Powell rises up at Miller

There is a place that dominated the rough Newport News neighborhood that Marshawn Powell grew up in, a place that came to represent a harsh truth.

“Only two things happen if you go on the corner,” Powell said. “You die within two, three months, or you go to jail. I don’t want to do either one of those.”

Because of what Powell, a 2007 first team

All-Central Virginia honoree, has done over the past two years at the Miller School — and if he can continue to capitalize on his opportunities — he won’t have to think about either of those harrowing options.

Powell is headed to Arkansas in the fall, the first person in his family to go to college. Unlike the players he says dominate pick-up games at the local community center in Newport News, Powell — the nation’s No. 16 power forward according to several online recruiting services — has made basketball his ticket to a college education.

“If you come to my neighborhood this day and come to the community center where I play every time I go home, you’ll see at least 12 people who can play big-time D-I,” Powell said. “But they’re not going

to because they’re stuck in the street — they’re done.”

Not Powell. The senior forward has shown the ability to make the most of a good break, coming to Miller under the tutelage of coach Fred Wawner, and working out of a difficult academic situation. The end result, is college became a possibility.

“If it wasn’t for coach and everybody else here giving me the chance and not just looking at what was on paper without seeing me and getting to know me … I don’t know,” Powell said. “They gave me such a great opportunity — I mean, I’m going to college now. I think about it every day, to be honest.”

Powell, who averages close to 22 points and 10 rebounds per outing, has also earned Wawner’s respect and admiration.

“What’s special about Marshawn is that most of things he has in his life he’s done on his own,” Wawner said. “I don’t always agree with how he gets to some of his conclusions but they’re his conclusions and I really respect that about him. He’s a kid that you root for, that you want to do well.”

A change of direction

It didn’t always look like Powell would come this far though, a fact Powell admits. It’s been a long, tough journey for the forward who once quit his ninth-grade team simply because he wasn’t starting. Then he was retained after his freshman year because of poor academic performance.

Like most rebellious teenagers that grew up in an environment like his, Powell also explored life on the street.

“In seventh and eighth grade, I was basically one of those guys who liked to be outside, who liked to be on the corner,” Powell said. “Even if I wasn’t doing anything illegal, I was just out there for no reason.”

His struggles continued into the first two years of high school, as Powell fell apart academically, leaving him ineligible to play basketball for Menchville High.

“It was a nice school and people were breaking their back for me — it was up to me whether I took it, and I didn’t,” Powell said. “I became the star player of the team and [some people] basically let me do whatever I wanted to, and I took advantage of that.”

Luckily for Powell, his mother Anna Powell made sure he didn’t let those setbacks force him to succumb to the pressures of the corner. An unwavering presence, Anna made sure Marshawn didn’t stop fighting, cracking down while still providing the support he needed to get back on course.

“I love her to death,” Powell said. “She’s a strong woman. She’s been through a lot of things, and I’ve been through things with her. She’s the one who’s kept the family together. Without her, I’d probably be back down in Newport News — either dead or in jail.”

Powell also had something of a cautionary tale close to his heart, a reminder of what can go wrong when a young high school player allows circumstances to interfere with the path to a college education.

Powell’s brother, Marvell — now a working father in Newport News — made a series of mistakes that derailed a promising basketball career. In high school, Marvell was a heavily-recruited swingman on Warwick High’s squad along with former Virginia forward Elton Brown. Marshawn observed and learned from his brother’s mistakes and resolved that things would be different for him.

“He’s not a bad person at all, but circumstances —things happen,” Marshawn said. “I think God made that a sign for me. I told myself from that day forward that I wasn’t going to mess up, no matter what came in front of me.”

Left without a team during his second ninth-grade year, the Powell brothers went to work, the older brother sharing his younger sibling’s determination that Marshawn wasn’t going to repeat his mistakes. The tandem rose early and worked for hours each day on an outdoor court, improving Marshawn’s game and attitude on the court, adding something new each time they practiced.

Marvell helped transform Marshawn from a self-described “horrible” player into a refined, nifty forward who can put the ball on the floor like a guard but can also post up opponents and clean up on the boards like a Zamboni with uninhibited tenacity.

His older brother’s tutoring gave Powell the arsenal he needed to become a well-rounded high school player. And more importantly, a college prospect. Then Miller stepped in with a second chance.

The next step

In need of a chance to go to work on his academics and his game in a new setting, Powell built a connection with Wawner that was key to him selecting Miller as the site of emergence.

“You can’t play well just anywhere, you have to build a relationship with your coaches,” Powell said. “That’s what happened with coach Wawner. Before I came here, two months ahead of time we were on the phone talking every day.”

That bond with Wawner was a big reason Powell chose Miller over a traditional powerhouse prep school after making his mark at the prestigious Peach Jam with his AAU squad as a 16-year-old, Powell had options.

“It was an opportunity to make this program better — I’d never heard of Miller before,” Powell said. “I love when people don’t know about us — I love that.”

Not that the coach-player relationship has been without its ups-and-downs. There have been the typical disagreements, but Powell has matured drastically over the last two years, and he no longer resolves his problems by quitting like he did at Menchville.

“When we go head to head and I walk away from it, I still have a respect for [his decision] because it’s his,” Wawner said. “It’s not his mom or his dad or his brother’s, it’s how he got there. And usually he gets it right. He’s getting it right more and more and I have a lot of respect for him for that.”

Miller, a boarding school for Powell, has clearly had a big impact on his approach to basketball and life — there isn’t much he’s taking for granted these days. In almost two years at Miller, he’s gone from an occasionally petulant youngster to a focused, hard-working student.

“It’s helped me mature,” Powell said. “When I first came here I still was stuck in little kid mode basically. But it helped me become a man — or close to a man.”

While there are still some obstacles to overcome, Powell has made the most of his shot at Miller. Now he has become the ultimate student-athlete who has secured a chance to play college basketball.

“I think he’s in a great place, he’s working hard and he’s going to be successful at Arkansas,” Wawner said.

Powell said his mother and brother, two critical lines of support, couldn’t be prouder. They helped him turn his experiences in Newport News into a positive, guiding force.

“That’s where I get my toughness from I think, growing up down there,” Powell said. “You can ask anyone I play against, I’ll never roll over. I don’t care how much you beat me by or how bad you beat me up.”

He’s now proven that at Miller, both on and off the court.