By Harry Minium
Malik Curry began living a nightmare almost nine years ago that for a time he wondered whether he would survive.
His father, Herman Curry, was murdered in front of hundreds of people during a soccer tournament in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. It was a story that garnered national attention.
Malik, then just 13, at first didn't understand what happened or why. He was eaten up with anger, grief and disbelief. In some ways, he still is.
He rebelled against authority figures. He did well in school only because that's the only way he could play basketball. For years, he refused to talk about his father's murder, even to his family.
Malik said he doesn't think about the men who murdered his father "because it would drive me crazy."
Instead, he threw all his emotions into basketball.
"We were so worried about Malik," said Chante' Curry, his older sister. "The one thing we knew was that we had to be there for him."
They were. His family loved and supported him. They went to church together and hung together throughout the ordeal of the numerous legal proceedings that followed over the next couple of years.
And although he will always miss his father, Malik is in a much better place today.
The senior Old Dominion University point guard plays his final two home games when the Monarchs host Middle Tennessee Friday and Saturday.
Malik is ODU's best player – he leads the team in points and assists – and that comes from hard work as much as it does talent. He is in constant motion on the court and generally the only emotion you see from him is determination.
He was recruited to replace former point guard Ahmad Caver, now a star in the NBA G League, and it's the ultimate compliment to say that they are similar players with similar backgrounds who relied on family to get them through hard times.
Caver lost nearly a dozen friends to gun violence while growing up in the Atlanta suburbs. He and Malik often speak by phone.
Chante' says Malik is still grieving for his father, and that explains a lot about his work ethic.
"Malik kept it all in," she said. "He has never really expressed much about his feelings about what happened.
"He's still in pain. That's why he goes so hard. That's why he's so determined to make it.
"He still wants to make his Dad proud. He wants to make his family proud."
As well as his son.
Malik became a father in 2020 and his ten-month-old son, Malakai Curry, lives in Florence, S.C., with his son's mother, Ashlyn Flowers.
He was there for the birth and said he felt the instant love for his son that most parents experience the first time they see their child. "That's a love I never had before," Malik said.
Malik said he knew right away that his son was the most important thing in his life.
"My dad, he was the perfect father," he said. "I learned so much about being a dad from watching my parents. I know I have to be the same role model for my son."
One of the first things he did with Malakai was take him to his father's grave, where a relative snapped a photo of him holding his son, his face as stoic as it is on the basketball court.
ODU basketball coach Jeff Jones said he did not learn about Herman Curry's murder until Malik showed up on campus.
"It's not something he talks about a lot," he said. "When we have talked, it's been in relationship to Malakai, who has given him a different perspective on life."
Malik's life story is imperfect. It is full of tragedy and pain but also redemption and triumph.
It is the story of a family that pulled together when the tragedy happened and who relied on their Christian faith to bind their emotional wounds.
Malik had not spoken at length to the media about losing his father until earlier this month when, during separate interviews, he opened up to me.
"I've come a long way," he said. "I wasn't able to talk about it before."
Now he is and he wants people to know his story. He wants people to know that he overcame unthinkable loss, and so can others.
The Marcus Garvey soccer tournament was an annual affair that was run by Herman Curry for 16 years and drew hundreds of parents and kids. It drew teams from Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and was a community celebration as much as it was a soccer tournament.
Herman Curry, known as Sam by those close to him, was a well-respected community leader who worked with autistic children, coached basketball and soccer teams and who adored his six kids.
The tournament was underway on July 8, 2012, when Curry's wife, Nadine, left the park to go home to get her sons, Malik and Omar, who were scheduled to play that afternoon.
But when they pulled into the parking lot, they saw dozens of police cars and a police helicopter circling the park. Then people ran up to the car and said screaming, "Sam was shot, Sam was shot."
Minutes before, Sam had been gunned down in the most brutal of fashion. Court testimony revealed that Otis Phillips and Jeffrey Phillips, who aren't related, walked onto the field and ignored everyone until they walked up behind Curry.
Otis Phillips waited until Curry grabbed a microphone and was about to speak to the crowd when he tapped him on the shoulder and told him he was going to die. He shot Sam Curry three times in the chest.
Jeffrey Phillips then shot into the crowd as they were trying to reach a getaway car and killed 16-year-old soccer player Alexander Kamara. He was less than two months away from his junior year in high school.
Several people in the crowd pulled out guns and returned fire.
Sheldon Ogle, who was driving the getaway car, was shot and killed. Jeffrey Phillips was also wounded and eventually found by police along with Otis Phillips hiding in a nearby back yard.
Malik remembers going to the hospital and seeing his father, then still alive, in his room. "I touched his hand and it felt so cold," he said.
Some family members returned home with Malik to get some blankets, prepared to spend the night with Sam. When they returned, Nadine was crying and they learned their father had died.
Malik's whole world changed in an instant.
His father was his best friend and confidante. He had coached his boys in soccer and basketball. Nadine worked long hours as a manager in credit card operations at a bank, so Sam often cooked dinner, cleaned the house and took his kids to the doctor.
They had a close-knit family and did everything together.
"He was the best husband and best father you could ask for," Nadine said.
Malik said the first few years after his father died were a blur.
"Nothing felt like it was real," he said. "It wasn't until I saw his body in the casket that I knew it was real.
"The first few years after it happened, I'm not sure we were there for each other like we wanted to be."
When asked to express what she went through, Nadine hesitated for 30 seconds or so.
"Words cannot express that feeling," she said. "I have to say, for me as a parent, I had to be strong for the kids.
"We're surrounded by family who really love us and care for us."
Including her parents, Fay and Roy Dennis, who moved in with the family for four years.
"I couldn't have done it without them, especially in the early years," she said. "Every minute of every day was just putting one foot forward."
Malik is close to his grandparents, especially Roy, who became his male role model. Roy was among the first to hold Malakai.
However, no one could replace his father.
"My Dad, he was just a great person," Malik said. "He was the type of guy who, if we had a basketball game, would pick up the whole team and take them to the game. A lot of kids he coached didn't have their dads in their lives. He made sure to take care of them.
"He loved kids. He just wanted the best for every kid he knew. That's all he wanted."
Malik and Omar internalized their anger. And who can blame them?
Omar had to transfer from one high school to another because of outbursts. His father died just two days before his birthday. Life around the holidays and birthdays became a difficult slog.
Malik didn't get kicked out of school but struggled.
"I had therapy all through middle school and high school, but it never really helped me out," he said. "I never understood talking to someone who hasn't been through what I went through."
He took out his anger on those around him, especially male authority figures.
"Whoever wanted to act like my dad," he said. "I said, 'naw, that's not how it's going to be.' "
Malik wanted to leave Wilmington when he was a 16-year-old rising junior to play for a high-profile team in Texas.
"I was hesitant to send him but knew he really wanted to go," Nadine said. "I thought it would perhaps be good for him to have a change of scenery
"He passed the cemetery on his way to school. I thought it would be good for him to get away for a while."
Malik spent a year at the Advanced Prep International School in Dallas. When he returned for his senior season, he learned that classes he took there would not be accepted by the NCAA.
He then transferred to Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut but didn't enroll until January. He graduated but was forced to go to junior college.
He then spent two years at Palm Beach State in Florida, where he was a second-team All-American and made the Dean's List.
ODU coach Jeff Jones said it wasn't until Malik came to Norfolk that he finally found the stability he was looking for.
"I think Old Dominion has been a great experience for him and I'm not just talking about basketball," he said. "He's been exposed to different things here. It hasn't always been easy for him, but he's kept working and pushing.
"He's going to graduate. He's been successful on the court. And he's a really good young man with a big heart."
Sam and Nadine were madly in love and their courtship could have come right out of a romance novel. They both grew up in Jamaica and went to the same high school.
"I was the geek, the nerd and he was the soccer star," she said, laughing. "We didn't know each other."
Many years later they met they met in Wilmington, 1,500 miles from their home. One of his best friends lived next door to Nadine's Mom and they eventually began dating.
When they realized that had grown up near each other and yet had not met, they felt like perhaps it was their destiny to get married.
As she said, she had to be strong for her children. That included going to the many legal hearings, the murder trial and many appeals. She said she tried to shield her sons from the legal proceedings.
The murder trial took weeks, and the crime was complicated. But the bottom line, prosecutors told the jury, was that Curry was killed because he was going to testify against Otis Phillips in the 2008 shooting death of Christopher Palmer.
Curry witnessed the murder and told police he would testify, which is not always the case involving inner-city shootings. Police swore out warrants to arrest Otis Phillips in 2008, but they could not find him until the day he shot Curry four years later.
Prosecutors told jurors that he murdered Curry so that he could not testify.
Said Nadine of her husband: "I think he was brave for standing up for what he thinks was right.
"He had a brave heart and Malik has a brave heart."
Otis Phillips and Jeffrey Phillips were found guilty of murder. Jeff Phillips got life without parole while Otis Phillips was given the death penalty. However, Delaware recently did away with the death penalty and Otis Phillips is in prison, presumably where he will spend the rest of his life.
Chante' spoke directly to them from the stand during the sentencing phase of the trial. Both she and Nadine said they were infuriated with the reaction of both of them.
"I'm crying, I'm shaking, my voice is wavering, and they didn't care," she said. "Nonchalant," is how Nadine described their reaction.
Nadine was angry but over time, realized, "I can't hold onto this anger.
"I survived because of my faith. I give it all to God and asked him to lead me and direct me. I couldn't have done this without God in my life."
"When it happened," Chante' added, "it was unbearable. That first night, we didn't think we were going to make it.
"That was the longest night of our lives. When I think about it today, I think, 'we made it through that? We're here to tell our story?' Because at the time, it was unbearable."
But they have all persevered. Chante' is a college graduate and a social worker.
Omar has his anger problems under control and is attending Carolina Christian College, an historically Black college that trains young people to enter the ministry. He plans to play basketball at Carolina Christian next season.
Malik will graduate with a degree in communication this summer.
Malik said his religious faith has carried him through the last nine years.
"My Mom left the park to come pick us up just before" the shooting, he said. "God protected my Mom that day. Losing her, too, would have been so much worse."
Nadine will be in the stands Saturday to watch him play his last home game as a senior. In part because of the pandemic, she and other family members have had to be content watching their so play on television.
"Malik has overcome so much," she said. "It wasn't a straight path for him. He had to go through so many avenues to get to Old Dominion.
"It certainly wasn't easy. He just has so much determination.
"I'm proud of all my children and I'm very proud of Malik."
As she should be.
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Minium: ODU's Malik Curry Survived the Murder of his Father Thanks to his Family and his Faith
