CLEVELAND YATES

REBS: 1 vs. North Alabama (12-28-19), vs. NC State (2-1-23)

2020 ACC Regular Season Championship Team
2020 ACC Championship Team

Cool Cat Cleveland Yates

I grew up in Memphis where the Civil Rights movement is a very important topic.  I grew up studying Black History and the various pioneers of Civil Rights. One of my favorites pioneers was Jackie Robinson because of his courage and resilience. I will wear No. 42 at Florida State in honor of Jackie Robinson.

Cleveland Yates is just the sixth player in school history to wear No. 42 for the Florida State Men’s Basketball Team. The first player to wear No. 42 at Florida State was Harry Davis who was a second-round pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1978. Davis was named the Metro Conference Co-Player of the Year and to the All-Metro Conference First-Team in 1978 and was elected to the Florida State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998.

My full name is Cleveland Mark-Arturo Yates.  I am named after my grandfather (Cleveland) and my godfather (Mark Arturo).

My hometown of Memphis is known as the home of the blues and for having great burlesque.  The city is also known for producing some great basketball players including Penny Hardaway and Lou Williams.

A four-year member of the Florida State Basketball team who was a part of the Seminoles’ 2020 ACC Championship and their 2021 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 teams…will earn his Bachelor’s Degree from Florida State in Humanities on August 4, 2023…was a part of two of Florida State’s most successful teams during his career as a Seminole…Florida won 70 games overall and 45 ACC games with Yates on the Seminoles’ roster…helped Florida State to a 26-5 overall record and a 16-4 mark in ACC play during the 2019-20 season…the Seminoles won the ACC Regular Season Championship for the first time in school history in his first year in Tallahassee (2020)…Florida State’s 26 wins are a school record for wins in a regular season as the Seminoles became just one of seven teams in ACC history to win 16 or more league games in the same season…Florida State was on its way to a high seed and a deep run in the NCAA Tournament before the tournament was cancelled due to the onset of the coronavirus…helped Florida State to an 18-7 overall record and an 11-4 mark in ACC play during the 2020-21 season and a 17-14 overall mark and a 10-10 record in ACC play in 2021-22…selected as Briarcliff Christian School’s winner of the Wendy’s High School Heisman Scholarship Award in 2018…named the winner of the 2019 Sports Leadership Award for Shelby County Schools by the Memphis Commercial Appeal in 2019…earned one award at the Seminoles’ 2020 Honors Banquet as he was presented with a J.U.I.C.E. Award (Just Us In Combat Everyday) along with Ty Hands, Travis Light, Justin Lindner and Harrison Prieto…also earned a J.U.I.C.E award at the Seminoles’ 2022 Honors Banquet along with Lindner, Prieto, R.J. Morris, Isaac Spainhour and Max Thorpe.

Averaged 0.0 points and 0.3 rebounds in a career-high tying five games during his fourth season as a Seminole…earned the first starting assignment of his career on Senior Night against North Carolina (Feb. 27) in Tallahassee…earned playing time in victories over Louisville (Dec. 10) and USC Upstate (Dec. 13)…playing time came in a career-high four ACC games including at NC State (Feb. 1) and at Clemson (Feb. 15)…tied his career-high with three minutes played at Clemson on the road in ACC play…totaled two minutes of playing time in Florida State’s victory over Louisville in Tallahassee…tied his career-high with one rebound in Florida State’s game at NC State…tied his single-season career-high with eight total minutes played in five games. 

Averaged 0.0 points and 0.0 rebounds in three games played during the Seminoles’ 3-game, 10-day tour of Canada in August of 2022…totaled 0 points and 0 rebounds in 2 minutes of playing time in Florida State’s 86-66 win over Ottawa in the first of three exhibition games in Canada during the summer of 2022…totaled 0 points and 0 rebounds in 3 minutes of playing time in the Seminoles’ 98-64 win over Carleton in their second game of their exhibition tour of Canada…earned 1 minute of playing time in Florida State’s 90-74 win over McGill University in the final game of Florida State’s three-game tour of Canada…the Seminoles finished 3-0 on the 10-day trip north of the border.

Averaged 0.0 points and 0.0 rebounds in three games played during his this season as a member of the program…earned playing time in victories over Penn (Nov. 10), against Missouri in the championship game of the Jacksonville Classic (Nov. 22) and Lipscomb (Dec. 15)…earned a career-high of three minutes of playing time in the Seminoles’ victories over Penn and Missouri…played a career-high eight minutes during the season…earned his first career blocked shot in Florida State’s season-opening victory Penn…helped Florida State to a 17-14 overall record and a 10-10 mark in ACC play…Florida State defeated No. 5 ranked Duke, 79-78, in overtime at the Donald L. Tucker Center (Jan. 18).

Helped the Seminoles to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in his second season as a member of the Seminoles…did not play in any games but continued to illustrate his incredible value to the success of the program as one of the top teammates in the program…helped Florida State to an 18-7 overall record and to an 11-4 mark in ACC play…the Seminoles finished in second place in the ACC standings, were ranked No. 10 in the Final USA Today Coaches Poll of the season, advanced to the championship game of the ACC Tournament for the fourth time in school history and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his career.

Averaged 0.0 points and 0.2 rebounds as he played in five games during his first season as a Seminole…played in five games including Florida State’s ACC season opening victory over Clemson…Florida State was 5-0 in the five games in which he earned playing time…earned playing time in wins over Chattanooga (89-53; Nov. 20), Saint Francis (Pa.) (80-65; Nov. 23), Chicago State (113-56; Nov. 25), Clemson (72-5; Dec. 8) and North Alabama (88-71; Dec. 28)…attempted his first shot in Florida State’s victory over Clemson at the Donald L. Tucker Center…his first career rebound came in the Seminoles’ victory over North Alabama.

Graduated from the Briarcrest Christian School in 2019…served as the captain of his high school team as a senior…played three seasons on the varsity team and led the Saints to a 79-18 record with two regional championships, two sub state championships and the 2019 Tennessee State Championship…led the Saints to the Tennessee State Scholastic Association state championship in 2019…led the Saints to a regional championship with a 28-2 record as a senior…led Briarcrest to a perfect 8-0 league record as a senior…Briarcrest won its final 10 games of the season in winning three games in the state championship including a victory over Brentwood Academy in the semifinals…the state championship semifinals and finals were played in Allen Arena on the campus of Lipscomb University.

Born September 7, 2001…Cleveland is the son of Yvette and Willis Yates…began playing basketball in the second grade…played for M33M and Mile Miller in AAU Basketball…has been nationally recognized for his leadership and community service…was chosen by the National Civil Rights Museum to Co-Host the Freedom Award Student Forum honoring President Joe Biden, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Philanthropist Pitt Hyde in 2018… Cleveland and his parents launched the Kidz Do Pozitive Thingz TV Show when he was only nine years old…he served as host, musician and producer…through the KDPT Organization/TV program, his goals are to empower kids to set goals, pursue their dreams and be the best they can be…graduated high school with a 4.025 GPA…is an accomplished musician as he began playing drums at the age of two and piano at the age of eight years old…his musical achievements include recording his first live drum solo at The Grove Studio and his audition for the America’s Got Talent television Show…will graduate from Florida State on August 4, 2023 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Humanities.