WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Javondre Cole is no basketball pro.
In high school he was a dedicated wrestler and a football and baseball player, but right at the end of his senior year, being ‘like Mike’ got a little easier.
“I feel like it was proof in the pudding,” Cole said in an interview. “It was bound to happen.”
Ever the sneakerhead, just like his late grandfather, who was also his biggest cheerleader, it was like he was destined to receive the Jordan Brand Wings Scholarship.
In May 2018, Cole was called to go to his high school gym. Little did he know, an entire pep rally had been planned to surprise him with the news that he was a recipient.
“I think I’ve said it before, I felt like a basketball player at a a really big game, like a state championship,” Cole recalled.
The 19-year-old is one of 26 recipients across the U.S. and the first scholar at Winston-Salem State University, a school over 2,000 miles away from his native state of Oregon.
“I wanted to go to a historical black college,” Cole said. “As soon as I got the scholarship opportunity it was a no-brainer for me to just get away from home, go as far away as possible, but to a great university in the end.”
Cole is majoring in Sports Management with a focus on marketing and promotions.
He hopes his academic endeavors will lead to a gig with Nike, where he can live on his passion for shoes.
“Straight out of college, if they give me the opportunity, I’m dropping hats and running,” Cole said. “Nike is where I’ve wanted to be for a long time.”
More importantly for Cole is the role he’ll play as a Ram at WSSU for the next three and a half years.
“I’m just here for the people and trying to do what I can to make the world a better place,” he said. “That’s our motto here, “Enter to learn, depart to serve,” so I’m trying to make sure I’m idolizing that as much as I can day by day.”
So far, Cole has done just that through many leadership roles like being the master of ceremonies at the 2019 Male Empowerment Summit at WSSU, as a Campus Ambassador, the Brother-To-Brother freshman male mentoring program, and Game Day Operations with the school’s athletic department.