Local Youths Love It When Stars Return

By: Keith Mills

Rudy Gay doesn't get to spend a lot of time in his hometown anymore, so when he gets the chance, he makes the most of it.

"I'm here probably just four weeks out of the entire summer," Gay said. "And I have a lot of people to see in a little bit of time."

Gay now lives in Memphis, Tenn. He'll turn 22 years old in August, and he's getting ready for his third NBA season with the Grizzlies. He spent part of last week in Baltimore, playing in the Archbishop Spalding alumni basketball game, speaking at a variety of summer camps and saying thanks to some of the men and women who helped him realize his dream of playing professional basketball.

"I try to give back to the people that helped me out," Gay said, sitting outside the gym at Cecil-Kirk Elementary School in East Baltimore, where he spoke to a group of children at a basketball camp run by Cecil-Kirk Recreation Center director Anthony "Dudie" Lewis.

Gay brought a special guest with him -- former Georgia Tech standout Jarrett Jack, who grew up in the Fort Washington section of Prince George's County and now plays for the Portland Trailblazers.

"There are a lot of guys who sometimes forget where they come from," Jack said. "They forget the grass roots and who laid the foundation. Rudy hasn't done that. It's great to see he still has his values, and he didn't forget who put him in that place to start with or jump-started him into the place where he is today."

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Gay remembers the first day he walked into the Cecil-Kirk Rec Center 12 years ago.

"I was 10," he said. "I walked in here skinny and lanky, and everybody said, 'Who is that?' I got on the court and started playing, and they said, 'OK, he's on my team.' I was popular after that."

Lewis has coached basketball in East Baltimore for nearly 40 years, and he knew Gay possessed the special qualities for success on the court.

"You could see right away he had size and athleticism," Lewis said. "And he overcame the biggest hurdle, he had the desire. Once you see that in kids, you know they're going to go far. Whether they go to the [NBA] is one thing or another, but you know they're going to go far."

Lewis' former players include David Wingate, Ernie and Kevin Graham, Kevin Norris, Shanta Rogers, Herman Harried, Georgetown standout DaJuan Summers, Illinois starting point guard Chester Frazier and current NBA players Juan Dixon, Josh Boone and Gay. Rogers, who now lives in Charlotte, N.C., and who has played in Italy for the last nine years, was also back at his old rec center last week with his son, 11-year-old Shanta Jr., who was part of Gay's homecoming and Lewis' camp.

"Any time I'm in town, I'm here," said Rogers, who led Lake Clifton High School to a state championship before playing at George Washington University. "For guys like Rudy to come back and help Dudie when they're in town is a big deal. We all do it. It's great to see Rudy do it."

"Dudie helped me out a lot, trying to get my name out there and become the person I am," Gay said. "Everybody was telling me you're doing this and you're doing that, and you could be the No. 1 player in the country. I was like, ‘Wow, I'm just trying to get ranked in the metropolitan area.' At that point, I just decided to keep working. When I got ranked in the top five, Dudie said, 'We have to think about your future.'"

That was in the summer of 2003, when Gay was leading Lewis' 17-and-under Amateur Athletic Union team to the national championship game. It came one year after he transferred from Eastern Tech to Spalding, which caused an uproar among many public school basketball coaches and led to a transfer rule known as the "Rudy Gay Rule," which is still on the books today. The rule forces athletes who transfer from a public school to an Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association member school to sit out one year if they have played at least one varsity game at the public school.

"I had no idea that was happening," Gay said. "I transferred because I needed more structure academically. Basketball at Spalding was a plus. It was very good, but coming in, my grades weren't as good as they should have been. They took their time with me and actually taught me things instead of me just getting by. I actually learned everything I needed to learn."

The transfer greatly benefited Gay. He turned down a scholarship offer to play at Maryland and signed instead with Connecticut in the summer of 2003. Two years later, after his sophomore year at UConn, he became the eighth pick in the 2006 NBA Draft. Originally selected by Houston, Gay was traded to Memphis, where he averaged 20 points a game last year and has emerged as one of the league's best young players.

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Any time Sam Cassell, Carmelo Anthony and Dixon come back to Baltimore, it's a big deal. The same with Mark Teixeira and Gavin Floyd in baseball, Michael Phelps in swimming, Santino Quaranta in soccer, Woodlawn's Vincent Fuller of the Tennessee Titans and Gilman's Victor Abiamiri of the Philadelphia Eagles.

High school, club and recreation coaches flaunt their returns as examples of what can happen through hard work, dedication and a desire to take advantage of every opportunity.

Gay is another example of a homegrown Baltimore athlete who has made it. With his mother Rae by his side last week at the Cecil-Kirk Rec Center, he and Jack talked to dozens of youngsters who share that same often-elusive, sometimes-achieved dream of playing in the NBA.

"I feel obligated to talk to these kids," said Jack, who played for the Maryland Stallions AAU program while growing up in the Washington area and then played at DeMatha and St. Vincent Pallotti in Laurel.

"I remember when I was in their shoes,” Jack said. “Nobody came to our camp or came into our neighborhood to show their face. It's overwhelming at times, the influence you have with these kids because of what you've accomplished. There are so many kids who want to be in your shoes."

"Sometimes I say 'Why do they want to talk to me? They don't know me,'" Gay said. "But then I realize I was the same way. When people like me and, 'Melo, Juan and Sam come back, we do it to talk to these kids and maybe help them out. There are a lot of people who could easily have them go the wrong way, but while we have the celebrity and the power, maybe we can help them out and walk the straight line."

Gay grew up admiring and following Cassell, who starred at Dunbar and later at Florida State for current Towson University coach Pat Kennedy. Gay was 7 when Cassell won his first NBA championship with the Houston Rockets. Last week Cassell won his third as a member of the Celtics.

"I was saying just this morning, 'I’ve got to get a ring,'" Gay said. " 'Melo won a college championship, Juan won a college championship. Sam now has three. I have to do something."

Actually, Gay already has a championship, a rather impressive one. In 2005, he played on the U.S. Under-21 team that won the world championship. But Cassell's NBA hat trick is motivating him now.

"It takes a lot of hard work," he said. "Sam was a good example for me growing up, watching him and trying to get better at my own game."

Issue 3.26: June 26, 2008