S.L. Ivey Takes Long Path To Find Self, Becomes Golden Niner
By Wyatt Crosher, Assistant Director of Communications for Student Affairs
When S.L. Ivey was announced as UNC Charlotte’s fourth-ever Golden Niner at halftime of the Nov. 16 Homecoming football matchup against South Florida, the 46-year-old graduate student was in disbelief.
It was a long, winding road for Ivey to get to this point. This was not his first attempt at college, nor his second. But Ivey succeeded on his journey this time around, and his efforts were rewarded with the Golden Pickaxe.
“This doesn't happen to non-traditional 46-year-old students,” Ivey said. “It's hard for me to say it without crying a little bit, but I really did my best to rebuild my life. I didn't think I'd be this good at it.”
Speed Bumps, Not Stop Signs
Ivey’s college journey started, like many, right out of high school. He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, but according to Ivey, he lacked the proper discipline to follow through at the time and ultimately dropped out.
In his late 20s, Ivey gave college another try, this time at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte. At 31, He earned an associate’s degree and transferred to Charlotte, but did not finish his bachelor’s.
More than a decade passed between Ivey’s second and third attempts at college, during which his life hit a low point. After being “severely addicted to drugs and alcohol for maybe 15 years,” Ivey decided to enter rehab at 44.
“I just got tired of living a certain way, eating out of restaurant dumpsters and waking up hungover and dirty and not having anybody,” Ivey said, speaking openly about his lived experiences. “While in rehab I realized that, although I was in my mid 40s, hope could be regained and there was still a lot of life to live.”
Ivey was considering reapplying to Charlotte in 2022 when he came across Ra’Quan Leary’s interview with Student Affairs following Leary’s Golden Niner win. Leary’s closing quote about overcoming adversity in life really spoke to him:
"Manifest your goals and understand that the sky is not the limit. Nothing is impossible. If you work at your goals, you're going to get it, but nothing you want in this life is going to be easy. Obstacles are not stop signs, they are speed bumps. They may slow you down, but they won't stop you unless you allow them to."
“That really encouraged me to go back to school,” Ivey said. “It gave me the confidence that, even though I was roughly 44 years old, I could still get what I wanted out of life.”
Overcoming Intimidation
By fall 2023, Ivey finished the credit hours for his political science degree and immediately started applying to graduate school. It was a no-brainer decision, as Ivey’s self-described “choppy undergraduate transcript” needed a reset before he could achieve his long-term goal of entering law school.
He is now a double major, pursuing a Master of Arts in history and a Master of Public Administration with a nonprofit management specialization, and currently has a 4.0 GPA in graduate school.
As a non-traditional, first-generation college student, Ivey said he had to learn how to manage his time and overcome some fears to find this level of success on his third go around.
“It's really important to ask for help, get clarification about things and not just pretend you know things just because it can be uncomfortable to ask, especially when you're a significantly older person,” Ivey said. “That can be somewhat shameful or embarrassing, to be the one who doesn't know how to do something, so overcoming that intimidation was really important.”
The Golden Niner has been a Niner Nation Week tradition since 2021, and is awarded to the student who most exemplifies the core values of the University. Despite being inspired by Leary, Ivey didn’t consider applying for a chance at the Golden Niner as an undergrad.
Later when he realized graduate students were also eligible, he decided to apply and felt optimistic about his odds to at least make the Niner 9.
“I honestly thought that with my story and background, these people would be crazy not to make me a member of the Niner 9,” Ivey said. “I did not think I would win, winning is a whole other ballgame of special, but I did think that I would be able to write the essays and do well enough in an interview to make it.”
Ivey was correct about making the Niner 9, but his story was also enough to earn the votes of the Charlotte student body. When his name was called, Ivey was in disbelief, and let his body take over from there.
“I was really nervous, like ‘Oh no, there's no way they're going to call my name,’” Ivey said. “So when they called me, I just grabbed my knees and jumped to the ground. I thanked God, I got back up and looked directly at my mom and my partner, and then I was caught in every range of human emotion at that point, from excited to shocked to joy.”
The Golden Niner honor may be the culmination of everything Ivey has accomplished at Charlotte thus far, but his time at the University is far from over.
Ivey is on track to graduate in spring 2026. He is currently focused on maintaining his GPA, working as a graduate teaching assistant for an undergraduate American history course and is planning a forum next semester as president of the Graduate History Association. He is also excited to be around for the next Golden Niner process, where he will help select his successor and wants to increase exposure of Charlotte’s relatively new honor.
Two years ago, Ivey was contemplating the mere idea of giving school another try. Two years from now, if all goes to plan, he will have bachelor’s and master’s degrees and be on his way to law school. His lifestyle changes from then to now have occasionally left him feeling unrecognizable to the S.L. Ivey he once knew.
His advice to anyone who can relate to his unconventional journey — which now includes a bachelor’s degree and a Golden Niner win — is to combat the same anxieties he also overcame to rebuild his life.
“To a person in a circumstance like me that has had challenges, experienced some disappointments, maybe self-made disappointments like mine, is to let go of the fear of failing again,” Ivey said. “Know that all of those things will be true, that you will be the oldest in class, that going back to school is daunting. But the reward of overcoming that challenge is so fulfilling that you'll find yourself not recognizing your old self.
“I wake up all the time and sometimes don't know whose life I'm living. I feel like I'm living a stranger's life because I was once eating out of trash cans, right? Just let go of the fear, and you’ll surprise yourself with what you'll be able to unleash in your life.”
Read more about S.L. Ivey and the Golden Niner on the Niner Nation Week website.