Editor’s Note: The following story was published in the debut edition of our most ambitious publication to date — our newspaper, “Wayne Week.” The debut edition of the paper, which we be published on a full-time schedule beginning in August, is available for free at various locations across the county, including a rack outside our office at 219 North John Street.
A seventh-grader cradles a basketball against his forearm.
He pushes off with his right leg — propelling himself from the hardwoods toward the rim.
“I was cutting baseline and just went up,” he said. “I didn’t realize I was that high. I just threw it in.”
TaKorrie Faison had no way of knowing that his first in-game dunk would reverberate across Wayne County — that in the split-second between his leap and his finish, he would become a local legend.
He was only 12 years old.
“Man, I didn’t know what to do. The whole gym blew up,” he said. “I just started yelling and jumping.”
In that moment, he realized that basketball had chosen him — that he could do things with the 1 pound, 4 ounce object in his hand that his peers could only dream about.
“Before then, I didn’t even really focus on basketball like that,” TaKorrie said. “I mean, I knew it was something I liked, but I was doing multiple things. Look at me now.”
•
A ninth-grader steps onto the court inside the Norvell T. Lee Gymnasium.
He locks eyes with one of the top high school basketball players in the nation.
Everyone in attendance knows that Kinston High School’s Dontrez Styles has committed to the University of North Carolina — that he has likely been the best player in every game he’s played that season.
But the freshman he’s matched up against isn’t planning on backing down.
TaKorrie’s coaches had told him that “if I worked hard enough, I could go to college and make a name for myself — make some money off my name.”
But it wasn’t until that particular game — a rivalry tilt between Goldsboro High School and their greatest foe — that he began to believe it.
“It started to click when we played (Kinston) at home. It was the first time I played against Trez. I had 20. It was just like, ‘Wow. I had 20 on him.’ He was the one guarding me that night, too,” TaKorrie said. “So, if I dropped 20 on him, just imagine how much better I will be able to get in the next three years if I keep working. I could be better than him.”
The Cougars would end up losing that evening in a double-overtime thriller.
TaKorrie won anyway.
“That’s the game where I realized that people had really started talking. Before then, I didn’t know people were talking about me. I was under a rock. I was just hoopin’ and doing what I loved,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about the future. I was focused on right then. But after that night, after I dropped 20 on Trez, that’s when I really started to take that leap.”
•
A twelfth-grader soars under the basket and surfaces on the other side of the rim, throwing down a thunderous dunk before screaming toward the rafters.
He knows that an NBA All-Star is sitting in the stands — that college scouts are lining the baselines.
But TaKorrie would tell you that while it was “an honor” to play in front of New Orleans Pelicans star Brandon Ingram, he knew he had to “lock in.”
It was, after all, a matchup of two of the top three teams in 2A — a game with critical playoff seeding implications.
“I knew I had to keep the same mentality I’d had all year,” TaKorrie said. “Play like nobody is in the gym.”
The Cougars would ultimately pull off the road win and TaKorrie proved himself, yet again, to be the best player on the floor.
And his performance caught the eye of the scouts on hand.
“Sometimes, I reflect on it,” TaKorrie said. “That was a big-time game, as far as my recruitment, for sure.”
•
A high school graduate cradles a little girl against his forearm.
He raises her above his head and smiles.
Three months earlier inside a room at the Wayne UNC Health Care building, the day before a state playoff game, he realized that Ka’Mani had chosen him — that he could provide, for that 7-pound newborn resting against his chest, a better life than those he had witnessed growing up in Goldsboro.
“That was the happiest day of my life. It changes everything. I’m not going to say (my daughter is) the only reason why I keep going, but she is one of the most important reasons I keep going,” TaKorrie said. “I brought a whole new life into the world — and at an early age, too. So, it’s like, I’ve got to work ten times harder now. If I don’t, it’s going to be an ongoing cycle. I don’t want that for her. I don’t want her to go through the same thing I went through — watching her parents struggle.”
And he wants her to have options beyond those that some of his peers haven’t.
The truth is, TaKorrie understands that without basketball, he might not be attending East Carolina University in the fall — that many young people growing up in his neighborhood will never make it out.
That is part of what drove him to pick it up in the classroom and on the court.
“I’d take that over being out on those streets doing what they do anytime. You’re not going nowhere with that,” he said. “You’re not going nowhere being on the block, doing what you do. You got to have an end goal for yourself. I just told myself I’m gonna stay away from that type of life.”
And now, he tells himself that Division I basketball is only the next step in a story that ends as a member of the National Basketball Association — that he owes it to his family to not squander an opportunity most of his classmates would die for.
“I feel like that’s really what is on my mind nowadays. I cannot only change my life but my family’s life. I’ve got to make sure I do that. I don’t want my family staying in this city all their life working 9 to 5. I want them to be able to relax,” TaKorrie said. “They’ve been working every single day since they’ve been in this city. The stuff I’ve seen them go through, I don’t want them to have to go through anymore.”
•
An infant squeezes her father’s finger.
She tucks her head into the crook of his arm and stares — her dark eyes wide open.
She can’t possibly understand that her birth cost TaKorrie a basketball scholarship from one of the most prolific programs in the country, or that some people think her parents are too young to have a child.
She’s only three months old.
But her father would tell you that the out-side noise doesn’t matter — that from the moment he saw her face, he knew Ka’Mani was destined to be a part of his story.
“Everybody makes impactful decisions in their life, and they have to carry those decisions with them for the rest of their lives. But it’s not about what you did, it’s about how you handle it from when you made that decision until the day you lay to rest,” TaKorrie said. “Life is not just about trying to be perfect. It’s not about, ‘He’s too young for that.’ Everybody has different lives.”
He knows that his life is now defined as both a local sports legend who went on to play Division I basketball and as a teenage father.
And he will use those tags as motivation — as fuel to make good on his ambitions.
“If anything, I’m more motivated and I’m going to be more responsible. I have no reason to slack off now. I have a whole child,” TaKorrie said. “You’re gonna get the best of me every single day — as a man and every single time I step out on that court. And my daughter, she won’t have to worry about seeing me struggle. I want my child to be able to live the best life she can. I’m gonna make that happen for her by any means necessary.”
