Trinity Baptist College student Marquel Perry is well known on campus as a gentleman with some serious basketball skills. Most TBC students see Perry as a talented player on the court, and many know him in the classroom as a fine student. Some know him personally as a man with a heart for God. To 11-year-old Gavin Gallazzi, however, Perry is so much more.
Gallazzi is a fifth-grade student at Trinity Christian Academy, which shares its campus and all facilities with the college. Gallazzi grew up with his mother, Renee Gallazzi, but lacked a male role model for most of his young life.
Enter Perry.
Perry, a junior, is a member of the TBC Eagles men’s basketball team. He spent his freshman year at Brewton-Parker College and transferred to Trinity as a sophomore in 2015 to play for coach John Jones and the Eagles. He is a role player on the court who usually scores crucial points late in games in addition to getting the ball to the main scorers. Perry has also led his team in scoring on numerous occasions.
Off the court, though, Perry scores points in ways that sports reporters cannot record.
While sitting in counseling class with professor Carol Buckner in December of 2016, Perry heard Buckner discuss then-unnamed Gallazzi and the need for a male figure in Gallazzi’s life. Perry was already praying for an opportunity to share the Gospel with youngsters and to help lead them to live a life for God.
After careful consideration and conviction, Perry spoke with Buckner and asked for the chance to meet Gallazzi and his mother.
“I felt led,” Perry said. “I grew up with only my mother. I had a rough childhood until I had a lady pour her life into me. She radically changed my life.”
Perry saw the similarities in his own life and Gallazzi’s and felt as if he already knew the boy before the two even met.
Perry explained that — thanks in large part to his mentor — he accepted Jesus as his savior while young and in school, and it changed his heart, which led to a change in his outward appearance and demeanor. He started making better grades and caring for himself and his mother as he grew spiritually, and that transformed into a desire to share the Gospel with others. Perry eventually became a youth leader at his home church — New Testament Missionary Outreach — in Savannah, Georgia, where he still serves when he can get home.
Little did Perry know that both Renee Gallazzi and Buckner were also praying for a male role model to help mentor young Gallazzi. The saying goes that God works in mysterious ways, but Christians believe that God has a plan for everyone. Perry believes he was divinely placed into Buckner’s class at the exact time needed.
“God chose me to do it,” Perry said.
Perry and Gallazzi met before Christmas break. The two started talking about their days at school, and Gallazzi soon went with his mother to the Eagles’ basketball games to see Perry play. Gallazzi and Perry also shoot baskets together, play ping-pong and phone app games, and draw pictures together.
For Perry, the toughest part was “getting through the breaking point, getting Gavin’s attention and breaking through the wall and barrier of shyness, getting him to open up.” Once they got to know each other, that barrier came down quickly. Perry enjoys seeing the spiritual growth in young people that leads to personal growth, particularly in Gallazzi.
“He is my little brother now,” Perry said.
Perry also gives credit to Gallazzi’s mother.
“She’s great,” Perry said. “She was open and accepting of having me work with him. She saw the need and prayed for it, and God gave me the opportunity.”
Gallazzi’s mother had several reasons for getting Perry paired with her son.
“Gavin had been going through some things at school,” Renee Gallazzi said. “He told me no one liked him and he felt a little bullied. His father has also recently said to me — in front of him — ‘I don’t want to be a husband nor a father!’ I remember Gavin looking up at me so shocked when his dad said that. I took him to Mrs. Buckner. She spoke with [Gavin] and encouraged him.”
Buckner spoke about Gallazzi during her counseling class without saying his name. After that session, a few of the college students, including Perry, asked Buckner if they could mentor Gallazzi.
“She prayed about it and selected Marquel,” Renee Gallazzi said. “I had prayed for five years for a mentor for Gavin.”
Renee Gallazzi spoke on how Perry influenced her son.
“Marquel has been such a blessing to Gavin,” she said. “He is very sweet to him and makes Gavin feel special. He has spoken to Gavin about his own broken family and how he felt lost and like he had no one…. He taught Gavin a ‘cool’ handshake and calls Gavin his brother.”
“I am blessed to have Marquel show Gavin that men can be caring,” she said. “Marquel also focuses on Gavin’s spiritual condition. Gavin has Marquel in his life encouraging him and telling him he is special. So, someone else thinks he is special besides just his mom.”
Renee Gallazzi sees only blessings from this experience, and she expressed her wishes for other children in similar situations.
“The part that breaks my heart is I hear many other single parents, fathers and mothers, all wish they had mentors for their children also,” she said.
Renee Gallazzi understands that many other single parents and their children find themselves in similar situations. She started to lose hope that she would ever find someone to mentor her son, but she held on faithfully until Perry came along. She offered the following advice to other parents: “Pray to God for a mentor. It took five years. I wondered if that prayer would ever be answered, but I know it was all in God’s timing.”
“Talk about it with counselors, like the Buckners, etc. … people who may have contact with people who could be interested in mentoring,” she said.
Both Perry and Gallazzi play trumpet, and the two have birthdays only one day apart. Perry, 21, has a birthday on February 12, and Gallazzi’s is on February 13.
Parry gave advice for others who wish to mentor youngsters.
“Don’t do it for personal glory,” Perry said. “Do it for others. Give back and spread the Gospel. Do it for the children.”
Perry also does it for the glory of God.
Basketball Player Gives Back via Mentorship and Fellowship
Written by: Raymond Bureau
