Florida Gators guard Walter Clayton Jr. has a strong support system led by his parents, Cherie Quarg and Walter Clayton Sr., along with the star’s girlfriend Tatiyana Burney. Clayton is also the proud dad to daughter Leilani Leigh Clayton, who was born on Dec. 11, 2023. 

The Clayton family can now celebrate a national championship. Burney and Clayton met when the guard was in middle school. The couple are a perfect match as Clayton’s mom believes that Burney is an ideal fit for her son. 

“After I met her, I realized that she lets him kind of be him,” Quarg told The Alligator’s Max Tucker for a Dec. 2, 2024, feature. “She knows he’s busy with his sports and that he always has kind of put that first. She never was with the high school drama… She [kind of] blended right in with our little family.”

Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. (1) holds his daughter Leilani as they celebrate their win over Tennessee after the Southeastern Conference tournament championship at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, March 16, 2025.

Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On the court, it was Clayton’s father that helped him grow as a basketball player.

“They had a community court in their neighborhood,” Quarg told the Orlando Sentinel during a March 20, interview, via Town and Country. “His dad would go in on him down there. People would come and sit and watch them go head to head with each other.”

Now, Clayton is looking to emulate his parents as the couple raises their own child. 

“My New Why,” Clayton remarked on Dec. 15, 2023, when announcing the birth on Instagram. 

It is this motivation that helped push Clayton forward to lead the Gators to a national title.