By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – When your alma mater retires your jersey number, it’s a big deal, actually the event of a lifetime. And that was clearly the case for Ronnie Valentine, the former Old Dominion basketball All-American, when his number 42 was retired by ODU Saturday evening.
As nearly 5,000 fans at Chartway Arena cheered, he held aloft his framed jersey and smiled, fighting back tears. It had been nearly 46 years since he last donned an ODU jersey.
“It was surreal,” he said. “For so much of my life, I never thought anything like this would happen.”
But a far more impactful thing happened just hours earlier at the ODU Marriott Springfield Suites.
Valentine was reunited with his mother, Nancy Valentine Hawkins, after more than three decades of being apart.
It was quite a Valentine’s Day gift for Valentine and his family, including his brother, Mario, who came to Norfolk from North Carolina to see his brother’s jersey retired.
The reunion was both heartbreaking and heartening. As Nancy entered the room, she thanked those sitting around her son because she knew they had brought him from Miami to Norfolk, and helped rescue him from being homeless.
But as she put her arms around him, she began to cry a woeful wail that was haunting. She cried, sat back and looked at him and cried some more.
“Thank you Lord, thank you Jesus, thank you Lord,” she said between sobs. “Thank you for bringing my son back to me.”
She remarked on how thin he is and asked if he is sick. “Are you seeing a doctor?” she asked. Yes, he said.
“You need to eat more,” she said. “I will,” he replied.
Once a Mom, always a Mom.
“That was a moment I will never forget,” said Reese Neyland, a teammate of Valentine at ODU and now a pastor in Los Angeles.
“It was so touching.”
Mother and son lost contact in the 1990s – no one could quite recall exactly when – after Valentine became homeless.
Valentine was a four-year starter at ODU who scored double figures in every game he played and is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,204 points. He was drafted by the Denver Nuggets and played there for a season before beginning a long career in the Continental Basketball Association.
He settled in Miami while playing in the CBA and then continued his career overseas.
But when he returned from Bolivia in 1990, he was penniless and had lost his wallet with all of his IDs, including his passport.
Homeless experts say that it is easier than you think to find yourself on the streets, and much harder to get off the streets than you think. Drug use played a role in his descent into poverty.
He didn’t know where to turn so he began doing odds jobs. Eventually, he lost his apartment and began living on the streets.
He was homeless for more than 27 years, and suffered in ways one can only imagine. Occasionally, he would find a bed in a shelter but most of the time, he slept with a blanket on concrete or benches. He pushed a shopping cart around with his few possessions, which included a basketball.
If you’ve never been to Miami, it feels like the hottest place on earth during the summer. Thousands of homeless encamp underneath Interstate-95 largely because of the shade it provides. The homeless there are often preyed upon by thieves.
It wasn’t until 2018, when The Virginian-Pilot did a story on Valentine, that ODU fans learned he had been homeless nearly three decades. A Catholic charity had recently persuaded him to move into supportive housing.
A group of ODU alumni in the Miami area and elsewhere, including former women’s basketball All-American Nancy Lieberman, then rallied around Valentine to help take care of him. Former South Carolina and Maury High player Karlton Hilton also helped.
Wes Lockard and Stephanie Carr Field, who live in the Miami area, accompanied him to Norfolk on Friday.
Lockard has been Valentine’s rock these last eight years. The guy who was formerly Big Blue at ODU and the mascot for the Miami Heat, has been steadfast in helping Valentine.
Wes and Stephanie gave him a tour of ODU’s campus on Friday.
“I don’t recognize the campus anymore,” he said. “It’s changed so much.”
He was amazed by Chartway Arena, which he said was a smaller version of an NBA arena.
“Would have loved to have played here,” he said.
That afternoon, former ODU guard Billy Mann arranged a party for Valentine at the Dirty Buffalo restaurant in Norfolk where he was reunited with many childhood friends and former ODU teammates, including Wilson Washington, who paid homage to Valentine.
CLICK HERE for Virginian-Pilot story on Valentine's reunion with former teammates
“I asked you to come play with me at Old Dominion,” Washington said. “And you said yes.
“Thank you for making my senior season so memorable.”
The Monarchs finished 25-4 in 1976-77 and upset Georgetown and Virginia on the road in their debut in Division I. Valentine would help take ODU to its first NCAA Division I Tournament and twice to the National Invitation Tournament.
On Saturday morning he watched the Monarchs in their shootaround practice and when the players were done, they all walked over and shook Valentine’s hand.
“It’s an honor to meet you,” said KC Shaw, who would lead ODU with 28 points that evening.
Valentine was visibly moved by the gesture.
Assistant coach Odell Hodge, a former ODU All-American, then gave him a tour of the Mitchum Performance Center, ODU’s practice home. He signed a map of Virginia in the locker room, which has autographs from dozens of former ODU stars.
The large, lighted lockers, the players’ lounge, the weight facilities at The Mitch “remind me of the facilities I saw in the NBA,” Valentine said.
Then he went to see his mother.
The Monarchs played as well as they have all season on Senior Day and were well on their way to demolishing Georgia State at halftime, which began with ODU’s alumni being honored.
Fans then saw a short highlight video of Valentine’s career and he then walked onto the court, arm-in-arm with his mother.
In all the times I’ve seen Valentine since 2018, I’d never seem him smile so brightly.
Dr. Wood Selig, ODU’s director of athletics, presented him with his replica jersey No. 42, and ODU unveiled the banner with “42 VALENTINE” in the rafters as the crowd of 4,759 roared its approval.
Valentine raised the framed jersey several times to the crowd and then walked off the court, where he was mobbed by fans, friends and former teammates.
“It was amazing,” Valentine said. “Just an amazing experience. I can’t thank the fans, all of my former teammates, my family and friends, who came out. I saw so many people I hadn’t seen in years.
“Thank you to Wood Selig. Thank you to Stephanie and others who wrote letters to try to make this happen.
“Everything about this weekend has been perfect, just perfect.”
His mother had her arm linked with his as her son was interviewed.
“Words can’t express how happy I am,” she said. “I’m so happy they retired his jersey. I can’t thank them enough.
“I can’t begin to thank the people who brought Ronnie home.”
After the game, ODU Head Coach Mike Jones paid homage to Valentine. When told that Valentine was moved when ODU’s players came over and shook his hand, Jones responded: “That’s the least we could do.
“You can point to so many people that are responsible for ODU basketball being what it is so that a place like Chartway Arena was needed. And he’s one of them.
“Life has not been kind to him. I know that. Yes, that was the least we could do.”
Dr. Selig beamed as he handed Valentine his jersey and recalled a story from more than 50 years ago, when he was a student at Carolton Oaks, which is now known as Norfolk Collegiate.
Selig recalls seeing Valentine play for the first time – Norfolk Catholic was then the archrival for Carolton Oaks – said he will never forget how Valentine scored with such ease.
“Who knew that 50 years later that I would have the privilege of handing him his jersey on the night it was retired,” Dr. Selig said. “It was such a great feeling. You could see the joy in his eyes and in the eyes of his mother.”
Saturday night, Valentine and many of his former teammates gathered for food and drink at the Recovery Sports Grill in the Springhill Suites. Jones and his wife, Stayce, attended and they hugged Valentine when leaving.
Eight family members of Sonny Allen, the former ODU coach, came to see his jersey retired, and Sonny’s son, Billy, and daughter, Jackie Eldrenkamp, spent much of the day with the Valentine family.
“It’s been a long day,” Valentine said, adding that processing his first trip home in nearly four decades will take some time.
He’s fully back in touch with his family and they will remain in touch, he said.
“It was so good to come home,” he said.
Will he make a return trip? Will we ever see him at ODU again?
“Yes, I think so,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed this so much.
“I do hope to come back.”
Minium is ODU's Senior Executive Writer for Athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
To see past stories from Minium, CLICK HERE