Bachelor’s Degree in Sport Management
Professional Basketball Player | Canton Charge (G league team of Cleveland Cavaliers) | Canton, Ohio
Gerald Beverly plays basketball for the same organization as LeBron James.
While Beverly has met James, he has not played hoops with him, at least not yet. That’s because Beverly, the former star of Daemen College’s men’s basketball team, is working toward playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) one day.
As a member of the Canton Charge, Cleveland’s NBA Developmental League affiliate, Beverly has caught the eye of NBA representatives. Last summer, he was invited to play as a member of the Cavaliers NBA Summer League, which ran for a couple of weeks in Las Vegas. That is where he met James. The summer league brings together players selected in the NBA draft and other prospects to showcase their talents. At 6-feet-8 and 235 pounds, Beverly went up against other college stars from across the country and from Division I schools.
“I was kind of in awe at first — I played with some of the top 10 picks from the NBA draft,” notes Beverly. “But I was playing for the opportunity so I worked very hard during the league. I lifted weights, took shooting practice on my own, and worked with coaches when I had the chance.”
A native of Rochester, N.Y., where he was a standout player at Gates Chili High School, Beverly earned a bachelor’s degree in sport management from Daemen. While playing for the Daemen Wildcats, he became one of only two players in team history to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds during his college career.
Upon graduation, he was invited to workouts with the Phoenix Suns and Toronto Raptors leading up to the NBA draft. When he was not picked up by a team, Beverly tipped off his professional career playing for the Telekom Baskets in Bonn, Germany in 2015. He returned to the U.S. after an injury. The early interest from the NBA and the experience in Bonn eventually resulted in Beverly being picked up off waivers by Canton in the NBA developmental league in the 2016–2017 season.
In his first game with the Charge, Beverly scored 10 points and wrestled in nine rebounds. He helped the Charge reach the developmental league playoffs, in which he averaged 9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. A fan’s Twitter account named Beverly the 2017 Charge Nation Fan Favorite in a Twitter poll. He will return to Canton for the upcoming season and hopes to receive an invitation to an NBA training camp.
Talking about his success thus far, Beverly credits his Daemen experience for preparing him well for both on and off the basketball court.
“I matured very quickly at Daemen and learned that you have to take every opportunity you are given, and take it seriously,” Beverly concludes. “I had great mentors in not only my coaches and teammates at Daemen, but in my professors and instructors as well.”
