It started early, when Julius Burch ’23 MBA ’24 was pulled out of one middle school after sixth grade because his mother, Tamarrel Carter, didn’t like the academic curriculum. He transferred to his local school for seventh grade. The good news was his new school was walking distance from his house. The bad news was the blur was just the beginning. After seventh grade Julius transferred to another middle school to support his brother's marching band dreams. The moving didn’t stop there.
He was barely a freshman at Greensboro’s Dudley High School when the family moved to be closer to Tammarel’s job in Winston-Salem. That meant North Forsyth HS was getting a transfer student – but not for long. When the family moved to High Point at the beginning of his sophomore year, Julius enrolled at High Point Central HS for a few months. One last move back to Greensboro landed him at Southern Guilford HS with a few months left in his sophomore year. That’s where the carousel of schools finally stopped.
If you’re counting, that’s seven schools in seven years.
“Looking back,” says Julius, “yeah, that’s a lot of moving around, but I didn’t have much of a say-so. I guess that’s a lot to endure, but lots of families move around and they still see the other side of the coin.”
Through it all, the constant for Julius growing up was family. And basketball.
At a time when life was at its most chaotic, those anchors – family and hoops – were Julius’ foundation. Both are coming together one last time for Julius on Thursday when a handful (ok, maybe two hands full) of family and friends will be in Fort Wayne, Ind., to watch the Guilford Quakers (26-4) play in the NCAA Division III Final Four.
The Quakers will play top-ranked Hampden-Sydney (30-2) in Thursday’s opening semifinal at 5:30 p.m. at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.
Just how successful the Quakers are this week might hinge on how Julius performs in a way no box score can measure. “He’s the vocal leader of the team,” says Coach Tom Palombo. “Very outspoken, but in a good way. He knows the team, he knows our system, he knows what to tell each player to keep the train rolling.”
Nowhere is this more obvious than during a game timeout. Some coaches grab their clipboard and immediately huddle with the team. Tom confers with his assistant coaches away from the players before joining them. That coaches’ meeting lasts maybe 40 seconds, but that’s long enough for Julius to get a few words in with his teammates.
Tyler Dearman ’23 MBA ’24, a co-captain with Julius and a teammate as far back as at Southern Guilford HS, gladly steps back and lets his teammate have the floor during timeouts. “He’s telling us what he sees, what he thinks we need to be doing or where we need to be defensively or on offense,” says Tyler. “By now everyone listens to him because he knows what’s going on.”
Tom calls Julius “a natural-born leader” on and off the court. He graduated from Southern Guilford with a 4.26 GPA and was a J. Floyd “Pete” Moore Scholarship recipient at Guilford. He says he didn’t inherit those skills as much as he picked them up from his Guilford teammates when he was an underclassman. “I think I bring some energy and on-court leadership, but that’s not something you just decide to go out and do. You have to earn it.”
And for four years, he’s done just that. “When I think about how far he’s come since he got here it’s amazing,” says Tom. “Obviously he’s gotten better as a player but watching him grow up as a leader has really been something. The guys just gravitate to him. They see him for the leader he is and they follow him.”
At 6-foot-3, Julius is not exactly built for rebounding. Then again, not a lot of 6-3 players are as quick and aggressive around the rim as Julius. “Everyone needs an edge and I go after it. Maybe that’s my edge,” he says.
That speed and aggression have him leading the team in rebounds, averaging 10 a game. He’s also scoring 11.2 points per game.
Like Tyler, Julius took advantage of the NCAA giving student athletes an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic. Like Tyler, Julius is not only playing basketball but pursuing an MBA at the College. And he is among five Presidential Fellows working part-time in an administrative office – in his case, Finance.
About his five years at Guilford: Julius says the past five years have been relaxing. No mid-year moves, no new systems to learn. “Just me going to college, playing basketball and hanging out with my friends,” he says. “It’s been kinda nice all these years just being in one place.”