Latrell Talley

 

There's a lot of good people here

 

Latrell Talley had a stellar basketball career at CCC, being named to the NJCAA All-America Third Team as a sophomore. After earning an associate of arts degree in 2019, Talley had signed on to continue playing basketball at a university in his native Florida. However, he decided to stop playing basketball and discontinue his pursuit of a four-year degree.

“I won’t say I fell out of love with basketball, I just wasn’t feeling it anymore,” said Talley, who opted to go to work instead.

In 2020, Talley was joined in Florida by his girlfriend, Lexi Ramaekers, who he had met at the Columbus Campus. She too had played basketball for the Raiders and had graduated with a nursing degree. Ramaekers found work in nursing and later gave birth to the couple’s daughter, who is now two. In 2023, the family made the decision to move back to Columbus, Neb. While Talley said the decision was difficult, there were many positives.

“Nebraska has always been kind of a second home to me,” said Talley. “There’s a lot of good people here. Lexi is from here, so she’s got family here and that’s awesome.”

While driving back to Nebraska, Talley received a phone call from CCC head men’s basketball coach John Ritzdorf asking if he might be interested in serving as his assistant coach. At first, Talley was skeptical, saying he has always been a quiet person and wondered how he could coach from a vocal standpoint.

“But honestly, it was a great opportunity to get back to (CCC),” Talley said. “I told him I was interested, but I also had a full-time job, and he would have to work around that schedule, and he said that was perfectly fine.”

Talley said that being an assistant coach at CCC has reinvigorated not only his basketball enthusiasm, but for CCC itself. In fact, he wouldn’t mind working for CCC full-time.

“I think if I was going to be here full-time, I would have to go back to school to get my bachelor’s,” said Talley. “That’s something I’m looking into.”