What Proviso East means to me

BY MICHAEL FINLEY, Chicago Suntimes November 7, 2007

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/preps...spot07.article


Proviso East means a lot to me. Being from Maywood, going there was a big to-do in the community, and it meant a lot.

I knew a high school diploma was important, and I knew my dreams would become reality with one from Proviso.

I graduated in 1991 and went on to play basketball for four years at Wisconsin.

On and off the court, going to Proviso prepared me for life at Wisconsin. It prepared me off the court to deal with people of other races and the community and to be more friendly with people.

In high school, we just had fun with basketball. We always expected our home games to sell out, but the road games were sold out, too. That's when we knew there was something special going on with us.

We won state in 1991 when I was a senior. At Proviso East, there's a lot of pressure from the fans and the community to win. It was great to get that state le my senior year. Bill Hitt was our coach.

I enjoyed all my classes, and all my teachers were good. It wouldn't be fair to single out just one. They all developed me as a man.

The high school has been gracious enough to donate its three gyms for my summer basketball camp. It's an annual event, and we just finished our 11th year. We had 400 kids. It is a free camp for kids in the community.

I always had a vision that if I was able to have a camp, it would be free to those in the community. And when I made it to the NBA, it was a no-brainer to do the free camp.

This is my third season playing in San Antonio for the Spurs. I've been in the league for 13 seasons. (He also has played for the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks and was an NBA All-Star in 2000 and 2001. He has averaged 17.3 points in his career.)


From this article: "Pirates have rich athletic tradition" BY TINA AKOURIS