A version of the following article appeared in the September 18, 2026, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.
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Lessons from the former UNC star’s father are shaping his life and financial career after basketball
Joel Berry II , a former UNC point guard who helped lead the Tar Heels to the 2017 national championship, now lives in Charlotte and is a financial advisor for Oppenheimer & Co. (Basketball photo courtesy of Jeffrey A. Camarati, UNC Athletics; Photo on right by Carroll Walton for The Charlotte Ledger.)
by Carroll Walton
Long before Joel Berry II became the star point guard at UNC Chapel Hill and led the Tar Heels to the 2017 national championship, he rode to school with his father in a white Chevy pickup truck.
The passenger door handle was broken, so to get out every morning at the prestigious Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Fla., Berry had to roll down the window manually and open the door from the outside.
“Here I am amongst all those Mercedes-Benz and the Maseratis,” said his father, Joel Berry Sr., who relied on financial aid to send the third of his five children there.
Berry Sr. drove 25 miles from Apopka, Fla. to drop his son off at 6 a.m. on his way downtown for his job as a city inspector. The strength coach volunteered to meet the teenager there early.
Berry II benefited from extra gym time – the three-time “Florida Mr. Basketball” point guard still looks like he could take the court at age 31 – but those early morning conversations with his dad mattered more.
“That's when he instilled a lot of principles that have made me who I am,” Berry II said. “Riding in that white pickup truck.”
Now he’s instilling them in young athletes. Last month, Berry took a position as a financial advisor with Oppenheimer & Co. He’s based in Charlotte but commutes weekly to Winston-Salem as a part of its Robinson Private Client Group, engaging college and high school athletes navigating Name, Image, and Likeness.
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