Battle to speak at Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast

ASHEBORO — Alvin Battle, former NC State basketball player and regular on the Wolfpack’s 1983 national championship team, will be the speaker for this year’s Asheboro Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.

The annual event is scheduled for Thursday, May 2, beginning at 6:45 a.m. at the AVS Banquet Centre in Asheboro.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the event. Each year up to 500 people attend.

Alvin Battle was born in Tarboro and raised in Rocky Mount, NC. He was a 1980 graduate of Northern Nash High School.

Battle holds an A.A. degree in General Education from Merced College in Merced, CA. He received the California Junior College Basketball Player of the Year award in 1982. Battle also holds a B.A. degree in speech Communications from NC State University in Raleigh.

And, yes, he played in that famous national championship game.

“I believe the national championship was a divine intervention from God because of all the things that went on,” Battle, who now lives in Randolph County, said last year as a guest speaker at a meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Asheboro. “There’s no way we should have won that game. No way.”

Battle is expected to take listeners back to that game and to events that preceded it, and followed it, including events that “broke my heart.” He’ll also give listeners a look into his upbringing and the difficult path he carved out with the help of divine guidance.

To reserve a table of 9, call event chairman Neal Griffin or Sponsorship Co-Chair Kaye Bryan at 336-625-0550 or Sponsorship Co-Chair Tammie Walker at 336-953-1256. Tables fill up quickly.