Submitted photos – Mo Charlo, right, is coaching in the NBA G League with players like Bronny LeBron.

This is the second part in a series of stories on former Eureka Logger Mo Charlo, who was recently hired as an assistant coach with the South Bay Lakers, a G League team that is part of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise.

By Ray Hamill — For Mo Charlo, the path to coaching in the NBA G League almost never happened.

In fact, his life could easily have taken him down a very different path, but what he’s learned along the way has not just defined him as a person, it has made him more determined than ever to give back to the community that shaped his life and career.

“I do get to go home as often as I can. That’s my goal,” said Charlo, who is based in Colorado. “I’m a people person and I’m all about the kids. I know what it’s like to be that kid who didn’t have a lot of guidance and stability. I know what that’s like. Eureka made me the person I am, so I try to go home and give back as much as I can. 

“I go to the elementary schools and I speak to the kids. I tell them if you work hard and stick with it, I truly believe great things can happen. If you work at it, I promise you it will work out.”

Charlo never knew his father, and his mother, Sylvia Purify, was “in and out of jail” when he was a kid growing up in Humboldt County, he said.

“There were times I didn’t even know where my next meal was coming from,” he added. 

A strong community support system, however, saved Charlo from going down the wrong path and he says he will be forever grateful to the people that helped put him on the journey to success.

“For me, I had a great group of people around me,” he said.

Despite the challenges when he was growing up, Charlo says he has a great relationship with his mother, who turned around her own life, and the two are “super close,” he says. 

“She was a great mother,” he said. “She did the best she could and I never felt she wasn’t a great mother.”

In Charlo’s junior year at Eureka High, Sylvia moved to Texas and he considered moving with her but opted to stay local instead, moving in with family friends Kathy and Jason Giacone.

“I had to make a decision,” Charlo said. “So I moved in with Kathy Giacone and that was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. They changed my life.”

Mo Charlo and current Eureka Loggers basketball head coach Jimmy Rodgers

For more on Mo Charlo’s story, see part 1 of our series on the former Eureka Logger detailing his life as a professional basketball player …

Charlo says he remains close with the Giacones and talks to them “all the time,” as well as Rob and Debbie McBeth, who also were hugely influential during his formative years.

So too was his high school football and basketball coach, Jack Lakin, whom Charlo has remained close to.

“Coach Lakin, he means a lot to me. As soon as I hit high school, he was there for me.” said Charlo, who added with a chuckle, “We probably made him grey sooner than he wanted.”

Like many of the influential adults in Charlo’s life, Lakin instilled a sense of discipline that continues to benefit the former Loggers multi-sport standout to this day.

“He made sure I got to school,” Charlo added. “He saw something in me early on.”

Lakin echoed the sentiment.

“He had to overcome some stuff, but I think he was always someone who was disciplined and had a lot of resiliency,” the former Eureka High coach said. “He was someone who always made it to practice and games.”

Lakin also remembers Charlo’s charismatic side.

“Regardless of what was happening in his life, he always stayed positive,” he said. “His teammates and opponents, they all enjoyed and respected Mo, and they enjoyed his success.

“For Mo, it wasn’t always about him, he always made sure his teammates were involved. 

“And he always had that big smile on his face. He was a lot of fun to be around. He was a lot of fun to compete with.”

As for his future in the game, Charlo is happy to see where his new start in coaching will take him.

“I think I’m going to keep it open and let God continue to guide me,” he said. “Whatever God has planned for me, that’s going to happen.”

Charlo also said that he wants to continue to give back to the Humboldt County community and he recently started a new AAU program in the area with his longtime friend Daniel Landry.

“We’re all about the kids,” he said. “These kids want opportunities and we want to give them another opportunity to try to get a scholarship.”

But it’s not just the kids in Humboldt County that Charlo wants to help.

The former Logger met his future wife, Alisha, while still playing in high school, when she moved to the area from Alaska.

More than two decades later, the happy couple are still together.

“She dealt with my crap through all the years and she’s still with me,” he said with a chuckle. “She’s been a big part of my life.”

Mo and Alisha have three children — Brooklynn, 17, Zendaiya, 8, and Maiya, 2 — all of whom appear set to follow in the family tradition.

Brooklynn is now a high school senior playing basketball on a scholarship for the prestigious IMG Academy in Florida.

Her success is something that Charlo naturally takes tremendous pride in and the latest success story in his life.

It’s a story that began here in Humboldt County and one you get the feeling is far from over.

“I hold Eureka and Humboldt in my heart,” he said. “I’ll never forget where I came from. Humboldt is always home.”

As for his journey to the NBA G League, Charlo says he will be forever grateful to those who helped him succeed and follow his dreams.

“It’s been amazing. It’s been unreal. I couldn’t have mapped it any better,” he said. “Regardless of the circumstances or upbringing, you can always hope to achieve your dreams with hard work and dedication. I’m not saying I was perfect, that’s unrealistic. I wasn’t perfect. But you can get back on track if you surround yourself with positivity.

“Everything I’ve gone through has made me the person I am today.”