Orlando Coleman’s journey began on Birmingham’s west side. He lived in several areas but he grew up in Ensley near Avenue L and Avenue M in the “Ensley Brickyard” public housing community. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr., Special to The Times)
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By Solomon Crenshaw Jr. | For The Birmingham Times
Orlando Coleman has been a world traveler since he graduated in 2011 from Pleasant Grove High School.
Coleman has played pro basketball abroad with stops in Mexico, Serbia, Russia and other countries. These days, his playing career is on pause as he’s back in the Birmingham area, sharing his knowledge with youngsters, aspiring collegiate players and professionals.
Coleman was recently at McAlpine Recreation Center in Ensley where he learned to play basketball. That’s one of the local gyms where he trains about 20 athletes Monday through Saturday, giving back to the community while developing a brand and a clothing line.
All this from someone who didn’t even make his eighth-grade hoops squad. Coming back that disappointment “was a great pat on my back to really persevere and believe in myself,” Coleman said. “That’s really what it boiled down to.”
As a seventh grader at Homewood Middle School, Coleman was that guy on the basketball team who rarely got into the game and was cheered on the infrequent occasion that he did get onto the court.
Coleman’s confidence would be shaken when he tried out for the eighth-grade team and didn’t make it. “I came out to the car crying to my dad, like, ‘I didn’t make the team. I didn’t make the team,’”
The elder Coleman didn’t coddle his son.
“His first response was, ‘Are you gonna work or are you gonna play ball?”
Maurice Orlando Coleman Jr. heard those choices. He could either go to work with his father or he could work on his game for another try in the future.
It didn’t hurt that the youngster grew six inches in the next year.
“I kept working,” the 6-foot-5 player said. “Me not making that team in eighth grade motivated me. I kept working and I made the junior varsity team” at Homewood High School.
He put in the work and it paid off.
“It didn’t matter what nobody said to me,” Coleman said. “No matter what stipulations people put on me, that I ‘wasn’t gonna play Division I (in college), that I wasn’t gonna play pro, that I couldn’t shoot, that I couldn’t do this, that I couldn’t do that.’ I always believed in myself.”
“Batman and Robin”
Coleman’s journey began on Birmingham’s west side. He lived in several areas but he grew up in Ensley near Avenue L and Avenue M in the “Ensley Brickyard” public housing community.
“That’s my area,” he said. “It was my first time really falling in love with the game and playing basketball. It was here in this gym” at McAlpine
But that was after his athletic pursuit was in the pool.
“I was first started out being a swimmer,” he said. “I was on a swim team up here (at McAlpine) and I was pretty good. I actually loved doing it. But then all the guys were in the gym (playing basketball), so I’m like, ‘Man, I need to go to the gym … I’ve been playing ever since I picked up my first ball.”
Coleman moved across town to Pleasant Grove as a high school sophomore. He made the varsity squad but “Pleasant Grove was loaded” and he waited his turn behind proven veterans.
After working on his game on an Amateur Athletic Union squad, he got his chance as a junior, teaming with guard Ricky Tarrant. Coleman is proud to say he was Robin to Tarrant’s Batman.
“I was Robin back in the day,” he recalled. “I held my own like Robin could hold his own. But Rick was Batman. He had been playing on varsity since he was in eighth grade. When I came to Pleasant Grove, that’s who I knew. It was his team. We connected, we became friends, and after that, we just took it up the level on the court.
“He threw the lobs and I caught ’em,” Coleman said. “It was a one-two punch. We were a Dynamic Duo. But, for sure, he was ‘Batman.’ I was ‘Robin.’”
Abroad
Coleman was much traveled in college, beginning his career with a season at Alabama Southern Community College, two at Kennesaw State north of Atlanta and closing it out playing for former University of Alabama player and UAB coach Mike Davis and assistant coach and former NBA star John Lucas at Texas Southern.
The coaching pair helped Coleman get an agent and Coleman played well at a camp in Las Vegas. He signed with a team in Canada.
“That was good for me because I needed another three months to graduate to get my masters in health and human performance,” the player said. “Coach Davis actually paid for me to get my masters to stay. I ended up staying, got my masters and I went out with the KW Titans in Canada.”
Coleman has nearly seen the world in his pro career, which includes stops in Mexico, Serbia, France, Russia, two stops in Iraq, Greece and Hungary. He was Player of the Year and JP Auto Import Player of the Year in Hungary’s top league for JKS.
“I was first-team All-Imports,” the 32-year-old said. “I was the leading scorer of the league at 24.9 points per game. I won a league championship and MVP in New Zealand for the Southland Sharks.
“I’m kind of stopped,” Coleman said. “I’ve been home for about three months now. That really laid out my nine-year career.”
Businessman
Coleman, the father of daughters Milani, 4, and Miracle, born in March 2025, a day after her sister’s birthday, lives in the McCalla area of western Jefferson County.
He conducts basketball training sessions throughout the metro area, taking all comers as he works with youngsters, aspiring college players and professionals.
An entrepreneur, Coleman has also developed marketing brands, including #BamaMade, #DreaMentali, @Dreamentali, @Dreamentalifoundation and @Dreamentalitraining.
“When I started out, it was Dream Mentality,” he recalled of what began as an inspirational webpage. “Once I realized I wanted to turn it into a clothing brand, (I thought) Dream Mentality doesn’t look good … because it was so long.
“I took off the T-Y and just said DreaMentali,” he said. “DreaMentali is an umbrella that houses a clothing brand, Bama Got Now runs, Birmingham Open Runs, Bama Pro Runs and DreaMentali Foundation.”
The clothing line features the inspirational sayings that had been on his website. Chanty Coleman, his mother, handles the clothing line.
Coleman’s playing career is currently “on pause.”
“I’m not officially retired,” he said. “If I get a gym in Birmingham, I want to house everything (training sessions, merchandise) under one roof.”
Coleman said perseverance has been key in his continued success.
“I could have quit,” the Pleasant Grove alum said. ‘These guys are too good. I’m not gonna really reach this level. I’m never gonna get to this point, never gonna get to that point.’ I could have easily just stopped and gave up and went and went and striped and waxed floors with my Pops. Like he said: Basketball or work.”
For more on Coleman’s clothing line visit “DreaMentali and DreaMentali Foundation.”
