NCAA Basketball: Campbell’s Chris Clemons is doing things his way

Before arriving to Campbell

Long before Chris Clemons had grand aspirations of putting on dazzling performances at the college level, his journey and relationship with basketball started in the concrete driveway of his north Raleigh home, tucked over 40 miles away from the serene campus that he’d one day make his own. The bustling city was his playground, and basketball was the game of choice for a five-year-old Chris whose burgeoning attention span and childish curiosity needed something to latch on to.

“He used to sleep with a basketball as a kid,” Carlyton Clemons told CBS Sports back in 2017 when discussing his young son’s immediate attachment and infatuation with the game. Nights spent cuddling with that leather-bound sphere would transform into early mornings where the ball refused to leave his side.

Weekend mornings would provide Chris’s parents with abrupt awakenings, as the wind chimes on the front door would sing loudly as the brash and energetic five-year-old would bolt out of the house and into the driveway to play basketball beneath the 7 a.m. sunlight.

“‘Oh Lord, Chris is up,’” his father recalls saying to his son in a 2017 interview. “‘Somebody gotta get up and be with Chris.’” Chris’s parents didn’t mind, truly. They understood that basketball was something for their son to cherish, and Chris thanks them for nurturing his love for the game and supporting him along the way, giving him the freedom and guidance to grow as a person and ball-player, even if it meant waking up at untimely hours of the morning.

Shooting, dribbling, passing. It was all a marvel to the bright-eyed youngster, and that concrete driveway — a small court for a small player — was all that he needed and more. Before he would ever step foot on the hardwood floors of high school and collegiate gyms, the concrete was just enough for him. Enough for him to spend hours and days at a time working on his game before he even understood just how good he’d grow up to be.

Days inside and away from this personal court were spent with eyes glued to the television, tracking the stats and figures and highlights that whizzed across the screen on an array of sports channels. Basketball games of any ilk — NCAA, NBA, you name it — were fair game for a basketball-starved child who just enjoyed the purity of the sport and the excitement that it inspired within him.

The North Carolina Tar Heels sparked his eye for their legendary alumni, the Michael Jordan’s and Vince Carter’s of the world who played freely and energetically, fast and poised, and as explosive and skilled as could be. In the pros, it was the smallest of the smalls, the shortest player to ever get drafted first overall, Allen Iverson, who Clemons’ would latch on to for good. Iverson’s number 3 would become Clemons’, Iverson’s signature crossover and acrobatic finishes would become his, and the chip on Iverson’s shoulder that fueled an internal fire to prove others wrong would also find a permanent spot on Clemons’ shoulder, too.

“He’s a fearless guy. Always aggressive, fearless,” Clemons says. “He wasn’t scared of anybody. He always had that scorers mentality … and that confidence I have as well. He was undersized (like me), as they say.”

Over the years, familial battles with his father and his older (and taller, 6-foot-2-inch) brother, Carlee, would serve as the initial stepping stones that fueled Chris’s desire to compete and desire to get better. Always shorter than his family and shorter than those around him, it never bothered him — he knew that it meant he’d have to work harder to overcome a vertical challenge, and hell, he overcame them.

Losses against his brother soon turned into competitive games. Competitive bouts turned into wins. And, eventually, Clemons was winning pretty easily, not letting his short stature come between him and victory. He was confident in his game and competitive as all hell. Growing up short, others were hesitant to believe in Clemons — but he sure as hell believed in himself.