LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Amy Williams’ house overlooks the fourth fairway at Maumelle Country Club, where summer mornings in this central Arkansas suburb are usually quiet enough to work with the windows open. On this Friday in late July, the social worker case manager looked up and saw a parade of commotion of golf carts while she worked from home. One after another passed her window. The steady stream followed the same group down the fairway.
Williams, 52, had a pretty good idea what was happening. The Maumelle All About Community Facebook group had been buzzing over the presence of Steph Curry.
“I’ve never played a casual golf round with that much attention,” Curry said.
The Golden State Warriors star played the round with two former Arkansas Razorbacks — Detroit Pistons guard Isaiah Joe and PGA Tour pro John Daly II — at the annual Motivate One Summer Series golf tournament put on by Warriors forward Moses Moody and his foundation. Residents were informed Curry would play their neighborhood course. Still, something about it felt unbelievable.
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Williams moved to Maumelle seven years ago. No one this famous has shown up. She stepped away from work, climbed into her family’s golf cart and joined the convoy. She followed Curry’s group as it finished holes four and five. After watching Curry tee off at six, she went back home to finish working. The internet was out.
“God gave me a sign,” Williams said with a smile beneath her glasses.
She filed back into the parade of some 20 golf carts, most with multiple passengers of a wide range of ages, motoring from hole to hole. Williams doesn’t follow basketball much anymore, so she still counts Grant Hill as her favorite player. But she knew Curry was a big deal, enough to text snapshots to her daughter and niece as a flex.
“It’s different even just seeing him here, talking to him in Arkansas,” said Moody, who could only watch the golf tournament as he recovers from a torn left patellar tendon. “That’s a crazy concept to me. I met Steph Curry five years ago, and now he’s here in Arkansas. … You can say you like somebody. You can say you rock with somebody. But to actually come and do something like this, it really just makes me feel good about myself, for one, and it’s cool to know he thinks so highly of me.”
Curry can go almost anywhere in the world and draw a crowd. But he wasn’t in Little Rock because of a sponsor. He didn’t make his first trip to Arkansas due to an NBA obligation. He went because Moody asked him to come.
In this distinction lies the significance of this weekend and why it felt bigger than a mere celebrity appearance.
Moody has become one of the brightest success stories of Arkansas’ rich basketball community. Though he transferred to prep powerhouse Montverde Academy in Florida after leading North Little Rock High School, he came home to play for the Razorbacks. The pride of his city, his state, is now an NBA champion who calls future Hall of Famers his teammates.
Over Moses Moody’s five seasons in Golden State, he and Steph Curry have formed a connection strong enough to draw Curry to his teammate’s hometown for an offseason event. (Courtesy of Motivate One Foundation)
Success has a way of pulling people further from where they started. Moody plies his craft 2,000-plus miles away, far from the neighborhoods on the banks of the Arkansas River where he developed his sense. His off-court aspirations take him from Silicon Valley to Hollywood.
But Moody, who had successful surgery four months ago, also measures success by what he brings back home. This summer — along with the camps, career workshops, important conversations and perspective-shaping inspiration — he brought one of the world’s biggest stars.
Curry served as a macro star of this four-day event and as a microcosm of Moody’s mission. He left home always intending to return with whatever he discovered. What Moody brings back paints a picture of what he’s seen, what he’s learned and who he is. Exactly who home raised him to be.
His character earned him a significant space in the Warriors’ ecosystem. It’s part of the reason he remains while others have departed. And if his recovery is tied to his constitution, it’s why Curry and the Warriors can put their hope in his returning to his former level. He’s the type they bet on.
“Even though there is a 15-year-old age gap,” Curry said, “which is crazy because he feels like the same age. Sometimes he feels older than me, for sure.
“Just his curiosity for life. The questions he has. Just the spirit he has. And that was from Day 1. … And you kind of understand it means so much to him to be able to have this weekend and this presence here. When he asked me, it was kind of a no-brainer. What makes it even more special is how invested he is, and his family is, in the work they’re doing here.”
Monty Patel, the boys basketball coach at North Little Rock High, availed his office to the festivities. He left a blue No. 30 Warriors jersey and a white No. 4 USA Basketball jersey folded neatly on the tables at the center of the office. A black Sharpie rested atop the jerseys, just in case Curry stopped by.
Patel’s heart was already full, though. He’d just started what he calls the best job in the state two weeks earlier. The 36-year-old small-town Arkansas native, who’s called Little Rock home for the past 15 years, understood the significance of seeing Curry walk into the gym of his Charging Wildcats. Patel knew exactly what it meant for an NBA all-time great to be in their world.
“Moses is so big in this community,” Patel said. “He’s brought a guy back every year. Rich Paul. Klay Thompson. Draymond Green. And now he brought Steph, one of the biggest people to ever come to our state. A generational athlete and an inspiration. He plays the role-model role so well, and so does Moses.
“Steph being here is just awesome to just show the power of this place.”
With no big roster upgrades, the Warriors’ hopes this season rest on Steph Curry holding things together while Moses Moody and Jimmy Butler work their way back from injuries. (Sergio Estrada / USA Today Sports)
On this morning, their court belonged to Curry.
The greatest shooter ever stood on the hardwood where Patel would soon blow his whistle and bark out plays. With Moody by his side, Curry laughed through shooting games, high-fived kids during drills and offered shooting tips. He played knockout with the campers, gave them all a pep talk and eventually gathered everyone into a circle at midcourt. Curry broke the huddle. Family and friends watched from the seats in the mini arena, their smiles unrelenting, phones raised to capture the moments. Awe permeated the gym.
The scene repeated itself all weekend.
Everywhere he went, people kept thanking him. For visiting and bringing his prestige with him. For spending time in their city.
Curry processed the sentiment, flattered by the validation in their gratitude. He isn’t used to that. He’s visited non-NBA cities before, felt the charge of their fervor. Paris. Tokyo. Beijing. Manila. He’s had thousands waiting in line, packing gyms and mobbing him in public spaces.
Fame taught him to expect chaotic excitement. But Arkansas expressed appreciation differently. They didn’t treat him like an attraction passing through, but like a guest they were proud to host.
“There was a level of excitement,” Curry said, “and it’s a bit awkward because it’s less about like, ‘Oh, I’ve been watching you forever,’ and it’s really just, ‘Thank you for coming to our city.’ That is a cool difference from other places.”
This trip to Arkansas also reinforced what Curry already believed about the teammate who drew him there.
The Warriors didn’t overhaul their roster this summer. They’re banking on continuity improving last year’s squad that missed the playoffs. And part of that wager is on Moody, who spent much of last season as a vital cog in the Warriors’ rotation before injury interrupted arguably the best stretch of his career.
“You can say you rock with somebody. But to actually come and do something like this, it really just makes me feel good,” Moody says of Curry’s participation. (Courtesy of Motivate One Foundation)
Curry seemed comfortable making that bet. He’s watched Moody grow from a quiet 19-year-old rookie on the end of the bench into one of the distributors of wisdom in the locker room.
“I heard somebody say a long time ago you want to grow while you stay the same,” Moody said during a talk show-style event in front of 700 attendees at Statehouse Convention Center on Friday night.
“I like that,” Curry said next to Moody on stage. “That’s a great comment, perspective of life.”
Moody earned credibility with his perspective and poise, his work ethic and discipline. Those traits define Moody. And now the Warriors, and Curry, desperately need them.
Curry knows about offseasons consumed by rehab. He’s never had an injury as serious as Moody’s, but he knows the grind and mental gymnastics of working back to the court. So he recognizes Moody’s unwavering optimism through the tedious routine of recovery. When they were on the court drilling with the young hoopers, Curry witnessed Moody’s restraint against the temptation to rush the process. Moody looked like he was itching to join the campers in ballhandling drills, but opted to simply be a passer.
“He’s committed to the work,” Curry said. “He’s not fighting it.”
Moody has been rehabbing in the Bay Area. He’s targeting September to resume running and returning to on-court work. Next season’s hope floats on Curry’s ability to carry the load until Moody and Jimmy Butler, recovering from a torn ACL, return to playing.
This weekend, and the sense of purpose it gives Moody, plays a role in his recovery. Delivering to his community has been an antidote for the monotony and frustration of rehab.
“It was cool just having a vision in your head and then making it come to fruition,” Moody said, “and being able to actually see it turn out even better than you could have imagined it.
“He was everything you could have ever asked him to be,” Moody said of Curry. “He flew in, woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning Friday to get here by seven for the golf tournament. Then he woke up at 6 in the morning Saturday to be here at the school for the event. He had the energy and the effort for everybody. I hope he enjoyed it. I think he did.”
Curry did find a moment Saturday to wrap his mind around the weekend experience.
Organizers had converted the administrative conference room at North Little Rock High into a green room of sorts. He sat at the end of a long table and downed a smoothie, then nibbled on gourmet popcorn from a local confectionary while taking a personal call. And then Curry took a moment to reflect.
He reached beneath the sleeve of his Moses Moody camp T-shirt, fidgeting with his right shoulder, as he listed the highlights of his trip to Arkansas: Moody sharing the sights and memories of his hometown with such passion. Spending time in the swaddle of small-town love, reminding him of his Charlotte roots and even kicking up his drawl. Taking in the outdoor beauty of The Natural State, with its greenery and swamps.
Oh, and “this,” Curry said, lifting the sleeve to reveal two visible red circles on his right shoulder. “The bug bites.”
Indeed, Arkansas left its mark on Curry.
