Carmelo Anthony Reveals Hair Braids Got Him Kicked out of Catholic High School: ‘It Was Racism’

For his senior year of high school, NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony transferred to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. Despite making the switch to one of the top prep basketball programs in the country, Anthony claims he was forced to leave his former high school because of racism.

“A lot of people don’t know, I got kicked out of Towson Catholic my junior year because I had braids,” Anthony told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on All the Smoke. “It was racism and I didn’t know I was part of racism at that time.”

Anthony led Towson Catholic to a 26-3 record during his junior season, earning Baltimore’s County Player of the Year, All-Metropolitan Player of the Year and Baltimore Catholic League Player of the Year honors. Having been an average player during his first two high school basketball seasons, it wasn’t until Anthony’s junior year that he started getting noticed by East Coast colleges. But according to Anthony, Towson Catholic was still focused on his braids.

“You’re walking around and the monsignor and archdiocese are looking at you like, ‘you gotta take your hair out.’ I’m like, ‘no, I’m not doing that.’ My tie was crooked, you got detention,” Anthony explained. “They were picking on me.”

“By the time my junior year ended, I had so many detentions accumulated that I had to come back that summer in order to get my report card,” Anthony said. “I’m like, I’m done with that. I’m not about to come in the summer to scrub tables and wash books – it’s summertime. So I got kicked out.”

After declaring early to attend Syracuse University for college basketball, Anthony went on to finish his high school career at Oak Hill Academy, leading them to a championship during his senior season.

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