Life University Basketball: Atlanta’s Biggest Secret In Athletics
By: Baigen Seawell
In 1990, Sid Williams of Life College in Marietta, Ga., would hire Roger Kaiser to be the school’s first head basketball coach. Kaiser, a two-time All-American at Georgia Tech, and former coach at West Georgia College (now University of West Georgia) would be tasked with recruiting players to play for the Running Eagles.
And Coach Max has been there through it all.
Anthony Maxwell, affectionately called “Coach Max”, is a 1999 Alum of Life College, now University, and head Women’s Basketball Coach. Coach Max would be a contributing player to the Running Eagles 1999 National Championship team; one of three acquired in the 90’s.
The Program’s history is that of a hidden gem in Georgia collegiate basketball; Maxwell is that of a historian in his own right, being there since the early stages of the program’s conception to present day.
THE HISTORY
The Running Eagles would compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The NAIA, a smaller division of competitive athletics, was considered a subsidiary of the NCAA. Many athletes would look to go Division 1 versus other routes to continue their athletic career. But, Kaiser would recruit vehemently throughout 1990, while the pieces would come together to start the first year for the program.
Almost Immediately, the program would have a stint to participate in the NAIA National Tournament in 1994, and finished as a runner-up.
At the same time in Hartwell, Ga., Maxwell would be recovering from multiple knee injuries sustained in the early stages of his budding college basketball career. Recruited at the D1 level, after sustaining those injuries, he would be in idle.
“I was a high school All-American, McDonald’s All American. […] had a few knee injuries, few surgeries, so I sat home for a few years. After two years, I had the opportunity to play at Life University.”
Maxwell would go on to play for the Running Eagles in the height of their success. After winning their first National Championship in 1997, and having seasons with 30 wins or more, he would join the team looking to get back into playing basketball and getting his business degree.
In 1999, the Running Eagles would have the opportunity to go to the National Tournament again. But throughout the season, doubts would still present themselves around the NAIA despite the positive program history. Kaiser would bring in numerous D1 and Junior College Transfers to Life during this season, establishing early that there were points to prove.
“Going into the year a lot of people didn’t think we would do well even though we did well in the previous years,” said Maxwell. “It was a complete team effort… We lost one game that year […] you go to the hotel, the lobby is crowded, elevator’s crowded; as the rounds go on, you get more and more room and you’re the last team standing; it’s a wonderful feeling.”
Life would acquire another championship in 1999, and 2000. At the national level, the program was gaining notoriety for their efforts; at the local level, they were something of a diamond in the rough for athletics and culture alike.
Life was known for their chiropractic program, and the energy and passion that Dr. Sid Williams had for said school. Williams had the ability to market and sell his school, with adamant advertisement campaigns. This would prove to be a positive, making the school alluring for aspiring athletes and established ones alike.
Professional athletes such as Dikembe Motumbo, Steve Smith and other legendary Atlanta Hawks would frequent the campus to practice, play games of pickup, or even get a haircut from Maxwell, who, at that time, ran a twenty-four hour haircut business that would make house calls to executives and celebrities around Metro-Atlanta.
“A lot of people don’t know this but, I’m a licensed barber, so I ran a business that actually started back when I was at Life,” Said Maxwell “During the 90’s Life University was the Atlanta Hawks practice facility. So I would cut all these guys hair on Life’s team, and some of the Hawks players. Then they’d have friends on other teams who would come to town to play the Hawks and say the barbershops are closed or they don’t want to get harassed at the barbershops they would call me to cut their hair.”
NOT THE CONVENTIONAL ROUTE
After graduating, Maxwell would continue cutting hair for nearly a decade, but the passion to coach would start to creep into his psyche. At 37 years old, “Max” would then become “Coach Max” in 2011 at his Alma Mater, starting out as an assistant coach.
He was nothing like the conventional coach.
He had no High School, AAU, or College experience coaching, and to get a foot in the door for Collegiate Coaching is difficult. He would push through the ranks before finally becoming the Head Women’s Basketball Coach in 2016, after a defunct team dissolved in the early 2000’s.
Again, he was not like his counterparts in the NAIA, or the Mid-South Conference. This would not only be Coach Max’s first time coaching as a head coach, but his first time coaching women’s basketball, and… he would have ten freshmen.
Through trials and growing pains the program would face in their four years, they become grounds for growth for collegiate athletics in Metro-Atlanta in their own right. Coach Max looks to establish his own legacy coaching at Life University, adding onto successes acquired in the previous seasons, and establishing the institution further.
“Life University Athletics is here, and Life University Women’s Basketball. […] We just want people to know in the surrounding area that we have play at a top level of basketball and athletics period. I think we’re Marietta, even Atlanta’s biggest secret still. But piece by piece we’re looking to change that.”
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