New Orleans native Bruce Seals hasn?t laced up his sneakers to play in an NBA game in 34 years, but you couldn?t tell it had been that long during Saturday?s National Basketball Retired Players Association?s basketball camp at A.L. Davis Playground. Seals, 59, was energetic, tossing passes to youth camp participants, making a few shots and stopping several times for autographs from fans that remembered him when he was a star at Booker T. Washington High School and Xavier University, before playing three seasons in the NBA with the Seattle SuperSonics from 1975 to 1978.
The clinic was part of the retired players association?s World Sports Conference in New Orleans, which began Friday and has involved former players speaking to students at schools, visiting with patients at Children?s Hospital in New Orleans and taking part in a life skills clinic.
Former New Orleans city councilman Arnold Fielkow is the CEO of the retired players association and is responsible for bringing its three-day conference to the Crescent City.
Along with Seals, a number of former players participated in Saturday?s clinic, including New Orleans natives Aaron James, Jaren Jackson and Eldridge Recasner, who played for the Charlotte Hornets from 1998 to 2001.
James, a former Cohen High School and Grambling State star, played his entire five-year career with the New Orleans Jazz. Jackson, who also played his high school ball at Cohen, played at Georgetown before he won an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999.
?The main thing is that I wasn?t able to be here (New Orleans) for a lot of my younger years, but I?ve been working with kids for the last 22 years,? said Seals, who played two seasons in the American Basketball Association with the Utah Stars (1973-75) before going to the NBA. ?But I felt coming back that I owed the kids in this community something. This was my first thought to give back.?
An estimated 60 youths participated in the camp, and they got a chance to ask former NBA stars like Moses Malone, Tree Rollins, Dale Ellis and Mark Eaton for autographs.
With that kind of presence, James said, it was a blessing to return to A.L. Davis Playground, where he learned to play the game as a child.
?I grew up right here on this playground, and it?s an extra special feeling to come back,? said James, who is the assistant athletic director at Grambling State and is a member of the Louisiana Hall of Fame. ?We (retired players) are like a fraternity. We see each other maybe twice a year, and it?s just like a family reunion.?
Before the clinic began, Fielkow presented a $25,000 check to the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission to help fund the painting of the basketball courts at newly reconstructed Oliver Bush Playground.
?This has been a great day,? Fielkow said. ?It?s been an honor and a privilege for our association to give back to the city of New Orleans and especially help the kids of New Orleans.
?Recreation here is a very important topic, it helps with crime prevention and so many other areas. To be able to have really the greatest basketball players ever to grace a basketball court here at A.L. Davis Park will be something remembered for years to come by the kids here.?
Source: http://www.nola.com/hornets/index.ssf/2012/08/basketball_camp_at_al_davis_pl.html
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