Road to Duke
Reginald L. “Reggie” Love was born April 29, 1981, and grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. At Providence Day School, one of Charlotte’s elite private schools, he was a two-sport star in football and basketball — the kind of athlete who filled up the room not because of his 6-foot-4, 225-pound frame, but because of his smile. He won two state basketball championships. His athletic director, Barbara Fricke, remembered him as a great student who always came up with the right answers in class, a big guy with a real playful side.
Love was recruited to play football at several of the nation’s top programs. He chose Duke because it offered him something no other school would: a football scholarship and the chance to walk on to the basketball team. He wanted both. He valued the academics — he would major in political science and public policy. And he wanted to play for Mike Krzyzewski.
The decision was pure Reggie Love: ambitious, unconventional, and driven by a belief that you don’t have to pick just one thing.
At Duke
Love arrived at Duke in the fall of 2000 and immediately attempted the rarest double in college athletics: competing at the Division I level in both football and basketball, simultaneously, at one of the most demanding academic institutions in the country.
On the basketball court, he walked on as a freshman and earned a spot on the 2000-01 roster — the team that featured Shane Battier, Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy Jr., and Chris Duhon. That team went 35-4 and won the national championship, beating Arizona 82-72 in the title game. Love played in 21 games that season, providing energy, toughness, and depth off the bench. He was part of the White House visit when the team was honored by President George W. Bush — a moment that would prove eerily prophetic.
On the football field, Love played wide receiver for four seasons, earning a letter every year. He led the Duke Blue Devils in receptions as a senior in 2003, showing the reliable hands and physical toughness that translated across sports. ESPN later noted that while Love was never All-ACC in either sport, his soft hands and competitive fire were unmistakable.
The basketball career had its complications. At the end of his sophomore year, Love was arrested for an alleged DUI. His blood-alcohol level was reportedly below the legal limit and he was never sentenced, but Krzyzewski suspended him for the 2002 ACC Tournament. Love took responsibility. He didn’t return to the basketball team for his junior year, partly due to a knee injury suffered in football and partly because, as ESPN reported, he needed time to reset. But he came back for his senior year in 2004-05 and was named team captain — a testament to the trust his teammates and coaches placed in his leadership. He played in 58 career basketball games, averaging 1.3 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. The numbers were modest. The impact was not.
Love graduated from Duke in 2005 with a degree in political science and public policy. He had won a national championship, led a football team in receptions, been suspended and come back, been named captain, and visited the White House. He was 23 years old.
After Duke
After Duke, Love pursued professional football briefly but didn’t catch on with an NFL roster. In 2006, he applied for an internship on Capitol Hill. Robert Gibbs, then the communications director for a junior senator from Illinois named Barack Obama, interviewed him for a position in Obama’s Senate office. Love was hired as Deputy Political Director.
In 2007, when Obama launched his presidential campaign, Love became his personal assistant — the “body man.” The title sounds simple. The job was anything but. Love was responsible for anticipating every need the future president might have — books, newspapers, music, schedules, meals, wardrobe, information. He was the last person Obama saw before stepping onstage and the first person waiting when he came off. Obama called him “my iReggie” — a play on Apple’s devices — joking that Love was his books, his newspapers, and his music all in one place.
Love and Obama played basketball every single day there was a primary election during the 2008 campaign. Always on the same team. The competitive fire that Krzyzewski had coached at Duke found its way into pickup games in gyms across America, with the man who would become the 44th President running the floor alongside a former Duke walk-on. They kept playing after Obama won — regularly, on the White House basketball court. For Obama’s 50th birthday, Love helped organize a basketball game on that court featuring LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Alonzo Mourning, Shane Battier, and Maya Moore. Kobe and Bill Russell watched from the sideline.
Obama described Love as his “little brother.” The relationship transcended the professional. Love served as Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the President of the United States from 2009 to 2011 — one of the most trusted positions in the White House. He left at the end of 2011 to pursue his MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
The Duke kid who had walked on to the basketball team, who had visited the White House with the 2001 championship squad as a freshman, was now working in that same building — for the President.
Where Is He Now
After earning his MBA from Wharton in 2013, Love moved into business and media. In July 2015, Vice Media announced that he would become editor-at-large for Vice Sports. He has since built a career in investment and consulting, becoming a partner at RON Transatlantic, an investment firm.
Love’s post-White House life has also included public speaking, philanthropy, and maintaining the relationships that defined his Duke and Washington years. The Brotherhood connection runs deep: Shane Battier, his teammate on the 2001 championship team, was one of the NBA players at Obama’s 50th birthday game. The Duke network — from the basketball court to the Oval Office — has been a throughline in Love’s career.
Reggie Love’s story is unlike any other in the Brotherhood. He wasn’t the most talented player on any Duke team he played for. He never averaged more than a handful of points. He never made an NBA roster. But he won a national championship, captained a team, played two sports at a Power Five school, graduated with a degree in political science, became the personal aide to the President of the United States, earned an MBA from Wharton, and built a career that spans politics, media, and finance. He is the ultimate Duke two-sport, multiple-career success story — proof that the Brotherhood isn’t defined by what you do on the court. It’s defined by what you do with what Duke gives you.