NASHVILLE—Oftentimes Kate Gabriel would have trouble getting her students with special needs to leave their parents’ cars and come into the building on rough mornings. When she did, she knew exactly who to call; Malachi Moreno.
Moreno was the standout best option to help walk students with special needs into Great Crossing high school each day. He’d brush the hair of the girls with special needs, walk them from place to place, lift the shredder when it was too heavy, grab boxes from around the school and would do whatever they wanted with what Gabriel–who was a self-contained special education teacher at Great Crossing–describes as no complaints.
“He was our hero,” Gabriel told Basket Under Review. “If I needed something done, Malachi was the one to do it.”
Moreno had become a hero of sorts within Kentucky high-school basketball as a borderline five-star prospect and annual contender for Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball award, Gabriel and her class believe they saw
Morehead State freshman guard Vince Dawson III and Moreno had made the decision to join Gabriel’s class as peer-to-peer tutors so that they could come and help students with their work. The students gravitated toward Moreno immediately, she says, and he embraced them too.
The now-Kentucky forward had visited Adapted PE during his 11th-grade year while initially taking peer-to-peer tutoring, and appeared to be all in on joining the fun as he registered for the PE class as a 12th grader. Moreno played basketball, kickball, tag and pickleball while being fully immersed in the class.
Moreno was the one everyone looked up to in the room as a five-star recruit and future Kentucky star, but as he sits in the locker room following a Kentucky win in the SEC Tournament, he recalls that he wasn’t the only one worth paying attention to in the room.
“I was learning a lot about them, but I was also learning a lot about myself and I think having that class really helped me build my character,” Moreno told Basket Under Review. “Being in those classes, I just wanted to set an example for my peers that these people are no different from us and you’ve got to make them feel seen.”
There’s Moreno posing at the edge of the training room at Great Crossing in a black long-sleeve shirt and grey shorts with a smile spread across his face. The pure, unadulterated joy was visible on his face, as well as the one next to him.
On Moreno’s right in a pink shirt stood Moreno’s friend Jailey, who gravitated more towards him than just about anyone. The feeling was–and is–mutual.
“She kind of became my best friend in high school,” Moreno said. “There were a couple days she would come in, she wasn't doing the greatest. And my principal would call me out of class and come get her out of her car. So, I think she was the one that really made a big impact on me and my character.”
Moreno said he never asked what Jailey’s disability was because he didn’t feel that was his place or necessary information. He says his purpose for being in the program was to make Gabriel’s students feel included and make their days better, not to classify them in any way.
And that he did in this case, Gabriel said.
When Jailey would leave the car, she would scream Moreno’s name, would take his hand and would walk into school despite what had happened earlier in the day. If Gabriel promised Moreno would come see Jailey and he was away at a game or a recruiting visit, Gabriel says the waterworks would come out.
Moreno always came to see Jailey when he was around, though.
“He really connected with Jailey,” Gabriel said. “If my classroom was down the hall and it was lunch time, I was going to get Malachi.”
“You may be Mr. Basketball, but I scored on you,” students would tell Moreno in the hallway or lunch in the hours or days following PE class. If Moreno missed a block or two, the students with special needs would also let him hear about it in the days following.
Moreno had his classmates beat in just about every physical category, but they found out he wasn’t invincible. The relationships never had bad blood, but they were spirited between the lines.
When Moreno had a chance to make his schedule after the first semester of Adapted PE, he had to re-up–or get his revenge, as Gabriel jokes. Gabriel says Moreno was clearly raised by a “great, great” family and that he always went the extra mile when it came to her class.
It’s not as if nobody was ever going through anything, but it wasn’t apparent to Moreno. That’s why this gym class inspired him.
“No matter what they're going through, they're still having a great day,” Moreno said. “You could just see in their face, you can see in their eyes that they were just having so much fun doing that. I think it really just opened me up to making sure that they always feel included.”
Moreno says that through his experiences with Gabriel’s classes in high school, he learned that what he does matters and that it gives him a platform to be a leader among those around him. The Kentucky forward said that as a highschooler he wanted to set the standard with the way he treated the students in Gabriel’s class.
The now-Kentucky forward–who is a hometown hero of sorts–has since left his hometown and is onto bigger and better things. He’s still not lost his heart for the community in which he’s set on serving, though.
“I think all of them made an impact on me,” Moreno said.
The scene appeared to be movie-like as Moreno stepped out of the car in Londontown, Kentucky, and surveyed what surrounded him. Spoiler alert; it wasn’t much. The town of just over 7,000 had just been decimated and had its spirit taken by a tornado that created havoc for 16 miles of Laurel County, Ky.
Moreno and the group surrounding him were a part of the relief and cleanup efforts after the storm. Perhaps most notably, the Kentucky freshman held a free basketball camp for those within the affected communities.
The camp was a factor in Moreno being included on the SEC Community Service team, but as he speaks of that moment and its significance to him, the award–which Gabriel says she would be surprised if he didn’t win all four years of his college career–never comes up. This is about something more than that.
“I'm just trying to go around to the community and just make sure everyone feels included because that's what I've always been on,” Moreno said. “Just making sure people feel included in what we do and always making sure people are happy.”
As Moreno speaks about his relation to the students with disabilities at Great Crossing, his thoughts are reminiscent of the ones that he shares in regard to the storm. Moreno’s longtime mission has centered around his intention of being accommodating to those who others often leave out.
In that way, Moreno and the special needs community are a perfect match.
Moreno says he feels as if students with special needs are sometimes treated in a way that makes them feel excluded. He said his goal has always been to make sure that people with special needs feel included. Gabriel says that’s apparent in how Moreno interacted with her class–particularly in his Adapted PE class.
The Kentucky forward’s former teacher says she remembers Moreno including kids who are non-verbal–which she clarifies means they can still hear–the kids who just wanted to sit in the corner instead of playing basketball. She said he would also embrace her students if they got the better of him on the basketball court and let him know about it after.
“He loves the opportunity to be able to grow other individuals, to see smiles on their faces,” Kentucky director of basketball operations Nick Robinson told Basket Under Review. “Malachi is an incredible human who loves to serve others.”
Robinson, Kentucky freshman Jasper Johnson and Kentucky big man Brandon Garrison all have something in common in regard to Moreno. None of them had heard about anything that he’s done for the students with special needs. It doesn’t surprise them, though.
They believe that says something about their freshman big man.
“That just shows you it’s his second nature,” Kentucky big man Brandon Garrison told Basket Under Review. “He’s not just doing it for the views and people to feel good for him or whatever. It's just second nature and that's just how he lives.”
Perhaps Johnson’s account is the most meaningful among those who addressed Moreno’s character. Johnson is Moreno’s roommate and came in with him as a freshman, yet Moreno hasn’t told him about what he’s done to give back.
Judging based off of an interaction earlier in the week in which Moreno said that Kentucky’s turning point that came when he hit a miracle game winner against LSU wasn’t about his shot at all. He said that was about the team.
A few days around Moreno indicates that’s who he is. His lack of mentions in regard to what he’s done isn’t indicative of a general apathy as much as it is his mindset towards self promotion.
“I don't really know much about it,” Johnson told Basket Under Review in regard to Moreno’s uplifting of his high school classmates. “IT definitely doesn't surprise me. I know he’s a guy who loves to get back. He has great energy, so he loves giving out his energy and translating it and doing it in any way possible. He just loves to uplift people.”
When Gabriel looks at Moreno’s profile on the Kentucky roster and sees his major labeled as business administration-marketing she thinks about what could be for her former student. When that thought pops up, it doesn’t relate to marketing or business.
“I’ll bet you anything, mark my words,” Gabriel said, “He’ll get a master’s degree in education.”
The assumption isn’t a slight on Moreno’s business acumen or current study, but instead is a validation of his ability to work with kids and relate to people. The logistics of student teaching would likely be difficult for Moreno as a result of his basketball career, but once it’s over it could be more fathomable.
Gabriel can see it when she watches Moreno on TV and sees him interacting with fans as well as his teammates, though. She thinks he’s got what he needs to be successful when his basketball window has closed one day.
For now, though, Moreno is averaging 8.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks an outing for this Kentucky team. But as he sits at his locker addressing everything about how this is playing out for this Kentucky team, he’s got a message in regard to his friends from home.
“You should never treat them any different,” Moreno said, “They’re human beings just like us.”
