At the house on North Main Street in Mount Holly where he grew up, on the wall of his old bedroom, a mantle still holds trophies, medals and reminders of the basketball player who won them. Tyler Berg’s success at East Gaston High School, in AAU ball and at Wofford College in Spartanburg remains proudly on display.

"My mom kept every newspaper article that was about me and basketball. They have a box of it at home. They have all the recruiting letters,” he says. “I have AAU championship medals, state medals, all the trophies. They’re on that wall.”

Clear a spot to commemorate his induction into the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame.

Some people play a sport. Berg, 35, lived it.

He dabbled in other games as a child – soccer, baseball – but basketball hooked him, he says, as a 6- or 7-year-old at the Mount Holly gym, in recreational league. He recalls trying out for his school team in seventh grade, and being told no. By eighth-grade, he was on.

His height helped coaches notice him; his skills got him court time.

“Yeah, I was always the tallest kid. Always the guy under the basket,” he says. “In seventh grade, I was like 5-foot-10 or so, then in eighth grade I was 6-1. In the summer between eighth grade and high school, I grew 5 inches and started high school at 6-6.”

Former East Gaston coach Ken Howell noticed Berg at freshman orientation and immediately struck up a conversation. Berg made the junior varsity.

From there, his basketball career accelerated. “Midway through that year, I got moved to the varsity, but I was on the team kind of practicing with older individuals (the starting center was a 6-7 senior). My 10th grade year, I was the starting center.”

As a junior, he was Gaston Gazette Player of the Week twice, the Gazette Player of the Year and All-Area first team, the Charlotte Observer Gaston-area Player of the Year, on the Observer’s All-Piedmont team, Mega 7 All-Conference, Wilkes Central Christmas tournament All-Tournament team and defensive MVP. And was named school MVP by East Gaston coaches.

Berg added summer ball after his freshman year, joining the Charlotte Royals AAU team that won the 16-under National Championship in metro Detroit, and the following year placed third at 17-under Nationals in Orlando. He also added personal training, working one-on-one on off-season Saturdays with former Miami of Ohio player Larry Garloch.

As a high school senior, he was Big South Conference Player of the Year, All-Conference team, Gazette Player of the Year and All-Area first team, Observer Gaston-area Player of the Year, Observer Charlotte-area second team, on the Wilkes Central All-Tournament team, a Mr. Basketball N.C. 3A finalist and East-West State All-Start team selection.

The mantle got fuller and so did the mailbox.

“I got letters, hundreds of letters, from colleges. You get a bunch from different people. And then as it progressed, the offers started coming in,” he says. “I had six scholarship offers.”

He took some unofficial visits to Richmond, Western Carolina, Davidson and Wofford, and had a connection to Davidson through Coach Bob McKillop’s son, who played AAU ball with Berg.

But it was Wofford that got a second chance to make a good first impression.

“I never really wanted to go to Wofford. As a little kid, we would always go visit my aunt in Spartanburg, so I was like, I really don’t want to go to school here,” he says. “So the coaches called, and Dad answered the phone and I was in my room, and he says, ‘Wofford’s on the phone; they want to talk to you.’ I told my dad I didn’t want to talk, and he says, ‘But they’re offering you a scholarship.’”

Berg took his unofficial visit, stayed overnight, met the players and other students, and changed his mind. “It kind of felt like home,” he says. “Driving back, we got as far as the Gaffney outlets and I said, ‘That’s where I want to go to school.’”

Playing as a 6-foot-9, 240-pound center, and wearing No. 31 like his favorite player, Duke’s Shane Battier, Berg made the Southern Conference All-Freshman team, started 17 games as a sophomore, and finished his Wofford career with 52 starts and 1,025 total points in 108 games.

Berg graduated with a degree in finance and works in Charlotte for Foodbuy LLC, a group purchasing organization that contracts with, and distributes to, health-care facilities, long-term care communities and hotels. He and his wife, Susan, are dog-parents of a mutt hound named Brady and new Golden Retriever puppy, Basil.

“Being selected to the Hall of Fame, I think it’s a great honor,” he says. “Obviously, lots of talent has come through Mount Holly, and it’s an honor to be recognized and be part of this. I think my greatest accomplishment on the court was receiving a full scholarship to play college ball. A lot of kids don’t get that opportunity, and it was a goal I set for myself and was able to achieve.”

Looking back, he recalls favorite high school games with rival South Point, and having a “really good game” in college at Clemson, which recruited him.

Among his non-favorite games is the after-work commute down I-85 from Charlotte on heavy traffic days. Sometimes, he rides home on I-485 instead. But if he wants to reminisce, there’s an exit toward North Main Street, to David and Ann’s house, with the mantle in the bedroom.