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Family, friends celebrate Charlotte teen who loved life

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dozens lined up Friday night to tell their favorite story about a teenage basketball player who officials said died while riding his bike in University City.

[PHOTOS: Family, friends celebrate Charlotte teen who loved life]

Mikey Maddox, 18, was riding his bike at 1 a.m. Sunday when a car hit him on Old Concord Road near Suther Road.

Family members and friends gathered to remember the Charlotte basketball player. He will be laid to rest Sunday.

“Tomorrow's the funeral,” his mother, Natasha Larmond, said. “After the funeral, I can go and mourn. Right now, I just want to make sure Mikey was celebrated the proper way."

Saturday night was about the life Maddox, not his death.

“I'm so glad that everybody else saw what I saw,” Larmond said.

Those who knew Maddox said he was multi-talented.

“Passionate,” family friend Tyesha Littlejohn said. “He was passionate for basketball, passionate for music. He loved his mother. He loved his little sister he loved his family.”

The ceremony was full of laughter, occasionally interrupted by tears, as loved ones remembered Maddox.

“He was so God-gifted,” friend Elijah Sidbury said. “He was a living angel. People work out, they do stuff to get abilities that he, literally, was born with.”

Rather than dwell on Madoxx’s death, family members and friends shared favorite memories and offered support to his grieving mother.

The funeral will be held Sunday from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Church of Christ at Sugar Creek and Sofley roads.

The driver wasn’t impaired, but it is unknown if speeding was a factor in the crash, police said.

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