No, the Enoch Cheeks’ move that most lifted his Dayton team came after Tuesday’s game — after the Flyers came from 15 down to topple Saint Louis, 75-67 — as he joyously ran up the steep tunnel that leads from the court to the team’s locker room and UD Arena’s back entrance.
He was fist bumping everybody he could and that’s when he passed a guy in a yellowish green watch cap, black coat and sneakers. In one hand he held one of those small red balls the cheerleaders toss to the crowd.
“I was dabbing up everybody and I was like ‘You know, that guy kind of looked like Dave Chappelle.’”
As UD assistant Coach Sean Damaska explained it, “I said, ‘Yeah, that is Dave Chappelle!’
“And he was like, ‘Whaaat?!’
“He sprinted back down, going ‘I need a picture, I need a picture!’”
Cheeks and teammate Javon Bennett rushed up to the famed comedian and actor and embraced him, a move that emboldened several other Flyers to swarm in as well.
Soon Chapelle was surrounded by 11 UD players with Cheeks squatted in front. After some photos were taken, UD guard Brady Uhl patted Chappelle on the shoulder and then Bennett and Jacob Connor gave him a handshake sendoff.
“That was pretty cool,” Cheeks said.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Later he and Zed Key could remember only two other celebrities they crossed paths with at UD games
“We saw George Bush at SMU,” Cheeks said in reference to last year’s game.
“And Magic Johnson,” Key offered.
“Yeah, Magic Johnson was at Maui this year, but that’s about it,” Cheeks said.
No one seemed more appreciative of Chappelle’s courtside presence at Tuesday night’s home finale than UD head coach Anthony Grant, who caught up to him further up the tunnel.
The two men slapped palms, then embraces and shook hands with a clasp Grant held onto for a while as he gushed, “We appreciate ya’…We appreciate ya.’”
Later, Grant was still beaming when he began his postgame remarks: “It’s not every day you get Dave Chappelle in the house.”
He said he hadn’t known Chappelle would be there: “That was a great surprise.”
Grant said he wished they’d have invited him into the locker room:
“But we got a team picture with him in the hallway and the guys were really excited. That was his first game in the Arena, that’s awesome.”
Grant said he and his wife, Chris, have gone to Yellow Springs — where Chappelle lives on 65 acres — and seen one of his shows there.
Later Grant added: “I used to watch the Chappelle Show back in the day…And I’ve watched his specials on Netflix. It was an honor to meet him. It was great.”
Chappelle seemed to feel the same and told Grant: “I’ll be back.”
That prompted Key to ask, “Is he coming to the next game?”
The Flyers can only hope so.
When Chappelle settled into his chair, just off the sideline, across the court from the Saint Louis bench, the second half had just started and UD was down by 13.
Whether it was his laid-back presence or the Flyers ramped-up defense, the Billikens’ shooting fortunes quickly plummeted and UD clawed its way back into contention, and finally, the lead.
While most people will say it was the Flyers’ suddenly stingy defense, it’s also worth noting that Chappelle previously had shown himself to be an uplifting presence when Dayton needed it most.
Though the situations weren’t the same, people’s feelings about him afterward were the same. They were glad he was here.
Some 5 ½ years ago, after a mass shooting in the Oregon District left nine dead, 37 injured and hundreds more — including five UD basketball players who barely escaped — lucky to be alive, the city was shaken to its core.
Three weeks later Chappelle put on a free concert in the Oregon District — it was called Gem City Shine — to help people heal. He brought along people like Stevie Wonder, Chance the Rapper and Talib Kweli.
Some 25,000 to 30,000 people filled the streets, sidewalks and rooftops of the Oregon District as Chappelle told the crowd: “Today we are going to show the world that nothing gets us down. Dayton, Ohio, no matter what’s going on, no matter how tough this time gets, we are going to hold our heads high because we know what we are about.”
On the basketball court this season, the 21-9 Flyers have shown their mettle, their grit several times, as well.
Cheeks has shined in the past two games. Saturday, he and Nate Santos led the team against Richmond with 18 points each and Tuesday night he led the team in points (17) and rebounds (nine). He said he transferred here two years ago from Robert Morris because he wanted to be part of a winning culture and a special basketball experience.
That defines Tuesday night when the Flyers had their 77th straight sellout and among the crowd of 13,409 — which included several former Flyers players — no one had the marquee presence of Chappelle, the winner of six Grammys, six Emmys and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Affinity for hoops
Chappelle has an affinity for basketball.
He played middle school basketball at Yellow Springs when he lived there before going to high school is Washington, D.C.
After he moved back to Greene County several years ago, his two sons played basketball for Yellow Springs High School and his daughter plays there now in middle school.
A couple years ago he bought new uniforms and shoes for the the boys’ and girls’ teams from junior high through varsity.
A while back he showed up at a Los Angeles Lakers’ practice and shot around with LeBron James and this past summer he was sitting courtside in Rwanda for the African League basketball finals. His most memorable basketball performance though came on his Chappelle Show which ran from 2003-2006.
In one segment he played Prince, complete with the thinly lined goatee, purple suit and flamboyantly ruffled shirt.
The skit was a take on a real-life story when Prince met Eddie Murphy and his brother Charlie at a Beverly Hills club and asked if they wanted to come to his place and play basketball.
The Murphy brothers put on basketball clothes and Chappelle, like Prince showed up in his purple attire, prompting the brothers to needle him, saying we’ll call this game “shirts against blouses!”
That’s when Prince turned into the lavender likeness of Steph Curry and embarrassed them with his three-point shots. Chappelle added an air-defying dunk that ended the game and prompted Prince to say: ”Game, Blouses!”
Credit: David Jablonski
‘He’s a player’
Before he left UD Arena Tuesday night, Chappelle complimented the Flyers. He thought they had “one hell of a team.”
He likely had an appreciation of Cheeks’ effort against the Billikens.
Grant certainly did:
“He’s a player. We trust Enoch. We believe in him and want the ball in his hands. He’s a guy who can just go make a play. I thought he did that several times tonight.”
When he had two straight turnovers midway through the second half, Cheeks said his teammates encouraged him to just keep playing.
He did and immediately hit the two three-pointers and made two steals.
Grant commended Cheeks for his “dedication to his craft” and talked about how he works extra hours before and after practice:
“He impacts winning in so many ways. He always makes something happen for us.”
Chappelle seemed to have an appreciation for that. Maybe he will be back and see somebody else make the Gem City shine.
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