[upbeat music] - I'm Heather Burgiss, and for 10 years "My Home, NC" has traveled the state sharing the stories that make North Carolina home.

What keeps you coming back out here after really bad days?

- The feeling that I get when I accomplish.

That feeling is absolutely so rewarding.

- [Artist] Each one of my pieces have a certain narrative.

There's some sort of story, but I'm not so specific as like, "This is what this means."

- [Heather] So join us as we honor the past, celebrate the present, and turn the page on the next chapter of "My Home, NC."

[upbeat music] [lively music] Some redefine the game.

Others change it entirely.

From a young skater's image inspiring and creating important conversation- - I thought it was an amazing image and just what a formative time in skateboarding.

- [Heather] To a basketball league transforming lives and creating connection.

We meet these game-changers turning passion into impact.

- Basketball, there's a team, Journey League, that I play.

I like to dribble and shoot the ball and play defense.

- [Heather] It's all on "My Home" coming up next.

[gentle upbeat music] All across the state, we're uncovering the unique stories that make North Carolina my home.

♪ Come home ♪ ♪ Come home ♪ [bright music] [film projector whirring] - Newspapers in these mid-sized cities I think played a crucial role, and it's a small window of history that you'd have seven or eight photographers covering an entire town.

You know, that really started probably here in the '70s, late '60s.

It's a very unique window to have that history documented in a professional way.

You know, we have hundreds of boxes of negatives, and I just want to get those images to see the light of day.

In 2019 is probably when I started scanning these old negatives.

So I decided to take that upon myself 'cause I was afraid, what's gonna happen to these negatives?

Are they gonna get trashed?

Are they gonna start decaying or something?

When I came across that image, what I really liked about it, I grew up skateboarding in Southern California.

So anytime there's a skateboarding image, you know, it kind of jumps out at me.

But that one really, you know... Just her stance, the way she's standing, the umbrella, is just a perfect little moment.

The ones that make the cut, it's either gotta have, I feel like, a significance to the town, or it's just a beautiful little moment.

And that was one of those beautiful little moments.

People care about those little moments, and those are usually the ones that get shared more.

So I put it in a gallery of like 50 images on "The Fayetteville Observer" website.

Then that image got shared on a Black Archives Instagram page, then got shared by Clyde Singleton, who's a professional skater.

Then Tony Hawk shared it.

♪ Sole salvation ♪ [film projector whirring] [projector clicks] [Clyde sighing] - Let's go.

My name's Clyde Singleton.

I'm a professional skateboarder, a chef.

I host my own podcast.

I own skateboard company called Ollie Llama.

I do a bunch of things.

I'm a doer of things.

[laughs] That's what I do.

I came in skateboarding between '86 and '87.

I didn't have friends that looked like me that skateboarded.

You just had to be mentally tough to get through it, you know?

You were the only Black guy skateboarding, you know?

And it mattered.

[skateboard clattering] My buddy Aliasha sent this photo, and I was like, "Get out of here."

I thought it was a AI photo at first.

So I repost a photo and write a funny caption to it.

It was just like, "Okay, we found the new queen of skateboarding."

And I was like, "Why don't they ever show us things like this?

I think I tagged Tony Hawk in it 'cause Tony Hawk and I are friends, and I was like, "Hey, we should find her."

- And I thought it was an amazing image and just what a formative time in skateboarding, but one that isn't well documented.

And so I reposted it, and I just thought it was very cool.

And next thing I know, it kind of caught wildfire.

- And that's the beauty of it, you know, is to be able to share it, and people were like... Everyone was so stoked on the photo.

Little did I know that "The Fayetteville Observer" had gotten a hold of all of this, and they were finding her with Tony Hawk.

- And I'm like, "Oh, Tony Hawk shared it.

That's crazy.

Let's look at the comments.

And, you know, he wants to find out who she is, and I'm like, "Well, I think that's gonna be pretty easy for me."

[upbeat music] - My name is Shaunda Shane, and I'm from Fayetteville, North Carolina.

I'm the girl in the picture on the skateboard holding an umbrella in the rain from 1979.

I started getting messages on Messenger from people that I have no clue who they were.

And it was like, "I know you don't know me, but Tony Hawk is looking for you."

And I'm like, "What?"

- Perfect.

- Our other guest in the room with us.

[Shaunda laughs] - Hi.

- Nice to meet you.

- You too.

- So this is your old neighborhood.

- Yes.

- So on Dinsmore and where the iconic picture was taken.

So is this your grandparents' house?

Tell me- - My grandparents, yeah.

That's their house.

- Do you remember that day when Mr. Steve came out?

- I do.

Steve came out and asked me, "Can I take a picture of you?"

Go ask your parents if I can take a photo."

So I ran in the house.

My grandparents said yes.

So, came outside, and he, you know, took some pictures of me, and that was it.

And he told me what day it would be in the newspaper, and it was in the newspaper.

- [Heather] So he made sure that shot was in the newspaper.

- [Shaunda] He definitely made sure that shot was in the newspaper.

- Did you just bomb this hill once you got better?

- I would go flying.

I would come out of my driveway flying down the hill.

- Are you so surprised at how this picture- - I am totally shocked.

- Where it has gone?

Have you seen it?

- Yes.

- What was it like for you to connect with Tony Hawk on the podcast?

What did you think?

- I really didn't expect him to be so cool.

He's really down to earth, really cool.

- [Tony] Just on a personal note, I love that you stand with your right foot forward.

That's what we call goofy-footed.

That's how I stand.

- [Shaunda] Yeah.

- Can you explain what goofy-footed means for people who don't know?

- It just means that your right foot is forward on the skateboard.

If your left foot is forward, they call that actually regular-footed, which I still take issue with.

But I'm proud to know that Shaunda is a fellow goofy-footer.

- [Shaunda] I definitely am.

[laughs] I want to thank Tony again for even posting that picture 'cause you have made me like a little celebrity.

- [laughs] Oh, thank you.

Well, it was my honor and my pleasure.

And I know it may not have seemed like much to you at the time, but your bravery and your confidence is one of the reasons that we have such equity in our sport now.

- [Shaunda] Yeah.

- [Tony] You know, that you were one of the pioneers.

And whether you know it or not, you're inspiring girls to skate now, and we literally have parity in our competitions.

It's an Olympic sport now.

There's women's and men's divisions.

There's equal prize money.

And you're a part of that story, so we appreciate it.

- [Shaunda] Thank you so much.

Thank you.

- It meant a lot to me.

You know, I just want her to know it meant a lot to me.

And I guess I have a pretty big audience, you know, and they dug it.

And that's cool, but it's more about her.

You know, I'd love her to know it's about her at the end of the day, and I'm very happy to be able to share something like that.

You know, I think it's important to see that Black women skateboarded in the '70s.

That is powerful stuff, man.

That is very, very powerful.

That is a powerful image.

- Yeah, I never would've thought any of this would've happened from scanning that photo.

I thought it was a great picture, but I feel like a lot of times I'm not sure of the impact some photos are having 'cause you just kind of send it out into the wild.

But that's all I want to do, just send it out there, and if something happens, that's great.

Everybody in the community was kind of excited about it.

Like there was a vintage clothing store in town that was Westdale Vintage, called her up too and, you know, said, "Hey, we got a perfect outfit for you to wear for this if they're gonna recreate the photo."

- So hopefully this story will make some little girls want to want to get out and try to skateboard.

And then the skateboards nowadays are, you know, so cool.

- Oh my gosh, that's so cool, Shaunda.

- And then he autographed it, and then they put the umbrella.

- Oh my gosh.

[Shaunda laughs] That's incredible.

- [Shaunda] Yeah.

[film projector whirring] [bright music] [bright music continues] [audio thrumming] [hoop rattles] [engine turning] ♪ Fly, dope, swaggy, that's how I roll ♪ - You walk into a gym with 40 other athletes, and that can be a little intimidating.

And we laugh because on the forms that everybody fills out, they're like, "Our athlete hates loud noise."

And as you've seen, our practices are loud.

[athletes cheering] And then they get out there, and it's like they can't hear a thing.

They're just focused on the basketball at hand.

- Now some of the highlights from when we play at halftime are just staggering.

It's a seven-minute scrimmage that we can't script that Connor's gonna hit a 30-footer from the logo in Chapel Hill, Jackson is gonna hit a step-back 25-footer in front of a sold-out crowd at half, or Lucas at Carolina is gonna hit a three-pointer.

- And the crowd goes crazy, and the kids feed off of that, and then they celebrate.

♪ Eh, eh, eh, eh ♪ - Have you always loved coming here?

How many years have you been coming to the Journey League?

- Since 2016.

- Oh, wow.

- Yes, ma'am.

I love basketball, so it's my first year of sport.

- The social part is that it helps people like us to make a lot of new friends.

- He's able to come here and not only get to play the game he loves, but then engage.

That's really the glue to what Journey League is all about, is that social network that these kids and parents have ended up creating.

- [All] Journey!

- [Coach] Great job, great job.

All right, let's wait before we dash down the court over there.

Let's wait for our friends to finish.

- [Athlete] Go Journey!

[claps] - Cut up the potatoes or the onions?

What do you wanna make?

- Probably potatoes.

- So they won't make you cry?

- I know.

I know, that's what I was thinking.

- Okay.

Chandler is now 28.

She has autism.

Well, don't you guys usually have a song for something?

- When you guys are cooking, there's always a song.

- You wanna drop something on the ground?

- Oh.

[laughs] - [Laura] What is that one?

♪ I see an apple sitting on the ground ♪ ♪ I'm gonna eat it dirty, dirty ♪ ♪ I'm gonna eat it dirty ♪ ♪ I'm gonna eat it dirty ♪ - [Laura] You want some salt?

- Yeah.

- Season salt?

- Oh, that's insulting.

[Laura laughs] - [Mike] Who tells bad jokes?

- We do.

- [Mike] We do.

- We had just moved to the Triangle Area, and we wanted to help her meet someone 'cause she wanted to go to the prom, and she didn't know anybody.

- Yeah, I first went to prom at my high school in Cary back in May 2016 'cause that was the year of when I graduated.

- We had tried a program like this similar to this in California, and Mike was integral in that, and he was a great coach, made the kids just really have fun doing the basketball program.

And so we thought, well, if we did the basketball program here, if we started that, she might meet someone that she's comfortable enough to take as a friend to the prom.

- [Chandler] I went to the Green Hope prom with a guy that I knew from Journey League.

His real name is Caleb, but he goes by Scoob.

- I went to, like, I think 11 proms.

I think that was a fun experience.

She's a good friend, got to know her, and they're such good people.

- For both of them, you know, [sighs] to not have the same experiences as most kids, you know, the pageantry of a prom, it's special that a special needs kid can actually partake in something that the other kids experience.

So they both really got into everything.

- [Karen] And they danced the whole time.

- And they danced.

[Karen laughs] They both danced like crazy.

[singer singing] - Caleb, we have a very special relationship.

I think it's easy to assume that everyone goes through the same struggles as you, so it's easy to dismiss their struggle.

But I think seeing like how Caleb goes through life in a way that, you know, he probably has a lot more struggle, internal struggle that we don't know about, but he doesn't really let that affect him that often, or, you know, he doesn't dump it on people, he just changes your perspective a little bit.

- The whole summer of '23, summer and fall, he was sick.

It took quite a while for them to figure out what was going on, and it ended up that he had an infection in his heart, which then went to his leg, into his knee.

Before they could do his open heart surgery, they had to repair the aneurysm in his knee so that the infection would not travel back to his heart.

And when they did that, a nerve was cut.

- Well, then he had his heart surgery just a few days after he had his aneurysm in his leg removed.

So they didn't even know if he'd get his legs back again, or he'd be able to use them.

- I was stuck in the hospital for like three weeks and some days.

Yeah, it was hard, yeah.

- [Interviewer] How did you feel when you were able to play sports again?

- Happy I think like to see my friends again and everyone saying like, "I hope you get better soon."

- Scoob, get well soon, buddy.

- [Videographer] All right, go.

- Hey, Scoob, get well soon.

- Get well soon.

- Get well soon.

- Just, fast, fast.

- Get well soon, Scoob.

- Get well soon, Scoob.

- [Videographer] Get well, Scoob.

- Get well, Scoob!

- Get well soon, Scoob.

- Get well, Scoob, whoo-hoo!

- Get well, soon.

[athletes cheering] - [Caleb] I think just like having people lift you up all the time and give you strength and like, just to know that they have my back.

♪ To keep me going I'm willing to hustle ♪ - [Player] Throw it here!

[players shouting] - When I was a junior in high school, I met Coach Mike, and he was one of the assistant basketball coaches.

And I got to know his stepdaughter Chandler, who has autism, and he came to find out that I have a cousin who has autism as well.

So he was like, "What do you think about starting a basketball league for that population, you know, for individuals with special needs?"

I was like, "Let's do it," so we did it.

We started with about 10 athletes at a local YMCA, rolled the ball out, had a great time the first night.

And fast-forward to today, we've got seven locations, over 400 athletes in the program.

♪ I play with all of my life ♪ [whistle blowing] ♪ You see my name in the lights ♪ ♪ Better to bring a champion ♪ ♪ 'Cause our repetition is taking these trophies ♪ [whistle blowing] - Dennis, out.

[coach speaks indistinctly] ♪ My life is dream ♪ ♪ Bet you wishin' you'd live it ♪ - We're creating really a sense of family and belonging and relationships for, you know, the entire community, whether it's the athletes, their parents, or volunteers.

- And Coach Mike does not coddle these kids.

- I heard.

- He doesn't.

- Like, I heard his fire.

- [Chrissy] Yeah, like nobody wants to like push them.

They're talented.

This is not fake talent.

Like, they're really athletic, so we love that.

- This is my first time being here with you all, and you can just feel it.

- Definitely.

- Feel the heart, the joy.

- Yes, because people really don't understand what it is to be a special needs parent if you don't have those safe spaces.

And even when you have inclusive activities, you always have to be like, "Where's my child?

What's my child doing?

Who's near my child?"

I can't explain what this league means to me and what it means to my son and for him to feel like he has best friends.

Now he's 15.

He's never had best friends.

He's never been invited to a birthday party, like, none of the things.

And this right here is just like... Because we hang out outside of Journey League, so it's a blessing.

It really is.

- [Coach] All right, guys, everybody can hear me?

Come on.

[birds chirping] - I thought the Jenga was here, but it's at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

- Oh yeah.

- So you gotta move one, BJ, forward.

- Right?

- Mm-hm.

And then take that one and hop over.

Mm-mm.

Well, you could drive around it.

And then take this.

[tapping] BJ, he's socially awkward as someone from the outside looking in would describe him.

But when you come to Journey League, Coach Mike, for example, [laughs] Coach Mike doesn't care about anybody's disabilities.

You know, he's going to talk to you like you're smart because you are smart.

He's going to joke with you because you're a human being.

You are everything these other teenagers are.

You just have a little bit of quirkiness with you, and that's okay.

So BJ is seen as somebody who's good at sports, not the autistic boy.

He's super athletic, and he's super competitive teenager, period, you know.

The autism label isn't what leads him.

- Turn it around.

Watch this.

Basketball, there's a team, Journey League, that I play.

I like to dribble and shoot the ball and play defense.

[hoop rattling] [ball thudding] Coach Cal, Coach Mike, Coach Kevin, I like them because they're nice to me.

They play really well.

- The opportunities that Journey League gets with different colleges and universities, it's the the acceptance and the love that people really give you.

So like, they'll go play at a basketball game.

They get to play during the halftime show, and the response that the audience gives everyone, it's like they're louder than the regular game, you know?

They root 'em on, and it shocks me because I'm like, "Y'all are really doing it out here.

[laughs] Y'all are really killing it out here.

And everybody loves y'all."

- [BJ] It's been to Chapel Hill, and it's been to Raleigh, NC State University.

I feel excited and happy.

- [Announcer] Please welcome to the court Journey League.

[announcer speaks indistinctly] - Every time we play, people actually say, "Why do you play so many, you know, college and some now NBA halftimes?"

And yeah, we love it.

And the athletes love the applause.

When we practice, we're only practicing in front of, you know, Journey League parents and volunteers that are very well acquainted with our athletes.

But when we play in front of 20,000 people, there might be somebody watching who could give one of our kids a job.

There might be somebody watching who could fund an academic program for one of our athletes to continue training or their academic career.

And it's those little moments that not just raise awareness, but raise possibilities.

- [Customer] Coffee!

[laughs] - A small hot decaf, whole milk?

- Yes, ma'am.

- [Customer] So that there, they're right in there.

- [Customer] Thank you so much.

- [Chandler] Small 2% cappuccino.

- A lot of times as parents, we don't know everything that goes through their mind, but when they have the opportunities or if they get asked a question like, "What do you see for your future?"

- I wanna go to college.

- Help kids like me that have special needs.

I think I can impact kids' lives.

- [Player] There are multiple, like, job ideas, but the main ones are to be a good person, show sportsmanship, be a team player in any way possible.

- [Player] If I had to say a dream for the future is that I hope to possibly have the current job I work.

Maybe I hope to possibly get a promotion and maybe become like team lead possibly someday.

- I like the opportunity that my team got to play at the NC State game.

It was a very special opportunity.

- Every time, you know, I go into work, it does give me a lot of confidence.

We're not like any other coffee shop where we do like a lot of the same things over and over.

[gentle upbeat music] - Aw.

[chuckles] - Well, thank you guys so much for another fantastic season.

Let's give it up for Apex.

[attendees cheering] - My name is Ryan Kloot, and I've been with Journey League for several, several years, and being a part of this team means so much to me.

- So, I love you guys, and keep our dreaming and believing and never give up.

- I cannot wait to see all of you again.

Always be yourself and always be awesome.

- So much fun.

Okay, for next season, come join me.

- We always have a good time.

We laugh, we dance.

And I've made many friends here.

I can be myself, and everyone is always kind.

Thank you for all you do to help us be successful, and I look forward to the next season.

[attendees cheering] - [All] One, two, three, Journey League!

- Whoo!

- We shouldn't put a ceiling on him, you know?

I think he and everyone that does Journey League with him, I think they have a lot more potential than what people see.

And I think if everyone gave them more time and patience and opportunities that the whole world would be a much more beautiful place.

[audience cheering and whistling] - Join us as we celebrate 10 years of "My Home" as we look back at some of our most iconic stories and where they are now.

Probably one of my favorite "My Home" memories in productions was when we flew to Nashville to interview Randy Travis at the Grand Ole Opry.

Randy is a great example of a hometown boy who was from Marshville and went to Nashville and didn't have immediate success but really worked hard and ended up one of the greatest of all time.

- And the Grammy goes to "Old 8x10," Randy Travis.

[audience applauds] - We had such a great time with Randy.

He showed us around backstage at the Opry.

When you walk through these halls, does it feel like you're just coming home?

- Yeah, yeah.

- I think the biggest star-struck moment for us was seeing the dressing rooms with the names of famous performers that had been there.

So the backstage part was really kind of a starstruck moment for the crew, and we were able to also build on this story with his sister in Marshville and interviewing folks that have known Randy all of his life.

So it was really a special time to get to know one of North Carolina's native sons.

And since we've last seen him, Randy is still going strong.

He's been working on a tour as well as a new movie biopic about his life.

He's also been working really hard in DC to champion the rights of musicians with lawmakers.

So Randy's effect is still being felt.

And with his wife Mary by his side, he is continuing to make a difference.

- So I appreciate this very much.

Thank y'all.

[audience applauding] ♪ Amen ♪ [lips smacking] [Mary laughs] [gentle upbeat music] [gentle upbeat music continues] [gentle upbeat music continues] [gentle upbeat music continues] [gentle upbeat music continues]