David Robinson will introduce Air Force Academy Choir at ASG

[TMTTRIO]

http://www.nba.com/allstar2005/allstar_game/robinson_050217.html

NBA, Robinson to host more than 300 members of the military and their families

David Robinson to Introduce U.S. Air Force Academy Choir for U.S. National Anthem :elephant

DENVER, Feb. 17 -- As part of a salute to the men and women of our Armed Forces, "The Admiral" David Robinson will introduce the award winning United States Air Force Academy Choir that will perform the U.S. national anthem before the 2005 NBA All-Star Game taking place Sunday, Feb. 20 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo.
Coverage of the All-Star Game will be televised live beginning at 8 p.m. ET on TNT, Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and heard on ESPN Radio and in several languages on NBA.com, and reach a global audience in 214 countries.

The United States Air Force Academy Choir, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., is a co-ed choir that has sung for presidents, performed in nearly every state in the nation, and appeared on national television many times.

The NBA, with the help of Robinson, who served in the US Navy, will be honoring the men and women serving in our armed forces as it hosts more than 300 members of the military and their families during All-Star weekend. The military personnel, from USO-supported Denver-area installations including Fort Carson, the Colorado Air National Guard, the US Air Force, Fisher House and NORAD, will be guests for the Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night events. The NBA coordinated with the USO on the All-Star salute.

The NBA has a long history of supporting our troops and the USO. Recently during Operation Iraqi Freedom, the NBA was part of the first USO/Armed Forces Entertainment tour -- Project Salute 2003 -- to the Persian Gulf region bringing NBA players Troy Hudson, Ervin Johnson, Mark Madsen, Shawn Marion and Cherokee Parks along with NBA Hall of Famers Spencer Haywood and Bob Lanier to pay tribute to the U.S. and coalition armed forces in June 2003.

"The USO is proud of its long-standing relationship with the NBA to show America’s support for the men and women who are serving around the world," Ned Powell, President and CEO of the USO.

Also as part of the All-Star Game pregame ceremonies, Canadian-born R&B singer Tamia will perform the Canadian national anthem prior to Sunday’s game.

NBA All-Star 2005 in Denver will feature a week of activities that will showcase the greatest athletes in the world playing basketball at the highest level on an international stage, and will display the league’s deep commitment to its community. The week will culminate with the 2005 NBA All-Star Game which features the top players from the Eastern and Western conferences going head to head.

[spurster]

We've always thought DRob was a choir boy at heart.

[Spurs_rock05]

Good Job D-rob I've Always Known You Do Things And Don't Ask For Anything In Return, You Have A Good Heart And Soul May God Bless You And Your Family.

[Spurs_rock05]

And Spurster Must You Dig The Knife Deeper With That Picture ????

[whottt]

Sweet! It'll be good to see Drob doing something basketball related...

He's become kind of a pariah with the Spurs since retiring and I'm not exactly sure why...his career should have been celebrated more last season. Obviously, Pop trying to pretend Drob never existed didn't help us win a title last season.

[Walton Buys Off Me]

Obviously, Pop trying to pretend Drob never existed didn't help us win a title last season.

Maybe the dumbest statement I've ever heard on this board. It's funny how the character 'Pop' takes on this omniscient aura when associated with negativity, yet by the same token, can do no right.

It's obvious Pop has something to do with this recent strain of HIV affecting the country.......

[Terrence and Philip]

Absolutely. When I look for basketball wisdom in this forum I look to none other than our friends to the north Terrence (http://spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=167) and Philip (http://spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?userid=53).


http://www.cafe.rapidus.net/rayturco/sp/p%20terrence%20et%20philip.jpg

[ZStomp]

Good Job D-rob I've Always Known You Do Things And Don't Ask For Anything In Return, You Have A Good Heart And Soul May God Bless You And Your Family.


What's up with the capital letters?

[Solid D]

Sweet! It'll be good to see Drob doing something basketball related...

He's become kind of a pariah with the Spurs since retiring and I'm not exactly sure why...his career should have been celebrated more last season. Obviously, Pop trying to pretend Drob never existed didn't help us win a title last season.

David is not an outcast with the Spurs in any sense of the word. That's just ridiculous.

David has a message for you Whottt. Move onward and upward in life!!!

[Solid D]

From the NY Daily News written a year ago, but very insightful article about David's daily walk nowadays. David still teaches a men's Bible study at 6 AM every Thursday and it's open to anyone who wishes to attend.

Good article if you missed seeing it.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/145559p-128625c.html
First class

David Robinson's teaching us all a lesson

By WAYNE COFFEY
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

After 14 years in the NBA, David Robinson is making his greatest contribution, operating a faith-based school to help children in San Antonio.

No more banging under the boards for rebounds for Robinson these days, it's picking up assists with homework and directing traffic (below).

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/648-robinson_students.JPG

"It is simply service that measures success."
– George Washington Carver

SAN ANTONIO – After a long flight and a short sleep, David Robinson is back in his new neighborhood, doing math problems with three kids.

It's a cloudless morning in a semi-blighted part of the east side of town, and Robinson is sitting in a conference room in the Carver Academy, the private school he founded just over two years ago with his wife, Valerie. Across from him are BriAnna Henson, Shane Winter and Joshua Satterfield, all fourth-graders, all trying to figure out what 45 times 60 equals, in their heads.

Robinson has just gotten back from New York, where he was honored by Sports Illustrated for being named co-Sportsman of the Year, with former Spurs teammate Tim Duncan. That was fun. This is his calling. This is what he has spent $9 million of his own money on: a faith-based school grounded in excellence, not elitism, a challenging academic curriculum open to children of all races, backgrounds and socioeconomic levels, a place where you can hear pre-K students learn to count in three languages: Spanish, Japanese and German.

The kids do their computing, furiously tracing figures in the air and on the table. Robinson, former math major at the Naval Academy, tells them a little trick: drop the 0 on the 60, multiply 45 times 6, then add the 0 later.

"My favorite thing about this school is seeing David Robinson and the teachers who inspire me to do my work," Joshua Satterfield says. "If I say I can't do a problem, they say that I can do it if I keep trying, and then I do it."

Says Robinson, "Everything in life is not dictated by money. It's dictated by what kind of legacy you're going to leave, and what kind of man you are going to be."

As the NBA reaches the quarter pole of its first season without him in 15 years, David Robinson finds himself no longer bound by the whirlwind whim of the schedule-maker: Phoenix one day, L.A. the next, up to Milwaukee and Chicago for the weekend. His path his self-directed now, and against the dark, disturbing drumbeat of recent frontpage stories on issues ranging from mutual-fund malfeasance to a burgeoning steroid scandal to Kobe Bryant's doings in a Colorado hotel, Robinson seems to be more a beacon of moral rectitude than ever, a man with a social conscience as sculpted as his famous physique.

Red McCombs is the former owner of the Spurs. He can recite Robinson's whole resume: two NBA titles, MVP, the nation's only three-time male Olympic basketball player, defensive Player of the year, scorer of 71 points in a game. Robinson has already been proclaimed one of the top 50 players in NBA annals. McCombs might put him in the top 1 of human beings.

"People from coast to coast ask me, 'Is this guy really as good as his image?'" McCombs says. "My response is, 'No, he's better.' You could list all his attributes, but to me the key to David is his total persona. He's the same way with the guy who parks his car as he is with the CEO of Toyota."

You hear all the time about athletes who are adrift in retirement, searching desperately to replicate the rush of competition, fame and fortune. For Robinson, 38, it's been no more of a problem than canning his lefty jumper or beating everybody on the team in a wind sprint.

He made his coaching debut yesterday, on the church-league bench for his two oldest sons, David Jr., 10, and Corey, 8. The team is called David's Mighty Men. "I just put up in my first plays, so we'll see how it goes," Robinson says, smiling. The whole family went snowboarding in Colorado over Thanksgiving, the first cold-weather vacation they've ever taken. Last Thursday at 6 a.m., he and pastor Max Lucado of Oak Hills Church led their weekly Bible study session, Christmas trees flanking them, and 345 men before them. Robinson, a minister at large in the church, sat on a wooden stool and read from the 119th Psalm, and the Book of Job, and humbly shared about his own struggles to live up to the Word.

"It's such a blessing to hear him," says Scott Hensley, a member of the congregation. "What else would bring so many guys out at six in the morning?"

And then there is the Carver Academy, a passion he holds right behind his faith and his family. When Robinson broached the idea of starting a school, McCombs, himself an educational philanthropist, spent an hour trying to talk him out of it. "It sounds fulfilling and exciting, but a school is a very daunting project," McCombs says. "There are so many needs and challenges. It's not for two years or three years. It's forever. I told him he was already doing a lot, with the appearances he was making and his scholarships (through the David Robinson Foundation)."

Robinson replied that he and Valerie were committed to the project, deciding after they began to look for a school for their sons that they wanted to help provid a first-rate education to all children. McCombs shrugged and wrote Robinson a check for $250,000.

The Carver Academy is named after a hero of Robinson's, George Washington Carver, the African-American botanist, social advocate and spiritual leader. Robinson rejected the idea of naming the school for himself. He also made it clear he wanted no photos or tributes to himself decorating the hallways. There is one photo of Robinson - unauthorized - near the main office. His ego is the same size it was when the Spurs drafted Duncan and Robinson not only welcomed Duncan, but willingly became option No. 2.

"Show me another person – not only in athletics – who has his kind of achievements who would step aside and say, 'OK, if it's going to help the team, I'm ready,' " McCombs says.

When Robinson saw his photo on the wall, he said to Brenda Murphy, the head of the school, "What's this doing here?" "It's a good picture," Murphy replied.

A modest looking brown brick building from outside, the school has big windows and bright spaces, a clean, well-lit place of nurturing and learning. Around the corner is a pawn shop, and a strip of boarded up stores. The school's six-acre site was once home to a thriving crack trade.

The crack business has moved away. The neighborhood is coming up. More changes will follow; Robinson is 7-1, and his plans are even bigger than he is.

For the moment the school stops at fourth grade, with 83 children enrolled. Next year fifth grade will be added. The plan is to go up to eighth, to maintain a 15:1 student-teacher ratio, to stick with the same value-driven program, beginning each day with chapel and stressing Carver's core beliefs: integrity, service, leadership and discipline.

The school has cost $13 million to this point, with a $6 million expansion plan (including a gymnasium) in the offing. Robinson's $9 million contribution is believed to be the largest gift ever made by an athlete, but it's not enough.

Ninety-eight percent of the current children are on scholarship; the goal is to move the percentage down to 65. Apart from his thrice-weekly visits to the school, Robinson's main role is as the world's biggest fundraiser and cheerleader, as he tries to get the Carver endowment fund up to $35 million.

It's at $4 million now.

Sitting in the school library, Robinson watches a couple of kids go by in their Carver uniforms – boys in gray slacks and blue shirts, girls in plaid jumpers or skirts with white shirts. In his rookie year the Spurs had a record improvement, going from 21 victories to 56. Robinson views his basketball achievements as gratifying, but ultimately the stuff of agate. His view is longer, more substantive. He goes on 20 and 30-mile bike rides with Lucado, working his body and thinking of other turnarounds to accomplish.

"The kids are happy here," he says. "They love coming here. You know you're impacting young lives, and that's the best part of it."

Tambra Satterfield is a parole officer for the state corrections department, and Joshua's mother. In his third year at the school, Joshua has morphed from a withdrawn and tentative child into a kid who is confident and verbal and constantly wowing his mother with his vocabulary.

"This school is very protective," Joshua says.

Says his mother, "David Robinson is a phenomenal man. I feel blessed every day that my son goes to this school."

Thousands of blinking Christmas lights line the trees and the gentrified shops along the city's Riverwalk this time of year, and carolers in Santa Claus hats sing tidings of joy from passing boats. The Spurs had a parade on the same river (ck) when they won their second NBA title, over the Nets, last June. David Robinson went out a champion, and to the 83 children who attend The Carver Academy, the title holds true in retirement.

Across the table from the kids, Robinson is wearing a checked shirt and jeans, looking as well-scrubbed and handsome as a model in a catalog. He leans forward and gently leads them to the answer to his problem: 45 times 60 equals 2,700.

The kids go off to lunch. David Robinson goes off for another full day of retirement, and to get ready for his Bible study.

"Most athletes lend their name and their face to things," says Niki Simpson, the director of development at The Carver Academy. "David has not only given his money. He has given his time and talent. Everything we are is because of him."

Originally published on December 13, 2003

[whottt]

Maybe the dumbest statement I've ever heard on this board. It's funny how the character 'Pop' takes on this omniscient aura when associated with negativity, yet by the same token, can do no right.

It's obvious Pop has something to do with this recent strain of HIV affecting the country.......

Walton, I see the point you are trying to make...unfortunately you speak in ignorance...yet again.

It's real simple, last season after Drob's jersey was retired Pop forbade the organization from showing any Drob highlights...something about it being a different team and a different year.

Drob is also on record as saying he didn't hang out with the boys much because he wasn't sure if he was welcome...and no one invited him either.

Now I realize that Pop was not deliberately trying to dis Drob...more like he was trying convey the fact that the team was essentially rebuilding, and the previous seasons title didn't matter because it was truly a different team...but that doesn't change the reality that Pop did put the kibosh on celebrating the Admiral's career...and it doesn't change the fact that his strategy didn't work for the purposes of repeating as champs.

Next......