Melvin Clayton Braswell

Melvin Clayton Braswell, 77, of Hope Mills passed away on October 30, 2026 at Transitions Lifecare Hospice of Raleigh after a brief illness.

A native of Wilson, Melvin was preceded in death by his parents, Henry Clay Braswell Jr. and Icelene Braswell. He is survived by Amy Braswell, daughter; Benjamin Osorio, grandson; Brett Owens, grandson; Diane Page (Buddy), sister; Traci Ashley (Tommy), niece; Tee Page (Leigh), nephew; Sandy Deuel Braswell, former wife and lifelong friend; three grand nephews and a grand niece.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, November 5, at Joyner’s Funeral Home and Crematory, 4100 Raleigh Road Parkway, Wilson. Visitation will be held at 2 p.m. and the funeral will follow at 3 p.m. Officiating will be the Rev. Bill Dockery, who was an assistant football coach with Melvin at South View High School in Hope Mills for 14 years.

An outstanding athlete at Fike High School, Melvin eventually got into coaching at the high school level in his hometown of Wilson. He would spend some 40 years of his coaching career at South View High School, where he developed a reputation as a friend, a football defensive specialist, and a succinct but poignant country philosopher. He became the source for a host of one-liners and quips, referred to by friends and coaches alike as Melvinisms.

He liked to tell the story of two players he coached, saying he taught both the same thing. “One went to Penn State, the other to the state pen,’’ he said. He had a blunt idea of how people were destined to turn out in life, often saying, “You gone be what you gone be.’’

As for coaching achievements, one of his finest, not just for him but the entire South View football coaching staff, came in 1991, when the Tigers pulled off an unprecedented run to the school’s only N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A football title.

The Tigers suffered costly losses to E.E. Smith and Seventy-First that put their state playoff hopes in jeopardy. But they won their final two regular season games and got a huge boost the final Friday night of the season when a last-second field goal earned Westover a 3-0 win over E.E. Smith and gave South View a second-place berth in the postseason.

The Tigers won four state playoff games, three on the road, including a 38-37 thriller over Wilmington New Hanover that was decided by a last-minute scoring drive. That put South View in the 4-A state championship at Chapel Hill’s Kenan Stadium against unbeaten and nationally-ranked West Charlotte.

Worried about West Charlotte’s speed, Melvin and the rest of the TIger staff preached the same mantra all week. “Don’t get beat deep.’’ Tiger head coach Bobby Poss credited Melvin, who coached the defensive backs at the time, with keeping the defense focused on keeping the powerful Lions in front of them all night. Kicker Jorge Rios-Marti converted his only field goal try of the season to lift South View to a 10-7 win.

Melvin would stay around for a string of successful seasons under Poss and the late Randy Ledford that saw South View make multiple deep playoff runs. On Aug. 19, 2013, Melvin told then Tiger athletic director David Culbreth that he no longer felt he could fulfill the requirements of the job as assistant coach. His time at South View made him among the longest tenured assistant football coaches at one school in Cumberland County history.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the charity of your choice.

Condolences directed to Joyner’s Funeral Home and Crematory at www.joyners.net.