Road to Duke
Roshown McLeod was born November 17, 1975, in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was raised primarily by his mother, Diane McLeod — known to everyone as Ms. Diane — in one of the toughest cities in the New York metro area. Jersey City basketball was a proving ground where talent was forged on outdoor courts and in cramped gymnasiums.
McLeod attended St. Anthony High School, the legendary program coached by Bob Hurley Sr. — the same Bob Hurley whose son Bobby had led Duke to back-to-back championships in 1991 and 1992. Under Hurley Sr., McLeod learned defense, discipline, toughness, and the understanding that basketball was a privilege earned through effort. He was tournament MVP as a senior — 18 points, 9 rebounds, and a key block in the championship game. The connection between St. Anthony’s and Duke ran through Bobby Hurley’s bloodline.
McLeod committed to St. John’s, staying close to home. Over two seasons with the Red Storm, he averaged 7.2 PPG and 5.8 RPG in 57 games — struggling to find consistent playing time. He announced he was transferring.
At the time, transfers to Duke were unheard of. Coach K didn’t take them. But the Hurley connection gave Krzyzewski information he wouldn’t have had otherwise. Roshown McLeod became the first transfer Coach K ever accepted. The door he opened would later be walked through by Dahntay Jones, Seth Curry, and Rodney Hood. Each became All-ACC. Each played in the NBA. McLeod was the one who proved a transfer could work at Duke.
At Duke
After sitting out 1995–96 under transfer rules, McLeod played two years at Duke, and the transformation was dramatic. The player who averaged 7.2 at St. John’s became one of the best forwards in the ACC.
Junior year, 1996–97: 12.1 PPG, 5.3 RPG, helping Duke win the ACC regular-season title and reach 24–9. He was part of the bridge generation — alongside Langdon, Wojciechowski, and Carrawell — that carried the program from the 4–15 disaster back to national relevance.
Senior year, 1997–98: the masterpiece. 15.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 49.4% from the field. Led Duke in scoring. First Team All-ACC. Honorable mention All-American. Duke went 32–4, won the ACC regular-season title. His best game: Senior Day against Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, and North Carolina. Duke trailed by 17 in the second half. McLeod scored 23, led the comeback. Duke won 77–75. In the 1998 NCAA Tournament, he averaged 17.5 points across four games before Duke fell to Kentucky in the Elite Eight.
The kid from Jersey City who couldn’t crack the lineup at St. John’s had become a first-round pick from Duke. Coach K’s gamble on his first transfer paid off in full.
After Duke
Atlanta selected McLeod 20th overall in 1998. Three NBA seasons: two with the Hawks, a stint with Philadelphia. 113 games, 7.2 PPG, 2.7 RPG. Career-high 24 against Orlando. In 2001–02, he signed with the Celtics, but a permanent injury ended his career before he played a game. He was twenty-five years old.
Then his mother died. Ms. Diane — the woman who raised him in Jersey City, the center of his world — was gone. In the same year that injury ended his career, McLeod lost the person who mattered most. He fell into a deep depression. He moved out of the house where his children lived. Fans see players for a couple of hours and think we know them. We knew nothing about the dark places McLeod went.
Years later, he published an open letter to his mother — raw, honest, deeply personal. A man in his forties reckoning with the loss that had broken him at twenty-five and the long road back.
Where Is He Now
McLeod rebuilt through coaching and eventually a career beyond basketball. Assistant at Fairfield under Ed Cooley. Next Level Players Development and AAU coaching in Atlanta. Indiana University staff under Tom Crean (2008–10). He replaced Dan Hurley — Bob Hurley Sr.’s other son — at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, closing a circle that connected Jersey City, Duke, and the Hurley family. He coached at Fellowship Christian School in Georgia.
He completed his Duke degree in 2006, returning to Durham to finish what he started. He transitioned to finance: lending manager at JPMorgan Chase, promoted to VP and home lending manager in Georgia. He has a son Anthony and a daughter Anisa.
Roshown McLeod was born in Jersey City and raised by his mother. He played for Bob Hurley Sr. at St. Anthony’s. He went to St. John’s and couldn’t break through. He transferred to Duke — the first transfer Coach K ever accepted — and became First Team All-ACC and a first-round pick. He scored 23 on Senior Day to lead a 17-point comeback against Vince Carter’s North Carolina. He played 113 NBA games. Then his mother died and an injury ended his career in the same year, and he fell into a darkness fans never saw. He published a letter to his mother and found his way back. He coached at Indiana and St. Benedict’s. He finished his Duke degree. He became a VP at JPMorgan Chase. The door he opened — the first transfer door — led to Seth Curry and Rodney Hood and a tradition of second chances. He was the first to prove you don’t have to start at Duke to belong to the Brotherhood. You just have to earn it. And he earned it.