The Drew Neve tattoo
By Mike London
Salisbury Post
SALISBURY — Friday would have been Angie Arrowood Neve’s 50th birthday, but she didn’t get to see 47.
Cancer. She died in the spring of 2022.
Photos of Angie Neve reveal a lovely person, tanned and laughing, her warm smile ringed by waves of blonde curls.
A 1993 graduate of Glenn High School in Kernersville, she studied radiography at Forsyth Tech. She worked as an X-ray technologist, and then became a clinical instructor at Forsyth Tech and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
She married Dale Neve, a towering fellow, 6-foot-8, who had been a three-sport athlete at South Stokes High. They were blessed with two children, Andrew and Ashleigh. Dale has worked as an engineer for Hendrick Motorsports for 23 years. He and his son and daughter carry on.
“God surely picks the prettiest flowers first,” Dale said on social media on the 50th anniversary of his late wife’s birth. “But everything we do, we do to honor Angie and her memory.”
Andrew Neve honors his mother with relentless energy and toughness every basketball season, although no one has called him Andrew for a long time. He’s been simply Drew as far back as he can remember.
Drew inherited his mom’s hair and easy smile and most of his dad’s height. He is usually listed at 6-foot-5, but 6-foot-4 probably is more accurate. He’s a rising junior at Jesse Carson High, Class of 2027.
His mother remains with Drew every moment of every day, thanks to a tattoo that covers his entire chest. It’s extremely detailed. It includes the scripted word “Angie,” angel wings, a sea of clouds, a large cross, a small heart and a full Bible verse, a familiar one from the fourth chapter of Second Timothy: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”
As an eighth-grader, not long after his mother passed, Drew told his father he wanted to get the tattoo.
“I said OK, but I never thought he could actually go through with it,” Dale said. “I figured as soon as he saw the guy getting the needle ready, he’d head for the door. But he did it.”
Drew remembers he sat as still as possible in a mobile chair for five hours while the artist performed his work. He has never regretted it, and neither has his father. Drew gets to take the memory of his mother onto the floor with him every game.
“It didn’t hurt all that much, but the toughest part of getting that tattoo was when he was doing the clouds,” Drew said. “There were a lot of clouds. It was important to me to always remember my mom and to honor her in the best way I could. She didn’t just drive me to games when I was young, she was always there supporting me. I can remember her always telling me that I needed to sharpen my elbows whenever we were in a tough game.”
The 17-year-old Neve usually wears blue tennis shoes, but he’s got a pink pair of backup sneakers that he can bring out to honor his mother for special occasions. If there’s a cancer fundraiser or a breast cancer awareness night, the pinks will get some action.
Drew is proud of what his father does in the racing world. He’s been to work with him a few times.
“It’s amazing how precise everything has to be when you’re working with engines,” Drew said. “The things he can do on a computer are incredible and very cool.”
Drew could see himself doing something like that after he’s finished playing basketball.
Drew is a good student, but he “reclassified” with athletics in mind a while back. Reclassifying gave him an extra year to physically mature. It’s not that unusual. Many of Rowan County’s best baseball players reclassified.
Drew experienced two eighth-grade school years, first at Erwin Middle School, and then at Rockwell Christian School. Basketball fans first started hearing about Neve — and classmates CP Perry and Jacob Mills — when they were playing for the Rockwell Christian varsity in the 2022-23 season.
Neve has scored right at 600 points in two seasons at Carson. He scored 306 in his season at Rockwell Christian.
Drew looks thin at first glance, but there’s some power in his shoulders, some fight in his heart, and he is blessed with coiled springs in his long legs. Among other things, he is pioneering the alley-oop slam for Carson basketball. He has put rim-rocking dunks in the playbook.
Drew has played in the post for Carson out of necessity for two seasons, but his ideal position would be small forward because of his length and versatility. He can block a shot on one end of the floor, and then bury a 3-pointer on the other. While he often has been the fourth option on offense for the Cougars, he still averaged 13.9 points as a sophomore for a 17-10 team.
“Baseball was my main sport for three or four years when I was young, ” Drew said. “I was mostly a first baseman. But then I found basketball, and I found something I really love, and I’ve focused on basketball in high school.”
Carson’s most impressive victory last season was achieved against South Piedmont Conference champ Robinson — Robinson’s first loss in the league. It’s a stout league. Carson also has grown accustomed to staging epic battles with Concord, Northwest Cabarrus, West Rowan as well as former league members Central Cabarrus and Lake Norman Charter.
And now, always strong Salisbury, which beat Carson in an electric final in the 2024 Sam Moir Christmas Classic, joins the SPC fun.
“This may be a surprise, but the SPC game I always get most excited about is whenever we play East Rowan, especially when we go to East,” Drew said. “Since I went to Erwin Middle School, that game is like going home.”
His season-high in 2024-25 was a 30-point outburst against East. He scored 26 against Statesville. He scored in double figures 21 times.
In the summer months, Drew plays for the Carolina Riptide team that is based in the Lake Norman area. He’s excelled in a variety of roles against top-notch competition.
He’s heard from UNC Pembroke and Johnson & Wales already and should get a number of college offers as a junior.
He works at Chick-fil-A and he enjoys playing golf as a second sport, but if he’s not playing basketball, he’s probably thinking about playing basketball. He is a hoops guy, and he’s constantly working to improve his ball-handling, dribbling and outside shot.
It should be an exciting 2025-26 season for Carson, which has added 6-foot-6 Lake Norman transfer Will Hall, to the program, as well as former East Rowan guard Corbin Krider. Hall has the size to help Neve stay out of foul trouble. Foul trouble for Neve has hurt Carson in some key games.
“We’ll miss (2025 grad) Jonah Drye because Jonah probably had the highest basketball IQ of anyone I’ve ever played with, but we know that CP Perry can be a great point guard next season,” Drew said. “Coach (Brian) Perry is talking about us shooting even more 3-pointers, and we know that all five guys we put out there are going to be able to score.”
There’s not much doubt that Drew is ready for a breakout season. Every game, every bucket, every rebound will be dedicated to his mother.
