Much of Brian Mack's life has centered around basketball, a sport he has played throughout his life in Charlotte.
He also happens to be a barber of 26 years who has previously attempted to combine his profession with his passion for basketball. Mack said he had a small barbershop centered around the sport years ago, but the shop was displaced due to highway construction nearby.
But on June 29, Mack’s dreams of owning a basketball-themed barbershop were brought back to life when he opened the House of Hoops Barbershop outside of downtown Charlotte. This time around, Mack had help from his son B.J., a former South Carolina men's basketball player who used money he earned from NIL deals to open the shop.
The shop aims to be a hub for Charlotte’s basketball community, as well as a jumpstart for B.J.’s professional career once his playing days are over.
Brian said the idea behind the House of Hoops Barbershop originated from the fact that B.J. never had the chance to see him play basketball.
“He’s heard a lot about it, but the father-son type thing – these kids nowadays, they don’t believe it until they see it with their own eyes,” Brian said. “I know that that was just a common thing among a bunch of older gentlemen.”
After interactions with Charlotte natives who Brian continues to play basketball with, he felt that there was not a place in the city that “could bring all of that history together.” That has become one of the barbershop’s primary goals, Brian said.
“Some of the things I wanted to do was take the history of basketball and put it in a place where it was preserved for all the community,” Brian said.
This realization coincided with B.J.’s final season of his college basketball career, which spanned five years and three universities – South Florida, Wofford and South Carolina.
Brian said B.J. was looking for ways to utilize the business and sport management skills he gained while pursuing his master’s degree at South Carolina.
For B.J., the barbershop is a business he could potentially inherit within the next five to 10 years once his playing career is over. He said he's currently in the process of finding professional basketball opportunities overseas.
But the shop also allows him to repay his parents for the sacrifices they made to make his basketball career possible.
“It really started with knowing the things that my dad and my mom have also done for me – like, knowing that my dad has done a lot of traveling, taking off work to come see me play, doing everything possible to make sure that I’m in the best position,” B.J. said. “One of their dreams (was) to see me play college basketball… so, at least, I can pay it back forward for them.”
B.J.’s decision to support his father in this way was not a shocking one, Larrietta Mack, Brian’s wife and B.J.’s mother, said.
“He’s always been the type of person that cares about his family and wants to see not only himself but us as a family succeed,” Larrietta said. “It wasn’t surprising to me that he did come to his father and make this happen for him because it just shows what kind of person he really is.”
Brian said he initially refused to let B.J. do this but reversed his thinking once he realized how much it meant to his son.
“At first, no father really wants to take his son’s money to do something. I was like, ‘No, we’re not doing that. You’ve got to come up with something else…' (but) he knew it was near and dear to my heart, so I would really put 100% into it,” Brian said. “It being tied to him only put that much more passion into making sure it was a success.”
Though the barbershop has been in operation for just over two weeks, it has already served the Charlotte community through a charity shoe drive it hosted on the day of its grand opening.
B.J. said giving away pairs of shoes he had accumulated over the years held a personal significance to him since he had trouble finding basketball shoes to wear when he was a child.
“Growing up, it was always hard trying to find shoes my size that would be able to fit. So, until I got to a Nike circuit where they were making shoes where they were able to fit me and everything, it was kind of hard,” B.J. said. “I know there are kids out there that don’t have the best opportunities to have shoes like me, so now, giving it back to them, they’ll be able to go out, have three, four pairs of new shoes… and just have fun and play a game that they love.”
The House of Hoops Barbershop has also aims to build connections with the Charlotte area through photographs and memorabilia that adorn the walls of the shop, Brian said.
The shop’s collection of jerseys includes one each from Patrick Williams and Jared Springer, two current NBA players with ties to the Mack family, as well as another one of B.J.'s jerseys from his time at South Carolina. Langston Wertz Jr., a sports reporter for The Charlotte Observer and another one of Brian’s connections in the area, supplied the shop with pictures the newspaper’s photographers had taken of important players and moments in the city’s basketball history.
Along the back wall of the shop, there is also a poster detailing the "BEEF" shooting method, a term that was coined by George Lehmann, a former professional basketball player who played in Charlotte at one point in his career. Lehmann’s grandson, J.C. Tharrington, currently plays basketball at UNC Greensboro and is one of B.J.’s best friends.
But space has purposefully been made for more photographs of Charlotte-Mecklenburg high school players of the year and champions of local professional-amateur tournaments to be added in the future, Brian said. He hopes this inspires local youth to follow in the footsteps of players from their hometown.
“You’ve got guys from all walks of life right here in Charlotte-Mecklenburg that have reached the levels you’re aspiring to reach to,” Brian said. “You want to be able to inspire that next little kid that now looks up to B.J. and sees him on the wall that when he comes in the barbershop… he has something to look for.”
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Brian added that these photographs and journeys help make going to the House of Hoops Barbershop a learning experience for all.
“We want to celebrate all aspects of basketball because we know it reaches so many different people, and the barbershop – it’s a place that no matter who you are, where you are, we are all the guys in there telling our stories,” Brian said. “We’ve got a place where, 20 years later, you can bring your grandson and actually look over the board and say, ‘I told you Pop Pop could play.’”
In some ways, the shop has the potential to be even bigger than basketball, Larrietta said.
“I’m hoping that my husband’s vision comes to fruition where all of the basketball community – even if you’re not a basketball fan, you can come in, you can learn, you can ask questions,” Larrietta said. “It’s just a place to bring people together and have open dialogue and communication.”