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Maybe I should have posted this on the HYSTHPB 2.0 thread, but I am opening a new one just because I think this is cool. It's the story behind this picture that I just read for the first time today. I've had the pic for who knows how many years and even posted it on the pic thread more than once but never knew this little anecdote about it:
From THIS ARTICLE about Jerry Moss, the Portland Trail Blazers Community Outreach Director:
Cool.
Sabonis JEGA!!!!!
From THIS ARTICLE about Jerry Moss, the Portland Trail Blazers Community Outreach Director:
Moss said that role (of being uniquely you and having something to contribute to your community) is what makes a person special to begin with, regardless of whether or not they're an athlete. He backed this with a crowd-pleasing tale of when he and former Trail Blazers center, Arvydas Sabonis, visited a kindergarten-first grade combination class in Woodburn to read to students who mainly spoke Spanish and Russian.
The 7-foot-3 Sabonis read Dr. Seuss' “The Cat in the Hat” to them in both languages.
“You could see these kids change instantly,” Moss recalled. “They felt him. He had them right in his hands. They were so impressed - he's like us!”
Sabonis took his usual questions from the students afterward: what he eats, where he shops for shoes, what kind of car he drives, et cetera. But there was one question, asked by a girl, that caught Sabonis and Moss off guard: How do you play Hide and Seek?
“Arvydas still brings it up whenever I see him,” Moss said. “There's a reason I tell you this. See, here's a man that has played basketball on five continents. He has Olympic gold medals. He has MVP awards. He is the single most recognized athlete in Europe. ... He learned something that day. He said, ‘Nothing matters if I don't know how to play Hide and Seek. ... You must recognize people in the world they're in, or you're nothing. That little girl reminded me of what's important in her world.'”
The 7-foot-3 Sabonis read Dr. Seuss' “The Cat in the Hat” to them in both languages.
“You could see these kids change instantly,” Moss recalled. “They felt him. He had them right in his hands. They were so impressed - he's like us!”
Sabonis took his usual questions from the students afterward: what he eats, where he shops for shoes, what kind of car he drives, et cetera. But there was one question, asked by a girl, that caught Sabonis and Moss off guard: How do you play Hide and Seek?
“Arvydas still brings it up whenever I see him,” Moss said. “There's a reason I tell you this. See, here's a man that has played basketball on five continents. He has Olympic gold medals. He has MVP awards. He is the single most recognized athlete in Europe. ... He learned something that day. He said, ‘Nothing matters if I don't know how to play Hide and Seek. ... You must recognize people in the world they're in, or you're nothing. That little girl reminded me of what's important in her world.'”
Sabonis JEGA!!!!!
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