“I look up to him, he’s exactly what I want to be when I get older,” said basketball player Te’Jour Riley of his mentor Chris Crumpler.

The two first met when Mr Riley was 14.

Mr Crumpler, who was then the head sports coach at CedarBridge Academy, spotted the youngster playing basketball and invited him to try out for the varsity team.

He became the youngest player, and also the only underclassman. However while his skills in basketball got better, he started struggling with other areas of life.

Mr Crumpler stepped in again, this time as a mentor.

He began coaching Mr Riley and another promising young player, Kieron Burgess, from his home each weekday morning. He would also pray with them, and read the Bible.

Those efforts paid off.

Mr Burgess is pursuing a post graduate degree at Atlanta’s American Basketball Institute, on a $2,500 scholarship. Mr Riley, a student at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia, plays in the NCAA Division II.

That success came about with great effort from Mr Crumpler, said Mr Riley.

“I was really stubborn at first,” the 21-year-old said. “I’ve always respected Coach’s opinion and valued his words of advice, but originally I’d listen with half a mind.

“At the time I was a kid, I was just trying to be a kid, I didn’t really want to listen — that was the first 12 to 15 months of our relationship.

“Then out of nowhere I started learning, the hard way unfortunately, all the things coach had preached were true.

“At that point I started to really take heed of what he was saying and also started applying those lessons to my life.

“I’ve never been a terrible kid, but I really can say once I started applying Coach’s advice and teachings I started evolving. I started recognising life is not just about what immediate gratification I can get and more about working towards sustainable happiness.”

Mr Riley is now able to say he’s the kind of man his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother can be proud of. “Every trial and tribulation I’ve faced, Coach has been there ready to mentor and guide me through,” he said.

“Whenever I come to him with a problem he first calms me down and says, ‘Stop focusing on the problem and let’s start working on the solution’. I’ve personally stolen that phrase from Coach and I use it often when I mentor younger people.”

He said there were plenty of times he thought of giving up but persevered thanks to family support and help from Mr Crumpler. “My family play a major part in me staying the course,” he said. “I love the look on my mom’s face when I bring her home a trophy or an award for being the best.

“Also, there are literally countless people who have helped me along the way.

“It would kind of be like me spitting in their faces if I didn’t return their faith, trust, and hard work they placed in me. Coach always told me ‘Men don’t do what they want to do, they do what they have to!’ So that’s why I keep pushing for that brighter future I know I’m capable of.”

He said he looks up to Mr Crumpler for being a great husband, father and mentor, but also an “all around great man”.