories all time (not counting district tournaments) before him. Lake Highland clinched four playoff berths with Berry in control and reached the state finals three times, winning Class 4A titles in 2013 and ’14.
“We didn’t have the most talent,’’ Berry said. “It was more of an academic school, and that’s why my parents wanted me to go there. It didn’t have the skills of other players that I had competed with at the AAU level.
“That helped build me into a leader, learning how to take guys who necessarily weren’t the best and just know them and have patience with them, give them a boost of confidence.’’
Jeff Turner played 10 NBA seasons, including seven with the Orlando Magic. Now a television analyst for the team, Turner coached Berry for three years in high school.
“From the time he got there, he was clearly the best player,’’ Turner said. “A lot of times, the best player — when he knows it and everyone knows it — can feel empowered to do everything. He understood that in order for the team to have success, he had to make everyone else around him better as well.’’
If Berry wanted to play with the best — or at least, some of the best — he found that place at North Carolina. The school known for Dean Smith and Michael Jordan, James Worthy and Sam Perkins, and Bob McAdoo and Billy Cunningham is well-heeled in success on the hardwood.
They expect it. Berry didn’t quite know what to expect early in his collegiate career. He struggled early as a freshman as he battled an injured groin but displayed flashes in practice.
In a game at Pittsburgh that season, Berry showed the type of player he could be. He played 28 minutes, his most that season, and produced eight points and six assists.
Although North Carolina lost, Berry arrived.
“I started feeling like I had the confidence to go out there and play without worrying about trying to make a mistake or trying to be a perfect player,’’ he said.
Berry never lost that confidence.
As a sophomore, he made all four of his 3-point attempts and scored 20 points in North Carolina’s 77-74 loss to Villanova in the 2016 national championship game in Houston.
The following year in Glendale, Ariz., Berry was chosen the Final Four’s most outstanding player after the Tar Heels overcame Gonzaga 71-65 in the final. Berry played on two sprained ankles.
“It was one of those feelings where the weight of the world was off my shoulders, because we had lost the year before on a heartbreaking shot,’’ Berry said.
Berry’s winning formula might not have been possible without that Pennsylvania getaway in 2012. Berry was part of the first excursion, called Blackwatch, that included about 50 boys.
Some played sports. Others didn’t. Cliques were broken down for the sole purpose of trying to make impressionable teenagers more open to different perspectives.
“You find out the strengths of others,’’ said Mick Davis, Lake Highland’s dean of students and a former Marine. “You get to know what we call the iceberg effect. You get to know their 80 percent below the water line, and you learn to strip away the veneer of what their specialty is. It humbles you.’’ Berry received the message. “We learned how to connect with people that you normally wouldn’t talk to on a daily basis,’’ he said. “We did that through all ROTC stuff, just having leadership meetings at the end of the day.’’
Next up for Berry is the Sullivan Award. He is one of seven finalists for an award that dates to 1930 and has been claimed by the likes of Wilma Rudolph, Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis and Michael Phelps. Tim Tebow won in 2007.
More than the 17.1 points, 3.2 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game he averaged as a senior, Berry’s selection as a finalist reaffirms the value of good leadership.
Berry’s parents will be with him in New York City for the announcement. Kathie Berry is proud of one lesson her oldest son learned before his name ever appeared in a newspaper.
“You need to lead in the way that’s comfortable for you, because [if not,] then you step outside of your character,’’ she said. “If that’s not who you are, then you’re not being a great leader. You have to lead in the way that you know how to lead.’’
Berry expects to graduate next month.
A college diploma does many things, but it won’t make him a better leader or enhance his other intangibles.
He already earned high marks in those areas.
sruiz@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5008