LU Graduate Stephon Leary Releases Book, Tells of Life-Changing Moments

On June 18, 1986, the words of basketball legend “Pistol” Pete Maravich changed Stephon Leary’s life forever.

After a week of dominating the competition at “Pistol” Pete’s youth basketball camp at Clearwater Christian College, Leary, a high school junior and Houston-native, felt special. That feeling grew even more when Maravich, a Hall of Famer and the organizer of the camp, personally invited him to lunch.

“While I thought I was special, I actually sat down and had lunch with (Maravich) where he told me the greatest lesson I learned in my life, which has guided me and directed me in my life today,” Leary said. “He basically sat me down and told me I reminded him of his teammate in Boston – Tiny Archibald. He said I had great talent and skill and said I had an opportunity to one day be a pro if I stayed with it. He said, ‘But I wanted to tell you that I give out an MVP award every camp, and I wanted to have lunch to tell you that I won’t be giving you that award.’”

Leary swiped his tray to the side and ran out of the lunchroom, furious at what he had just heard. As Leary paced outside, his coach and lifelong mentor Dave Stallman came out to talk with him and invited him to come back and listen to Maravich speak to the campers that evening.

Leary begrudging agreed and returned. That evening, Maravich shared his testimony of a time when he was a braggadocious young man and nearly died in a bar fight, before having a revelation about his pride and becoming a Christian soon thereafter.

“I sat there with tears in my eyes and I saw myself in him,” Leary said. “It was that day, June 18th, 1986, that (I) became a Christian. … It was like God instantly gave me a vision of myself and my ability to be someone.”

That moment was one of many turning points for Leary, who went on to become a graduate of Liberty University, a high school and college head basketball coach, business owner, NBA agent, inventor, author and motivational speaker. Living a life that he could never have imagined, Leary now leverages his experiences to encourage others that “If I can, you can.”

Leary grew up in the small town of Bunkie, Louisiana, as one of seven children with an abusive father. When he was a child, his mother gathered Leary and his siblings and fled to Houston, Texas, where Leary would spend the majority of his youth being raised by a single mom.

While many of his siblings were getting in trouble with the law, playing sports became a passion for Leary, who especially excelled at basketball.

“Growing up in the inner city (filled with) drugs, alcohol, crime and gangs, I found myself in love with sports,” Leary said. “I would usually do any and everything to play whatever sport there was.”

Sports opened the door for Leary’s life transformation on an average afternoon when he and his brother travelled to the suburbs of Houston to play basketball at a local gym. It was there that he met Stallman, who invited him to the camp in Clearwater and ultimately became Leary’s mentor throughout his life.

Stallman helped Leary recognize that while he was talented athletically, his character did not match his physical abilities.

Later in the summer of 1986, before Leary’s senior year of high school, Stallman introduced Leary to the idea of transferring to a Christian school – an opportunity that would allow Leary to finish high school, take Bible classes and play basketball. Leary immediately showed interest, but his mother, who worked multiple jobs and was not around much to watch Leary play, disapproved of the idea.

Later that summer, the course of Leary’s life shifted again when he visited the school with Stallman and attended an early-morning prayer meeting.

“At a 5 a.m. prayer meeting, after the prayer – with nothing but adults and me being a 17-year-old kid, this white woman by the name of Lynn Johnson walks up to me and (asked) what I (was) doing (there), and I said, ‘I’m with Coach (Stallman) to look at the school,’” Leary said. “So, she said these words to me that changed my life: ‘While we were praying, I felt like God told me to offer you a place to live.’”

After growing up in a two-bedroom apartment with seven siblings, Leary was shocked and amazed at Johnson’s offer, and her family’s loving acceptance. Lynn’s husband Dave and their four children – Jacob, Jessica, Billy and Scott – embraced Leary with open arms.

Leary’s mother – who previously lived in a segregated area of Louisiana – was not so sure about the racial differences Leary would face if he moved out, but after hearing his plea, she allowed him to make the change for his senior year. That transition made all the difference for Leary.

“I tell people that a change in zip codes – from the inner-city to the suburbs – changed who (I) was, my outlook on life, my understanding of life and the possibilities of life,” Leary said.

Leary shined under the new discipline and structure, going from a C or D student to achieving a 4.0 GPA in his senior year.

Continuing to excel on the basketball court as well, Leary led his team to state and national championships and earned NACA All-American honors. The star senior was recruited by a number of Division I schools including Baylor, Texas A&M, Houston and even Indiana and North Carolina, thanks to the endorsement of Maravich, who put the word out about Leary.

It was Maravich, however, who steered Leary away from the big-time schools, giving him advice that would once again change the trajectory of Leary’s life.

At an All-American camp, Leary met Rick Burby, an assistant coach at Liberty University, who offered Leary the chance to come to Lynchburg to help lead the team’s transition to the Division I level. Leary showed interest in the school and called Maravich to ask for his perspective.

“I called him for advice, and I asked him if he had to do it all over again, where would he go to school,” Leary said. “He said, ‘Stephon, if there was a Christian university that offered me an opportunity to play Division I, what I know now, I would have attended that (school).”

Soon afterward, Leary officially committed to Liberty, having never seen the campus.

That conversation would be one of the last Leary shared with Maravich, who died during Leary’s freshman year at Liberty. The legacy of what Maravich taught Leary lives on however, as one of the slogans of Leary’s current basketball training program remains “building character through athletics” – an homage to the lesson Maravich instilled in Leary that changed his life.

Leary finished his degree at Liberty, and after a short stint in professional basketball became a successful coach at his former high school in Houston, where he developed a state-championship contending sports program. He returned to Liberty to become an assistant coach with the men’s basketball team from 2002-05 and helped lead the Flames to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2004.

In 2005, Leary got his first opportunity as a college head basketball coach thanks to the endorsement of Dr. Jerry Falwell Sr., who personally called the president of Palm Beach Atlantic University to recommend Leary for the job.

“Liberty has meant so much to me,” Leary said. “I experienced a life I never thought of or dreamed of.”

After several years at PBA and a couple seasons coaching at Texas A&M International University, Leary went into the NBA agent business, training and representing a number of professional prospects. In 2011, he launched an AAU basketball program called Shooting Stars.

As Leary built his basketball training program into one of the largest in the Houston area – producing more than 80 college players – he experimented with creative methods to help his athletes develop speed and agility.

His experimentation led to the creation of something he now calls the Xxcelerator training and rehabilitation boot – a combination of a jump sole training shoe, ankle weights and rubber resistance bands.

“I put all three of those things on (the player I was training) and as he did some exercises, one day I looked at that thing and said, ‘Man, that looks like a boot, I wonder if there is something out there like it,’” Leary said. “And there wasn’t. So, I started using the concept because I saw that it was working.”

Leary had the idea, but his invention became a reality thanks to Liberty. In 2016, Leary returned to his alma mater to pitch his idea to the engineering school, with the aim of getting the Xxcelerator patented.

The patent request was approved in 2018, making Leary an official patent-holder thanks to the hard work of a team of LU engineering students who had taken on the design two years prior as a capstone project.

“That’s exciting for me to come back to Liberty – to come back to where it all began for me – and to have Liberty be a part of that.” Leary said.

Earlier this month, Leary became an author when his book, “They Call Me Coach: If I Can, You Can” was released Oct. 7. In the book, Leary retells much of his story, including a section about his time at Liberty and his relationship with Falwell Sr.

Looking back through the memories of all of his life goals and accomplishments, Leary remembers the small act of kindness that opened the door to so many of the opportunities he has had in his life. Meeting Dave Stallman and listening to “Pistol” Pete on that fateful summer evening changed Leary’s life, and now he is using his life to help do the same for others.

“To think of myself as the young man … where I came from … that I have built a business, (written) a book, (became) an inventor, have coached at the college level, to have done stuff at the NBA level, it’s very humbling for me, and it all started with somebody of a different race who extended a hand to me,” Leary said.

Christian Weaner is the Asst. Sports Editor. follow him on Twitter @christianweaner.