It’s simple enough. One brother faces down another in one-on-one; the winner stays, the loser is replaced by another brother. It’s a more than 10-year-old tradition among the four Maye boys, raised by their parents in the hills of North Carolina, about 30 minutes north of Charlotte. The family’s gathering place wasn’t the kitchen, den or backyard, but instead a four-car concrete driveway with a drawn-on three-point arc encircling a stand-alone basketball hoop.
Just imagine big brother Luke, middle brothers Cole and Beau, and youngest brother Drake—most of them standing at six feet by middle school—knocking one another around on the pavement. Games were so intense that dad Mark supervised, half referee and half paramedic.
Once, Drake, a piñata to his older siblings, slammed head-first into the concrete, earning him stitches. To this day, he remains the baby of the group from more than one perspective. At 6'5", he’s the shortest of the lot. “He rides in the back of the car,” says Luke, laughing.
