ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 4, 1997 TAG: 9703040087
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: Associated Press
OLD DOMINION coach Jeff Capel passes his parents' lessons down to his players and sons.
There are times when Old Dominion coach Jeff Capel catches himself and is quietly amused. It may be in a conversation with one of his two sons or while talking to one of his basketball players.
It may be in a private moment with his wife, Jerry, or speaking with people in the community.
The words come out of his mouth, but they aren't his words, and he knows it. They belong to his father and mother, and perhaps to their fathers and mothers.
After 44 years, Felton Jeffrey Capel Jr. is comfortable with that. He has come to believe that nothing is more important than a man's word and his family. Everything else is just for show.
``Everything that I am or ever will be is because of my family,'' he said.
The Capel family is an institution in the Sandhills of North Carolina, near Fayetteville. Jeff's father, Felton Capel Sr., is a respected businessman and community leader who played a large part in the area's desegregation in the 1960s and '70s.
He was the first black city councilman elected in the history of the small city, Southern Pines. As the city moved toward integration in the 1960s, he met with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and was invited to Lyndon Johnson's White House to speak about the area's efforts, all the while building up his business of selling cookware.
Now his name adorns the new $11 million athletic facility at Fayetteville State University, where he has been a longtime supporter and member of the Board of Trustees.
Though segregation ruled, the Capels never let bitterness dictate their thoughts or actions, said the younger Capel. ``I don't want to get even,'' Felton Capel used to say. ``I want to get ahead.''
Jeff Capel vividly remembers the sting of racism as a boy. He wasn't allowed to join the Boy Scouts or play Little League baseball because he ``lived in the wrong district.''
As he grew older, generational differences within the civil rights movement aggravated the usual father-son conflicts. Where Felton Capel was Martin Luther King, Jeff was H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael.
Felton and Jeff Capel's common ground was athletics. Jeff became a high-scoring forward his first three years at East Southern Pines High, while Felton, a pretty fair semipro baseball player in his day, rarely missed his son's games.
Capel has tried to model his basketball programs after his family. He stresses communication and trust, and his door is always open.
``I know I can go into his office anytime and talk about anything,'' senior Odell Hodge said. ``I like to go into his office sometimes and just talk with him about stuff other than basketball.''
Those who have played for Capel say he is tough but fair, but that he asks nothing of others that he doesn't ask of himself. His rules are few and simple: Be on time; don't do anything to embarrass yourself, the program or the school.
``A lot of people see discipline as a bad thing,'' Capel said. ``I think kids want discipline. They may fight it a little bit. But all my teams have discipline.''
Last September, Joe Bunn, perhaps the Monarchs' best player, was charged with hitting a former girlfriend during an argument. He had transferred from North Carolina A&T to play for Capel and their relationship was as much father-son as coach-player. Capel kicked him off the team immediately, and Bunn transferred to Phillips University in Oklahoma.
``The hardest thing I've ever done,'' Capel said. ``But I had to do it. Had to do it. It wasn't personal.''
There are photos all over Capel's office, and he says he is particularly proud of one photo, of the three seniors from his first team at Old Dominion: Petey Sessoms, Mike Jones and David Harvey.
The photo isn't from a game; it's of the three of them standing together wearing their graduation caps and gowns.
``My first year, everybody always wanted to talk to me about the NCAA game against ,'' Capel said, stopping as he drew a blank trying to remember the Monarchs' opponent in one of the great moments in the program's history.
Villanova, he was reminded.
``Yeah, Villanova,'' he said. ``But the most satisfying moment for me was seeing those three kids graduate. That's because that degree is going to take them farther in life than any jump shot, free throw, rebound or dunk.''
Felton Capel Sr. couldn't have said it any better.
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Although he cheers his players incessantly, Oldby CNBDominion coach Jeff Capel runs his program with strict discipline.