University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Big Weekend for Manuel
January 25, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2005
By Adam Lucas
Ever the jokester, Melvin Scott has certain attack points for everyone in the Tar Heel locker room.
When Carolina's three seniors sat for a group interview in October, his tactic with Jackie Manuel quickly became clear. Manuel was describing where he might be in ten years and mentioned that he thought he'd be married. Scott quickly interrupted.
"Ten years?" the Baltimore native said. "More like ten months. Or maybe ten days."
As it turns out, Scott was right. Jackie Manuel might have had a posse for over a year, but now he's got something even better--a fiancée.
"My teammates would always say, `Jackie's going to be the first one to get engaged,'" Manuel says. "I'd just laugh. But inside I knew they were right."
Over Christmas, Manuel had a covert conversation with the parents of his long-time girlfriend, Ronda Norman. The premise was simple: I want to marry your daughter. It's one of the most nervewracking conversations any male can have, but it went smoothly, and both Norman's parents and Manuel's parents were excited.
Then came the tricky part: how to ask. Ronda, a former sports information intern (the folks in sports information will tell you they deserve the credit for her hard-working nature and pleasant disposition, but in reality she had those characteristics long before she ever worked there) who is currently interning with the NBDL's Fayetteville Patriots, had mentioned she wanted a Build-a-Bear.
The company--which allows customers to build stuffed bears, from stuffing to wardrobe in the span of less than an hour--has a location at Durham's Streets of Southpoint. Manuel says the idea just came to him: she wants a bear. I'll build her a bear. That was the least he could do for the girl he met when he noticed her walking in her ROTC uniform across campus. It started as a simple friendship, a little good-natured joking. He'd salute her, poking fun at the uniform. She would laugh. It started simple and became much more.
He went to Southpoint and put together the perfect bear, right down to the red shirt, black pants, and red shoes. Another Build-a-Bear custom feature is the option of putting a computer chip containing a voice recording inside the bear. Squeeze the bear's hand, and the voice recording plays.
Manuel's message was simple, yet effective. "Ronda, will you marry me?"
He packed the bear in the box and waited for the right moment. Last Friday night, the evening before the Miami game, he told Ronda he had a surprise for her. She was supposed to close her eyes, but couldn't resist peeking and saw the trademark Build-a-Bear box. That was exciting enough--just what she had wanted!
But Manuel had more in mind. "I knew she was going to say yes, so I wasn't nervous," he says. "But I was sweating everywhere."
"They say that if you close your eyes, kiss the bear, make a wish, and squeeze the bear's arm, your dream will come true," he told her.
She closed, kissed, and squeezed, and suddenly the voice of Carolina's defensive stopper was coming out of the bear. When Ronda opened her eyes, Jackie was on one knee.
"She couldn't believe it," Jackie says. "She had to call her mother right away. I think she cried four times that night."
The first must-see date on the Tar Heel social calendar is tentatively set for August 13. His fellow seniors, including the one who predicted this three months ago, hope to be there.
"It's a beautiful thing and I wish the best for him," Scott said. "They're made for each other."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. His book on Roy Williams's first season at Carolina, Going Home Again, is now available in bookstores. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly or learn more about the book, click here.
