Maurice “Mo” Creek: ‘I’m Just a Kid From Oxon Hill Maryland. All I Can Do Is Thank God’

Story and Photography By Raoul Dennis

“Lord, if it has to be a soul for a soul, then take me. Take me instead. I’m ready.”

That’s the prayer that Pammy Morgan, mother of professional basketball player Maurice “Mo” Creek, said in the hours and days that followed the Russian attack on Ukraine with her son stuck in the middle of it.

It’s a prayer that thousands of mothers – especially black mothers – pray every day. Mo Creek’s mother may have been ready but neither she nor anyone in her family could have expected the way the world would shift under their feet, creating a seismic catastrophe that would displace millions of people and put her son at the heart of the start of a European war.

But it wasn’t to be another story that ended in tragedy. There weren’t going to be images of another African American family grieving over the loss of their son or daughter on national television. This time the issue would result in a victory.

Ret. Army Colonel and Green Beret Erik Nordberg knew Creek since the 6'5" guard was a youth developing his skills in the same basketball clinic his own son attended. Now, Creek was the star player on the Ukrainian basketball team. He was playing at Europe’s All-Star level. All this made him successful - and it also made him a potential target for an enemy force as Ukraine sank into war.

“I decided I had to do something to help bring him home. I gotta get him out,” Nordberg said after learning that the traditional methods were stalled in getting civilian Americans out of Ukraine. “Mo is a special person.”

Using relationships acquired over decades in U.S. Special Forces, Nordberg worked his network of contacts, people movers and strategic planners.

“I knew the process would take over 24 hours, but I didn’t tell Mo that,” he said. “If someone told you to [evacuate] your home but it’s going to take over 24 hours to get you to safety, would you do it?”

It took four attempts and Creek had to spend time in an underground bunker before it successfully came together.

It was Feb. 28 when the Oxon Hill resident set foot on American soil. He says that was when he knew it was all over.

“I wasn’t sure of anything until I landed here at home,” Creek said. He humbly credited his family with helping him to have the strength to work through the situation just as he credited his dad for helping him to push himself to be the best basketball player in the world. In the same brief interview, he expressed sympathy and support for Brittney Grimes, the African American WNBA player who was arrested by Russian officials the very same day that he was celebrating his own freedom in Oxon Hill.

“I pray for her to stay strong. It’s not easy,” Creek said of Grimes. “This should be a world of peace and for her to be going through that I feel sorry for her and I’m praying for her.” Hear Creek’s full remarks, click audiobar here.

Amidst the media attention [see video interviews including ESPN above and below] and the numerous interviews, getting home included the March 5 welcome at the Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

A Hero’s Welcome: Standing Room Only

Steve Proctor of G. S. Proctor & Associates was scheduled for a 12:30 ZOOM meeting one morning in early March when he got a call on his cell from At-Large Councilmember Calvin Hawkins at 12:28. He took the call.

Proctor and Hawkins have known each since the mid-1990s. They have shadowed and supported so many families and worthy causes in the county, they scarcely discuss the fact that they may have funded a small city by now if it were all totaled. But it will never be tallied. That’s not their agenda.

The councilmember had Bladensburg City Councilmember Jocelyn Route on the line with him. They were planning to hold a special event for Maurice Creek, the professional basketball player from Prince George’s who had successfully gotten out of Ukraine.

Proctor had been following the case on social media, so he cut to the chase.

“I told them ‘I’m in. You don’t need to sell me on this. Do whatever you need to do and I will get the bill when I see you.’ He’s a hero. And you don’t want to just do hot dogs and burgers. You want to host a meal for a hero’s welcome. So I suggested they call Sweet Tooth Caterers.”

At-Large County Councilmember Calvin Hawkins II, G.S. Proctor & Associates, Parks and Recreation and Sweet Tooth Catering came together to host a hero’s welcome for the 31-year-old athlete. The standing room only event held March 5 at the Southern Regional Technology & Recreation Complex included over 200 family, friends, colleges, teammates in an atmosphere that celebrated God, family and victory.

Norberg and his family were in attendance along with dozens of others who came from as far away as North Carolina to make sure Mo knew he was home with arms extended and wrapped around him.

As Creek came to the microphone, “tell them who’s your auntie, boo!” a woman shouted with a reply “All of us,” from another. The room erupted in laughter.

Taken over by the emotions of the event, his heart surrendered to the love in the room, the words transformed into gentle tears as he spoke.

“I really don’t know what to say,” Creek began in a quiet, humble voice. “I don’t know if I would have survived without y’all. I want to thank everyone around the world who prayed for me because everything counts…everything counts. I’m just a kid from Oxon Hill, Maryland. I never thought I would be in a journey like this. Me and my family have been through a tough, long road to get to this space but to come out, all I can do is thank God and my family.”

Hear Creek’s remarks: Click Mo Creek Speaks to Prince George’s audiobar above.

When asked how it was pulled together so quickly and why, Hawkins replied: “It was nothing but the grace of God. And committed individuals volunteering to make this day happen, working with Park and Planning, Steve Proctor with G.S. Proctor & Associates, Sweet Tooth and Bladensburg Councilmember Jocelyn Route. Fortunately, Park and Planning was very open to a letting us use one of their facilities because it was important to do this in the Oxon Hill area where [Creek] grew up.”

“It was awesome to see the overwhelming outpouring of support for him,” Hawkins said. “We let him know that we are glad he’s back and this is what we do when people of good will come together to make a difference in someone’s life,” Hawkins said.

To hear Councilmember Hawkins’ full remarks about Mo Creek and the family connection, click “Calvin Hawkins on the Hero Welcome for Mo Creek,” on the audiobar below.

The Promise

Mo Creek and the colonel have a bond that Nordberg says is a new lease on life for the former Indiana Hoosier. The promise is based on Feb 28 – the day Creek came home.

“We promised that we will call each other every year on Feb 28. He will tell me what he did for another human being, and I will tell him what I did for someone else,” Nordberg says. It will be their way of paying it forward while remembering that it could have gone tragically different. “That day is Mo Day. It’s the day he came out and it gives him a different purpose. It’s important for him to take this message out and to tell other people and do great things with it.”

The career military officer has no doubt that Creek will honor the commitment.

“I know he will because I knew he was a special person. I knew that from the time that I first met him and that’s why I had to help go get him,” Nordberg says.

CREDIT: Video credits include ESPN, MSNBC and Basketball News.com