Cobra Coley not returning to Charlotte

UPDATE: From a spokesperson at Time Warner Cable Arena: "Turns out Cobra is not playing here on Saturday. He’s on a different unit now and will be in another city."

As a student at UNC Charlotte, Charlie Coley rarely got out of his comfort zone.

He hung out at Concord Mills. Ate at the Waffle House in Concord, or the O’Charley’s on University City Boulevard. Otherwise, Coley said, “I pretty much stayed on campus, or at home.”

That was before he became known as “Cobra,” before he started trotting the globe with Harlem’s most famous basketball team.

Since graduating from UNC Charlotte in 2009 and signing with the Harlem Globetrotters last September, “Cobra” Coley has blocked shots in Central America, slam-dunked in China, and dazzled familes from coast to coast. On March 20, he’ll return to briefly to Charlotte, when he joins the exhibition basketball team for its annual display of antics at Time Warner Cable Arena.

“I’m really excited. I’m getting e-mails all the time about it,” says Coley, who has many friends here, in addition to a fiancee who still attends UNC Charlotte. He expects to play two quarters during the game.

In his senior year, the 6-foot-7 Coley averaged 8.9 points and 6.8 rebounds. But he was best-known for defying gravity with his 40-inch vertical leap. He executed slams in dunk contests that included hurdling a chair set on top of a table, jumping over 6-10 teammate Phil Jones, and soaring over 49ers guard DiJuan Harris as he pedaled a stationary bike.

“I could jump over anything pretty much,” says Coley, 23, who also once dunked over a car on a street in Miami. “Put a prop there, I can jump over it, make it look good.”

Coley says the Globetrotters gave him the “Cobra” nickname simply because it rhymes with his last name. But he’s embraced it: After he makes a great play or move, he flashes his “Cobra” sign – which basically has him moving his right hand around like a snake. It always draws affectionate hisses from young fans.

And the fans are what keep him going.

“You don’t know what kind of problems (they may) have,” he says. “Maybe they came to the game just to kind of cheer up, get their minds off everything. So to go out there and put a smile on somebody’s face, that’s like the best thing ever.”

The Harlem Globetrotters play an exhibition game at Time Warner Cable Arena (333 E. Trade St.) at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 20. Tickets are $22-$125. Details: 1-800-745-3000; www.timewarnercablearena.com.