Baldwin has indentity crisis
What you won’t see is the lifetime of alterations, not only to the junior point guard’s first and last names, but to his middle name as well.
Start with his last name. It underwent the simplest and most anticipated transformation.
For the first 18 years of his life, Mitchell’s official surname was Bittle. But he never met the man who essentially gave it to him. When Mitchell was three years old, his mother – Bonnie – took him to live with her and new husband Donnie Baldwin.
This situation may be common for stepmothers and stepfathers, but this case is different because Mitchell was so young when Donnie entered his life. To them, they are just like any normal father and son, much like Donnie and Mitchell’s younger brother, Desmon. Except with their last names.
‘We had always wanted to (change) it,’ Bonnie said. ‘It was just a lot easier legally to wait until he was 18.’
‘My parents mentioned it to me (as a young kid),’ Mitchell said. ‘They were like, ‘Everybody else in the family is named Baldwin, so what do you think about changing your name?’ I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know, (Bittle’s) been my name, I like it.’
‘Then I got to thinking – it would be for the best because if I get married I want to carry on the Baldwin name. I wanted the same last name as my father.’
So on his 18th birthday, Mitchell took a trip to the courthouse in Winston Salem, N.C., where he grew up. He officially changed his name from Bittle to Baldwin.
‘We had always used Baldwin anyway,’ Donnie said. ‘Everybody knew him as a Baldwin.’
But everybody did not know him as Mitchell. This is where the modifications to his first name and his middle name get confusing. It’s best explained in chronological order.
Though Mitchell has always been his official first name, his parents have called him by the nickname Von since he was a baby. Von came from his unofficial middle name, LeVon.
Unofficial because the doctor heard LeVarn and put that on his birth certificate instead of LeVon.
Nonetheless, Mitchell grew up as Von to his family, friends and teachers.
It gets fuzzier after he switched middle schools for 8th grade.
‘The first day, the teacher called me Mitchell, and I just went with it,’ he said.
‘It surprised me because he never used that name,’ Bonnie said.
His father has an alternative theory.
‘I think it was more like when he was in middle school the girls kind of liked Mitch,’ Donnie said. ‘That sounds better to the girls. A lot of girls would call here asking for Mitch.’
But that name lasted just one year on its own.
Since kids at both of the middle schools that Mitchell attended went on to North Forsyth High School in North Carolina, both Von and Mitchell were used equally, depending on where his classmates knew him from.
After transferring to Reynolds High School for his last two years, the name Mitchell dominated again. Nobody knew him at Reynolds. Only those involved with the basketball team called him Von because that was how Donnie originally introduced his son to Reynolds head coach Howard West.
A year into his stay at Reynolds came the switch from Bittle to Baldwin. While he was at it, Mitchell corrected the doctor’s error and officially made his middle name LeVon.
‘I don’t want to say it changed me a lot,’ Mitchell said, ‘But we did really good my senior year of high school and we were also ranked nationally. As soon as I (changed) names, I’ve had good memories. I associate it with good things.’
Things weren’t exactly going bad before that. In both his junior and senior years, Reynolds won the state championship. But his senior year was the one in which Mitchell was named North Carolina player of the year.
While Mitchell always considered himself a Baldwin, he was finally officially linked with the man most responsible for his development as a player.
Donnie coached Mitchell every year from age 4 until Mitchell went to college – before high school in youth leagues and during high school on summer Amateur Athletic Union teams.
James McDougald, who’s son Jason played with Mitchell at Reynolds and is now a senior forward at Penn State, said Donnie is known around the county as a no-nonsense coach with a penchant for details and hard work.
‘We went to the (Baldwin’s) house one night at 9:30 and (Mitchell) and his younger brother were running the hill (outside their house),’ McDougald said. ‘I don’t think most kids would be doing those things, but I think (Mitchell) respected his father immensely because he saw what (his father) was telling him to do was paying off.’
Mitchell, as he is known to everyone at Charlotte, paid his father back in the ultimate way – by choosing to wear Donnie’s name.
NO. 8 SYRACUSE (-5) AT NO. 22 VILLANOVA
SATURDAY, NOON, ESPN REGIONAL
The Wildcats are the type of team nobody wants to face in the Big East Tournament – one that is capable of winning on any given night. Their four conference defeats were by a total of 14 points, including a one-point loss to undefeated Boston College. SU won’t come back in this one.
PICK: NOVA 73, SU 66
NO. 20 WISCONSIN (+8) AT NO. 1 ILLINOIS
SATURDAY, 1 P.M., CBS
The Illini appear to be on their way to steamrolling through the weak Big Ten and into the NCAA Tournament unblemished. Their trip to Iowa looked like their toughest remaining test, but after the suspension of Hawkeye guard Pierre Pierce, it looks like it’s this one. The Illini get a scare.
PICK: ILLINOIS 67, WISCONSIN 62
NO. 7 DUKE (-3) AT NO. 24 MARYLAND
SATURDAY, 9 P.M., ESPN
After watching the Terrapins beat them in Cameron Indoor Stadium earlier this season, the Blue Devils will return the favor. Aside from the game, hopefully Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s dizzy spell during Saturday’s win over Georgia Tech was as insignificant as he said it was.
PICK: MARYLAND 82, DUKE 78
SOUTH FLORIDA (+15) AT NO. 9 LOUISVILLE
SATURDAY, 2 P.M., NO TV
The Cardinals have won eight straight Conference USA games and are a very quiet 20-3. Their three leading scorers – Francisco Garcia, Taquan Dean and Larry O’Bannon – all average at least 84 percent from the line. Imagine how much better SU would be if it could boast that?
PICK: LOUISVILLE 84, SO. FLA. 64
VERMONT (-6) AT BOSTON U.
SATURDAY, 4 P.M., NO TV
Don’t laugh. In all probability, Boston, 10-2 in the America East, stands between Vermont and a perfect 18-0 record in the conference. Highly touted Taylor Coppenrath of Vermont is actually averaging less points than last year, but his rebounds and assists are up. He won’t be enough.
PICK: BOSTON U. 72, VERMONT 71
Published on February 7, 2005 at 12:00 pm
