Negativity and selfishness gets great publicity in our social networking, indirect-contact society. You’d be led to believe the world’s running low on good people and that no one cares for or respects one another anymore. Their only concerns are themselves; and when they’re in need, no one is willing to lend them a hand without reward.
This is not the case. Kind, caring, selflessly-generous people still exist. Henry Bibby is a shining example.
A basketball legend from Franklinton, North Carolina, Bibby won three straight NCAA Championships as the starting point guard for UCLA, an NBA Championship as a pro with the New York Knicks, and led USC to three NCAA tournament appearances as their head coach.
In 2022 Bibby was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
While good at what he does, he’s also a good person and one who believes in helping others.
I asked Coach Bibby to tell me about a time when he did something nice for someone that he didn’t know. Here’s what he shared.
“I put on this 2-day basketball camp and made up a company, Henry Bibby Allstars, for at-risk kids and homeless kids in the LA area.
This issue of homelessness around the country was really big at that time, and I said, gosh, everyone is talking about the adults being homeless, but what about the kids? What about the kids who have to sleep in cars, who are not eating, who don’t get to do what other kids do?
So, I went and got all my licensing, and I came up with this non-profit organization that I wanted to help kids at risk. We had about 40 kids from the LA area come in and I bought them t-shirts and put on this basketball camp.
This first day they came in they were nonchalant, not too interested in basketball. They were just hanging out. So, with a motivational speech we kind of got their attention and we got them involved. Later on in the day the kids started to warm up. We had lunches that were donated by Del Taco, and Gatorade donated Gatorade.
We had coaches that donated their time and people that were there helping grow this camp. I felt so good in helping these young people out. It was incredible! It cost me a lot of money to do this for 2 days, but I wanted to do this! I wanted to reach out to kids that didn’t have opportunities that other kids had.
I rented a bus a week later, got all the kids and took them to a LA Clippers game. The Clippers were super in giving us about 50 tickets to get the kids to the game! These kids had never been any place like that! We were sitting up high and to them it was like sitting on the floor! They were so happy! And just to see those kids smile…
When I walked to the bus in front of Staples Center, they all jumped out and hugged me. And it was raining. And it was the best feeling I’ve had to be able to help someone. I get chills now just talking about it!
I wanted to try to take this throughout the country, but it wouldn’t go! I tried to get grant money from the government to go around the country to do this! I took a survey and found out there’s kids all over the country that would need something like this, and I just didn’t get the support.
I got nothing from the newspapers letting people know this was happening. No grants. Nothing. That was disappointing in a lot of areas.
I just couldn’t afford to do this myself because I knew what it would cost to put on these camps. But for me, at that time, to do that, it was incredible. What made me feel good was to show these kids another life they’d never seen. A lot of kids who can afford to go to these camps sometimes just take it for granted.
I never felt so good in the way of helping people, impacting the lives of young people in a way that could affect the rest of their lives. And it was because of an experience I gave them for those 2 days.
I’ve done other good things for people, but that stands out in my mind. That’s probably the best thing I’ve done.” |THIS.
[By Mr. Joe Walker – “The extra mile is only one mile more.”]
