By Adam Lucas
Officially, Wednesday was an off day for Carolina Basketball.
The Tar Heels defeated East Tennessee State on Tuesday, and Wednesday was the NCAA-mandated off day before Carolina begins practice Thursday for a big game against Ohio State on Saturday in Atlanta.
But Seth Trimble didn’t want an off day. So the basketball player/entrepreneur arranged for a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream party for dozens of kids at the Chapel Hill Boys and Girls Club. Through a partnership with JBL and Learfield, he also perfectly illustrated Hubert Davis’s comments from earlier this week about a blessing being intended for more than just an individual by surprising attendees with JBL headphones.
The headphones sparked the expected oohs and aahs from the kids and were a very nice gesture. But it was hard not to notice that in an era of college sports where most things are measured in dollars, it was Trimble’s time that seemed the most valuable to the kids in attendance.
It wasn’t Trimble’s first visit to the Boys & Girls Club. He was instrumental in purchasing the facility an outdoor basketball goal in 2024. “And believe me, if it wasn’t cold and dark, those kids would have Seth out there on that basketball court,” said Charlotte Makoyo, better known as Miss Charlotte, the club’s director of strategic development. “They adore him. The entire UNC basketball team is phenomenal. But Seth always goes above and beyond.”
Miss Charlotte, a Navy veteran, has been full-time with the Club since 2017. She is exactly the kind of person you want spending time around kids. As they lined up for ice cream, she quickly established some guidelines. “If you point at those sprinkles, you get none!” she barked. “Use your words.”
One kid who didn’t hear the rules made the mistake of pointing at the rainbow sprinkles. “Back of the line!” she said instantly.
It was the rare time that ice cream was not the highlight of the day. That was reserved for the unstructured time Trimble spent circulating among the kids. A lengthy but not exhaustive list of the items he signed during his time with the younger group of kids:
Hats, shoes, coats, towels, construction paper, notebook paper, water bottles, backpacks, at least two hands…and very nearly a library book, until Trimble advised the owner that it might not be a good idea.
“You guys sent your Christmas lists to Santa yet?” he asked.
One kid had clearly already done some wishful thinking. “I would beat you out there on that court,” he told Trimble, pointing towards the basketball goal.
“Nah, I would give you 50,” Trimble said without missing a beat. “And that’s with my left hand—the one that was hurt!”
He signed posters. He signed yearbooks. He posed for a picture for a child who was enthralled with a high-tech camera. Mostly, he was just present. As parents arrived after work to pick up their kids, it wasn’t always easy to get the youngsters to leave.
A subtly impressive part of Trimble’s appearance: although he was the only player present, all his comments were framed in the context of his teammates, not just himself. He didn’t have to do it that way. But he did. Sort of like how he didn’t have to spend his off day this way. But he did.
“It’s super important to give back,” Trimble said. “These kids don’t get a lot of experiences like this, and the younger community really looks up to Tar Heel players. When we come here, they don’t look at us as our stats. They see us as role models and an inspiration. Knowing that means so much to us.”
