Scott Chadwick, Myers Park’s football coach for seven seasons, estimates the program’s booster club sold only half of its season-long parking passes during his first year in 2014. The numbers continued to grow gradually as the team’s performance improved.
Then came Drake Maye.
“Those Friday nights at Myers Park were really, really special,” Chadwick said. “He just took us to a whole different level.”
Maye, already 6 feet 3 inches at 16 years old and still years away from the cusp of reaching the Super Bowl, transferred to Myers Park ahead of his sophomore season in 2018 ― and almost immediately became a sensation. The next year, those parking passes sold out within 20 minutes.
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The morning they went on sale, people staked out the front yard of the booster club’s membership coordinator in fear that the website would crash. Some wanted not only a pass, but specifically one for a space that backed up to the grass so they could set up tents for tailgating.
Suddenly, the modest bleachers at Gus Purcell Stadium became the place to be on Friday nights. The crowds became standing-room only. For the team’s biggest regular-season home game of the year, hundreds of fans started lining up at the gates two hours before kickoff.
By Maye’s junior year, the school adjusted its ticketing policies to account for the high demand. Families with kids that already had graduated started going to games again. Folks that lived in the surrounding neighborhood, right outside of downtown Charlotte, stopped by, too. Everybody wanted a chance to see Maye, one of the top 50 high school prospects in the country.
“That was just a very special year that I don’t think we’ll ever duplicate,” said Brian Poore, Myers Park’s athletic director.
Myers Park emerged as the best team in North Carolina, even becoming nationally ranked. The offense, averaging more than 50 points per game, proved to be nearly unstoppable with Maye at the helm. Despite often sitting in the second half of games, Maye set school records with more than 3,500 passing yards and 50 touchdowns (with just two interceptions) in 13 games.
“I just remember throwing deep balls and the crowd would gasp,” Maye said. “Just hearing that gasp was pretty cool, whether it’s incomplete or not ― hopefully, we completed more than we didn’t ― but hearing the crowd get into it, I think you always get excited.”
Drake Maye transferred to Myers Park High School ahead of his sophomore season.Scott Chadwick
Offers from elite college programs, including Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State, started rolling in.
But what impressed those around Maye the most was not his monster production. Nor was it his arm strength, his mobility, or any of the other striking physical traits that made him such a compelling prospect. Instead, it was his ability to stay grounded, especially at a young age, amid the team’s success and widespread attention.
“He knew he was really good, but he never came in with this cocky air about him,” said Joe Evans, who served as an assistant coach for Chadwick for two seasons. “I mean, this kid is a high school football player and people are asking him for his autograph.”
Maye’s success and popularity have reached new heights faster than anyone could have imagined.
When those back in Charlotte watch him, though, they see the same well-mannered, level-headed teenager who captivated their community not so long ago.
“I told Drake this last week,” Chadwick said. “The thing I’ve been most proud of him this whole year is — you watch his interviews, you watch everything he does — he has not changed one bit.”
As the son of supremely athletic parents, and the youngest of four accomplished brothers, Maye almost seemed destined to become a competitor.
Drake Maye reached for a first down during the third quarter of the Week 16 win over the Ravens.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe StaffWith their six Super Bowl banners in view, the Patriots welcomed Drake Maye after making him the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.John Tlumacki/Globe StaffDrake Maye and Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers hugged it out after the Patriots’ loss in Week 3.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
The oldest brother, Luke, sank an iconic shot that sent North Carolina’s basketball team to the Final Four in 2017, a year the Tar Heels went on to win the national championship. The second-oldest, Cole, was a pitcher on the Florida baseball team that won the national championship that same year. Beau, the closest to Maye in age, walked on to North Carolina’s basketball team as a junior in 2022.
Maye’s father, Mark, was a highly acclaimed three-sport high school athlete who became the starting quarterback at North Carolina. His mother, Aimée, was a high school basketball standout who earned Mecklenburg County girls’ player of the year honors as a senior.
“People say they’re North Carolina royalty, but the word ‘royalty’ is funny because they’re the most down-to-earth, sweetest people that just love to be a part of their community,” said Scott Taylor, who coached Myers Park’s boys’ basketball team for eight years, including two with Drake.
By the time Maye transferred to Myers Park, most of the school already was familiar with him. Although his three brothers graduated from William Amos Hough, the high school where Maye spent his freshman year before leaving for a better football opportunity, nearly all of Charlotte had heard of the Mayes.
Alabama coach Nick Saban (middle) and offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian (left) watched Drake Maye play in a high school basketball game.Scott Taylor
“Everybody knows the history of the family,” said Michelle Richards, a longtime assistant principal at Myers Park.
Popular chants from opposing student sections at basketball games were, “Luke is better!” and “Luke Maye’s brother!”
“He wanted his own name,” Taylor said. ”He was able to create it pretty quickly.”
Drake, the smallest of the siblings, always tried to keep up as the runt. In H-O-R-S-E and “King of the Court” on their driveway. In wrestling matches around the house. In races on the beach to see who was the fastest. In backyard football, where his brothers wouldn’t let him play quarterback because he was the youngest.
Things would often escalate physically — they called Beau “Double T” because he was the tattletale of the bunch — despite their parents’ best efforts. For years, Maye was accustomed not just to losing, but to getting beaten down repeatedly.
Those battles set the stage for Maye’s love of competition.
Drake Maye (center) and friends, including brother Beau Maye (left).Scott Taylor
Inside the boys’ locker room at Myers Park, the basketball team kept an Xbox and would play NBA 2K before practices.
Maye went undefeated.
On the rare occasion someone came close to handing him a loss, the rest of the players would stand up and start cheering. But Maye always won.
When the coaches took away the Xbox for a period in the middle of the season, the other players joked that Maye requested they remove it so he couldn’t lose. Upon its return, Maye had no problem extending his undefeated record.
No matter the activity, Maye is invested in winning. Whether he’s playing Battleship with his wife (and middle school sweetheart) Ann Michael, Spades with his teammates, tennis, golf, pickleball, Spikeball, or laser tag ― whatever the game, whoever the opponent ― he wants to come out on top.
“It’s all fun and games playing pickleball until that game point comes up,” said Jeb Lloyd, who attended Myers Park and North Carolina with Maye. “He could always flip a switch. Even when it was fun and light, when it was winning time, there was a different Drake that would come out.”
As Maye and his brothers have gotten older, they don’t spend nearly as much time together. Luke spent the past year playing basketball in Japan for the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins. Beau recently returned to Charlotte as a math teacher and boys’ basketball coach at Hough.
When they are together, though, they certainly find the time to get back at it. The night before he walked across the stage at the NFL Draft, Maye rented out a court at the Detroit Athletic Center to play four-on-four basketball with his brothers and friends. The night the Patriots beat the Chargers in the wild-card round, Maye quipped that his plans for the rest of the night included staying up until 1:30 a.m. to play Ping-Pong with his brothers.
In April 2024, Patriots owner Robert Kraft was hopeful his team had just drafted its next franchise quarterback, Drake Maye.John Tlumacki/Globe StaffPatriots fans were eager to get Drake Maye’s autograph at training camp last summer.Heather Diehl/For The Boston GlobeDrake Maye carried a basket of Thanksgiving supplies to the car for fan Peggy Lee on behalf of the Patriots Foundation.JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE
“Any time that the score is being kept, you want to win,” Maye said. “I’ve tried to keep that same mentality my whole life. That’s from my older brothers, to playing my wife in something, to playing out here, playing football. I think you want to win. If anybody’s keeping score, no matter if it matters or not, I think winning’s more fun.”
‘It is 100 percent not an act’
Ed Berry, a prominent NFL agent, called Chadwick one day in 2021, and asked him about representing Maye. Even though Maye had not played a snap of college football, Chadwick told Berry with confidence that Maye was going to be a first-round draft pick.
There was never any doubt in Chadwick’s mind that Maye was going to become a franchise quarterback. Now, did he think it was going to happen as soon as Year 2 of his pro career? Admittedly, no. But any coach or player who had worked with Maye saw his potential.
“He looked the way he does now as a sophomore in high school,” said Owen McCown, Maye’s backup quarterback at Myers Park and son of former NFL quarterback Josh McCown. “He could throw it like he does now back then. Usually, you think people that develop early will either wear off or something like that. He never did. He just kept getting better at each level.”
During the pre-draft process, representatives from a dozen NFL organizations called Chadwick to ask about Maye. They barely talked football. Maye’s talent was apparent. He earned ACC player of the year honors his freshman year at North Carolina and, as he did in high school, posted incredibly impressive numbers.
The most common question evaluators asked: Was Maye’s personality a facade?
“They’re like, ‘Is this an act?’ ” Chadwick said. “It is 100 percent not an act. It is 100 percent genuine who he is as a person, who he is as a leader, and who he is as a teammate.”
For those who didn’t believe Chadwick, calls to others from Maye’s past yielded the same answer. Maye was the guy who had a custom handshake with each of Myers Park’s 10-year-old ball boys. He was the guy who made a point to introduce himself, “Hey, I’m Drake,” to people that definitely already knew who he was.
Drake Maye’s 2023 season at North Carolina did go as well as 2022, but he still caught the eye of the Patriots.Jacob Kupferman/Associated Press
“He would treat ― well, I guess he was the most popular kid ― but he would treat the most or least popular kid at school like they were just any other person,” McCown said. “He would go talk to the guy that wasn’t talking to anybody. He was super personable. He had a different level of care for people.”
After his breakout college season in 2022, rumors ran rampant about Maye potentially leaving North Carolina for a seven-figure payday elsewhere. Teammates started calling, saying they’d follow him to whichever school he transferred. But Maye had no intention of leaving North Carolina, the school that convinced him to flip his initial commitment from Alabama and the place where his parents met. He set aside time with then-coach Mack Brown to reassure him there was no school where he would rather play.
The season didn’t go as well in 2023, but the way Maye conducted himself still caught the eye of Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf.
“He was one of the only quarterbacks in this draft that went up there after every loss and handled the media,” Wolf said. “He handled it with grace, with class. Watching those press conferences, there were a lot of times where the reporters were trying to get him to throw somebody under the bus, and he wouldn’t do it.”
What you see really seems to be what you get with Maye. Yes, he really is that competitive. Yes, he also really is that, for lack of a better term, nice.
As the stakes and spotlight only continue to grow for Maye, he has stayed true to that identity.
‘Money’s not going to change him’
When Maye graduated from high school in December 2020, in order to enroll early at North Carolina, Myers Park didn’t hold a traditional ceremony because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye hopes to walk off the field Sunday with a victory, and a trip to the Super Bowl.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Instead, students drove to the school, hopped out of their cars to receive their diploma and take a picture with the principal, and then drove home. Everybody knew when it was Maye’s turn because he pulled up in his white 2015 GMC pickup, a car he chose because he believed, at least at the time, driving a truck was part of being the quarterback.
That truck is the same one Maye drove to Foxborough after the Patriots drafted him with the third overall pick in 2024, the one he drove back to Charlotte when the season ended in January 2025, and the one he drove to Gillette Stadium to start this season.
“You didn’t get a new car or anything?” Chadwick asked Maye.
Even after signing his fully guaranteed, $36.64 million rookie contract, Maye felt as though he didn’t need to replace his car just yet. He liked his truck. Why get rid of it?
“When people see what he’s making money-wise, they’re probably like, ‘Yeah, he can get rid of that truck,’ ” Poore said. “But money’s not going to change him, that’s for sure.”
Nicole Yang can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @nicolecyang.
