The Herald has a great story today on Bill Walker... who is spending a lot of time talking to kids at camps this summer about what it takes to make it.
“I just feel like if we were to have something like this where I was from, I think a lot more people would have been interested in sports and would have worked harder in school to try to become something,”
One way he keeps himself grounded... is never forgetting his own struggles in W. Virginia.
“I wake up every day and I look at myself in the mirror and that’s all I see,” said Walker, who bought his mother a house in the more affluent Stamford Park section of Huntington last year. “I see the struggle I’ve been through. That’s why I feel like I can never place myself above anyone else no matter how far I go in life. I’m still the same kid from 1023 Minton St. that just got lucky and got a chance to get out.”
I'll take a crack at answering my own question here: I think the reason the most inspiring guys in sports are often "fringe" guys because they've had to really work hard for everything they've gotten. A million athletes come from the same conditions as Bill Walker. But the guys who have been superstars from Day 1 are always treated differently. They get things they want because people are trying to hitch their wagon to the stars. Guys who have to fight and claw their way into the spotlight often appreciate it more and realize that no one was there during their struggle. So they realize how much it would have helped to have a positive influence at that time... and hence... they're often doing things like Bill Walker is doing.
Couple of other things worth checking out: Lex is happy that people are underestimating the Celtics, and Pro Basketball News' Sam Amico yawns at KG's guarantee of 2 more rings. And Kedrick Brown will be playing ball in Turkey this year.