Art Morrison III converts lessons from the hardwood to the classroom of life for young people.
The odds of making it into the NBA or any professional sport are incredibly high. In the U.S. and many European countries, a disproportionate number of young people aspire to play professional sports, but unfortunately, the odds are not favorable. According to Dunk Or Three, anyone seeking a basketball career has roughly a 1 in 3333 chance (.03%) of getting to the NBA.
The options to play professional sports are not limited to the NBA alone, but the path is notoriously challenging for anyone who wants to follow it. However, ex-professional athlete Art Morrison III believes there is more value in pursuing a passion than attaining the vision itself.
Art Morrison III is an ex-professional athlete, author, and real estate investor who overcame the odds to play professional basketball in Europe. Morrison’s journey has been one of loss, injury setbacks, and overcoming obstacles against numerous odds. He has put all his experiences into mentoring young people in the art of pursuing their dreams, from sports to real estate, and lessons on life. Morrison has mentored hundreds of young kids aspiring to play professionally through his youth basketball organization, AboveMax Basketball. He has also mentored over 400 students in the art of real estate.
This reporter chatted with Art Morrison, who shared a little about his work and how he is utilizing his story to educate the next generation on overcoming setbacks and attaining success.
Rod Berger: Can you share a little bit about yourself? Who is Art Morrison III? And what aspects of your background helped shape your present-day efforts?
Art Morrison III: I am an ex-professional basketball player. I played in the Proliga in Portugal and was the leading scorer while I was playing in the league. I graduated from Caldwell University and was also part of the men’s basketball team there. I am a licensed basketball coach and the founder of AboveMax Basketball, a youth basketball organization that trains kids aged seven to nineteen.
I specialize in mindset and skill development and personal training. I use the many lessons I have learned from overcoming tremendous odds in my life to train kids to be resilient in pursuing their dreams. Whether they end up playing professional ball or not, these lessons get them through life.
I’m also a real estate investor and the CEO of United Home Relief LLC, a company I launched in 2019 that has enjoyed explosive success. We quickly became a seven-figure business and surpassed $1 million in revenue in our first full year of operation. So, that’s pretty much me in a nutshell.
Berger: As a professional coach and ex-basketball pro, you must be aware of the steep odds against many young aspiring athletes trying to make it to the big time. Was your journey a straightforward path, or was it a struggle to get to play professionally?
Morrison: It was anything but easy. When I mentor young people today, I try to paint that picture as clearly as possible. Getting to the top in any profession is difficult, let alone professional basketball. My personal journey was filled with repeated setbacks, from attending five different high schools, enduring several injuries, including a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and eventually having to pose as my own agent and fight to get a deal.
Berger: That’s a challenging road to the pros. You mentioned posing as your own agent, which is rare for anyone that gets to play professionally. Can you share a little more about that process?
Morrison: After tearing my ACL my senior year in college, I had a long injury layoff, which meant I had almost no playing time in my senior year of college. For most people, when that happens, it’s game over. No agents or teams want to deal with you. However, I loved the game and believed I could play professionally.
So, I posed as my own agent and started reaching out to teams. I reached out to over 3,000 organizations before earning my first opportunity and, eventually, my first professional contract. That was how my journey into pro basketball began.
Playing professionally took self-belief and self-encouragement to rise from numerous rejections and beat tremendous odds. I learned so much from the pursuit that I still would have become successful at something else even if I didn’t make it to the professional stage. In fact, these lessons are largely responsible for my success in real estate today. I teach young kids this knowledge—to believe in themselves and to know that every door will not close against them. For every door that closes, another one opens.
Berger: I can only imagine how humbling it was to reach out to over 3,000 teams. That’s Impressive. But let’s shift the focus on how that transition happened for you from playing professionally to real estate. It’s not an uncommon route for many athletes to enter real estate, so was it a similar story for you?
Morrison: Well, not at all. Many athletes who become real estate investors have played in the NBA with a lot of liquidity. But my circumstances were slightly different. I always wanted to invest in real estate but knew I didn’t want to be a broker or a middleman, which are the only two options available when you are broke and have bad credit, which unfortunately was my circumstance.
At the time, I had already started AboveMax Basketball and was coaching some phenomenal kids. I launched United Home Relief by leveraging AboveMax to find capital partners and private lenders to fund my real estate deals.
I partnered with the parents of some of the kids I was coaching to raise capital to purchase our first five houses during our first year of business. These parents believed in me and invested in my new company, and we have not looked back since. We did over $1 million in revenue in the first year, even during the pandemic.
Berger: That’s a savvy way to enter the industry [laugh]. It appears you spend a great deal of time mentoring young people in sports and real estate. Why is mentoring kids so vital for you, and what are the lessons you frequently teach?
Morrison: Well, my life has been one big roller coaster. I have achieved almost everything the hard way, and I figured, if I can succeed, anyone can as well. In 2015, I lost my dad to a sudden heart attack one month after launching the youth basketball organization. Since I could no longer include him in my entrepreneurial journey, I dedicated my business growth to him and decided to bring as many people along with me.
In 2018, I published my first book, Overcome: The Key to Unlocking Your Superhuman. Its motivational premise has been a powerful mentorship tool for many young people.
The testimonials have been amazing. I’m essentially teaching young people to look at themselves like the main character in a movie and understand that for the story to be a good one, there must be trials and hardships to overcome.
So, for example, when I mentor people trying to get into real estate, I advise them never to use the phrase, “I can’t do this because...” Instead, they should say, “How can I achieve this, despite...” The former phrasing shuts down their creativity and tenacity to press on, but the latter unlocks their curiosity and ability to innovate and press on.
I want young people to know that there is gold in the pursuit and not just in the destination. If, for some reason, you don’t get to your preferred destination, you will have learned so much that it will catapult you to the top when the next door opens.
Art Morrison III is an example of an individual who wishes to better the lives of the younger generation in a relatable education platform that builds self-belief and business acumen. He splits his time coaching the youth basketball organization and mentoring over 400 young entrepreneurs interested in real estate. As a result, many young proteges have launched highly successful real estate businesses with a sense of knowledge, purpose, and confidence all rolled together.
Increased attention inside schools to develop stronger teacher and leadership practices that trickle down to the student level continue to garner headlines. Although many efforts are underway inside the education ecosystem, it often takes outside actions of individuals willing to spend their time and energy raising the bar of opportunity.
Morrison recognizes an essential opportunity within the black community in the U.S. and elsewhere to merge the mentoring of real-life skills with athletic interests. By joining them together, he is uplifting the passion, potential, and possibilities for youth to be the best main characters inside the lives they are creating.
Interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.
