By THOMAS ST. MYER
tstmyer@muncie.gannett.com

(Published Monday, Nov. 23, 2009) MUNCIE — Malik Perry holds court in the Ball State media room as he advises everyone on what and where to eat in his hometown of Philadelphia.

The affable Malik leaves the crowd smiling and giggling, not so much for what he says but how he says it. The Ball State junior forward flashes a megawatt smile, bops his head and widens his eyes to emphasize certain words.

Malik acts as if he’s born to be a media darling, a notion his brother, 23-year-old Dominique Perry, scoffs at.

“The Malik you see now, when he was younger he was not the same Malik,” says Dominique, an assistant manager of direct marketing for Fortune 500 Companies in Hartford, Conn. “He was the devil. Everybody thought Malik was crazy. He had a chip on his shoulder. … I was always the goofy one telling him, ‘Malik, you got to relax.’ In middle school, it started to click. That’s when he started smiling, and he’s never lost it.”

The effervescent Malik returns to the City of Brotherly Love, aptly named in his case, to put on a show for family and friends. The Cardinals (2-0) play at Temple (2-1) on Tuesday in the unofficial Malik Perry homecoming game.

“He’s been talking about it since last year,” sophomore forward Jarrod Jones says with a smirk. “We hear a lot about him going to Philly. I’m glad to finally get it over with.”

The Malik tour will probably make a stop or 10 at his favorite Philly restaurant, Gennaro’s Pizza Steaks. Dominique says his brother downs their cheese steaks with a vengeance.

“He loves these cheese steaks. When mother and I would try to get a piece of it he’d just rant. He’d go crazy,” Dominique says. “He didn’t want to share. He’ll give you the shirt off his back if he had to, but when it comes to his food …”

Malik eats just about everyone under the table as evident by his 6-foot-4, 240-pound frame. He utilized his stocky physique on the football field until high school when he chose to focus on basketball.

Friends nicknamed Malik “Leeknasty” at age 11 for his physical, and sometimes dirty, play on the Peewee football fields. He dove into piles and inflicted the sort of pain that turns baritones into sopranos.

He cleaned up his act as he matured and switched over to basketball, but “Leeknasty” resurfaces on occasion.

“There’s two sides to me,” Malik says. “The calm, happy-go-lucky person and then there’s nasty on the court, diving for loose balls, going for offensive rebounds, just hard nosed, so I feel I have two personalities.”

Like mother, like son

Malik says he inherited his tenacity from his mother, Michelle Perry. She raised him and Dominique on her own in downtown Philadelphia where distractions and negative influences loom around every corner.

Michelle put her boys on a strict schedule with mandatory family dinner times and a 10 p.m. curfew.

“I had to stay on them, because I didn’t want them to come up and be a statistic,” she says. “I didn’t fool around. I’d become the evil mom if I had to sit on the step and wait for them.”

The brothers sometimes escaped her wrath by visiting their maternal grandparents, William and Carolyn Walker. The grandparents lived literally around the corner until their deaths in 2000 and 2001, respectively.

“They would give us anything in the world and some things we didn’t even want,” Dominique says. “One time they got us hats with propellers on them, and we wore them because mom-mom and pop-pop got them for us. We definitely do miss them. I know they’re looking down and saying those are my grandchildren.”

Malik honors their memory with a tattoo on his upper right arm where their names sit above praying hands and a cross.

Pictures of his grandparents serve as another reminder. He considers those pictures his prized possession.

Memories of his grandparents powered him through some adversity as a Ball State freshman. Malik felt betrayed when the coach he committed to play for, Ronny Thompson, resigned in July of 2007. The subsequent hiring of Billy Taylor in August left the freshman uncertain about his future role with the program.

Thompson signed a total of eight players for his 2007 class. Only Malik remains with the program.

“He was a little disappointed, but he’s not a quitter,” Michelle says. “He was a little paranoid at times, not knowing much about coach Taylor, but he seems to have got it together. He wasn’t happy, of course, with the situation and neither was I, but we made the most of it.”

The pride of Philly

Malik proved to be an impact freshman for Taylor. He started all 30 games as an undersized center and averaged 6.7 points and 5.7 boards per contest.

His statistics dipped a bit as a sophomore. He averaged 4.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in 3 1/2 fewer minutes per game, though he paid dividends as a defensive stopper.

“Malik is someone from his freshman year who’s guarded 7-foot guys,” Taylor says. “He’s never backed away from a challenge. It doesn’t matter to him. He’s got tremendous heart and competitiveness, and I know he’ll fight and play hard.”

Malik started his junior campaign with a bang. He scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the season opener against Valparaiso. He only scored three points before he fouled out Saturday against SIU-Edwardsville, but he shared game-high honors with six offensive boards in only 21 minutes of action.

If his last game in Philadelphia serves as any indication, then Malik is poised to put up better than average numbers Tuesday against Temple. He totaled eight points and nine rebounds as a freshman when the Cardinals played in his hometown against Saint Joseph’s.

Family and friends showed up in droves for that game, wearing shirts with his face screen printed on the front. Count on a similar entourage wearing customized Malik shirts Tuesday at the Liacouras Center, located in the heart of downtown Philadelphia.

Michelle considers this game a cause for celebration. Her son returns home to melt her heart with his million-dollar smile.
As for Malik, his mother stirs up those same emotions in him whenever she smiles back.

“She had to raise two boys, and she sacrificed for me,” Malik says. “I keep that in my mind. I hope I’m successful in life for her.”