Minority Male Success Initiative Club has been huge influence on Lanier Warner
Published on: February 20, 2025
Lanier Warner is all over the º£½ÇÂÒÂ× Jamestown campus with involvement in several student activities and a steady load of classes.
The easiest way to find Warner these days is to look for a home GTCC Titans basketball game and head to Ragsdale YMCA gym. It’s a sure bet you’ll find the 60-year-old former college basketball player, who, despite his age, still considers himself a “hooper.”
Warner’s route to GTCC has been long and winding. His college career began on a basketball scholarship to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Later, he studied at Community College of Baltimore Catonsville in Maryland. Several years later he studied at a community college in Minneapolis.
It was at Minneapolis College that Warner discovered a new path forward. Though his days as a basketball player were behind him, the Washington, D.C., native realized he could channel his passion for the game into coaching. This gave him the opportunity to mentor young people.
“Anything I can do to enlighten young people, I will do,” said Warner, who spent much of his adult life in the hotel industry. “Young people don’t know what’s in front of them. I’ve got years of life experiences and I’m still here. If nothing else, I like to give back through my own experiences.”
Warner was a volunteer coach at the Minnesota community college for a year before the basketball program was eliminated. Later that year he moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, to be closer to family and while he was searching for a job, wound up renewing his college career by enrolling at Cape Fear Community College.
He quickly discovered there was a basketball team at Cape Fear Community College, and it wasn’t long before he was a volunteer coach with the Sea Devils, a position he held for several years.
Warner moved to the Piedmont Triad a couple of years ago for what he called “a fresh start” after struggling in the aftermath of COVID. “Like a lot of people, COVID swayed my mental health. That was a setback. I had to adjust. I sought counseling.”
Last summer, Warner enrolled in classes at GTCC, taking some social science classes to begin, he said, with “the hope of helping others with my own past experiences.”
Unexpectedly, he almost immediately got the opportunity to help. He was recruited by the college last fall to speak to students about those experiences at two different gatherings on campus.
At about the same time, he discovered the Minority Male Success Initiative Club, an organization that provides a community for minority male students on campus for camaraderie and community matters.
“The club has been a huge help. I’ve never been one to get connected in school. I would work and leave, but being connected to people in this club, allowing them to be influences on me is big,” said Warner. “I like to think I’ve done it all myself, but I have finally allowed people to help me and encourage me.
“It’s one thing to go, but then to interact and see how much they want to see you excel, that’s something totally different.”
Warner is more involved than he’s ever been during his academic career. Between classes and extracurricular activities, his schedule is full.
But he always has time for hoops. And though he doesn’t entertain thoughts of returning to coaching, he will be in the gym on game nights, standing strong behind the Titans.
For more information on the Minority Male Success Initiative Club and other GTCC club’s visit, gtcc.edu/student-life/student-organizations/index.php Back to All Articles