Plenty Of Personal Anecdotes To Go Along With That Stephen Curry Community Assist Award

Plenty Of Personal Anecdotes To Go Along With That Stephen Curry Community Assist Award (Photo: @nbacares Instagram account)

Today, Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry won the 2013-14 Seasonlong Kia Community Assist Award. The fact that his giving back at the personal level could be overshadowed by his myriad of community events (see the long list at the end of this post), is a testament to how much Curry deserves this award.

Immediately coming to mind is Fox Sports writer Jimmy Spencer‘s personal experience while coaching a teenager named Darin Johnson — now playing under scholarship at Washington University — who was lacking in “dedication” part of the game of basketball:

During this time, the 2009-10 season, I was covering the NBA out of Sacramento. One night, when the Warriors came to visit, I had a conversation with Curry and mentioned my concerns about my talented young high-school player.
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“Why don’t you just bring him to a practice? I’ll talk to him,” Curry said.
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He said it so nonchalantly, as if it was normal for an NBA player to act with such generosity of his time.
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I didn’t simply give Johnson the pass to meet his favorite player right away. It didn’t seem right to reward his disinterest in hard work. High school freshman, meet the ultimate carrot.
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These college hoops fans take cheering on their teams to the next level.
And surprise, it worked. Johnson turned it up in practice, his attention sharpened, and he even started to properly run the offense.
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After a month of hitting his marks as a student-athlete, Johnson had earned an opportunity to meet his hero. So, along with his dad, he made the trip along I-80 to the Warriors practice facility in Oakland.
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“When I first got there, I didn’t know what to expect,” Johnson said. “I thought he was just going to just say hi and bye.”
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Instead, it’d be a much more meaningful exchange.

Obviously, Spencer’s story is worth the whole read.

I have my own personal anecdote or two of Curry, too, and I barely know the man.

Once in a blue moon, the Warriors might invite a person with a disability to visit the team after practice, during the same time that we media get to interview players.

On one particular day after interviews were done and Curry had taken his shoes off, Curry walked over to a kid shooting around with some family members. The kid was wearing goggles presumably because of impaired eyesight.

So Curry shot around with him, in socks, and chatted with him. Curry even tried on the kid’s goggles and made a couple of shots inside the paint — yes, in socks and, oh by the way, a bank-shot or two — before saying goodbye.

Curry quite simply is one of the best at giving his time and attention.

I also have a friend in the basketball community who a few years ago was at a restaurant with his wife, son, and daughter.

Curry happened to arrive during peak hours and there were no seats available, but my friend who was sitting near the entrance, offered up part of his table so Curry and his family could at least have a place to sit and eat.

My friend’s son was playing basketball for his middle school at the time and to this day, they still keep in touch. Anytime my friend’s son goes to a game at Oracle, Curry makes sure to check in with him to see how his basketball career is progressing.

There are probably plenty more personal anecdotes out there.

Here’s a list of his philanthropic achievements in 2013-14:

• hosted ThanksUSA golf tournament
• 38,000 bed nets in Tanzania during the 2013 offseason with the Nothing But Nets campaign
• donated three life-saving bed nets for every three-pointer he made during the 2013-14 season
• hosted a four-day overnight camp for 120 youth
• launched the inaugural Splash Brothers Basketball Clinic with Warriors guard Klay Thompson
• wished patients at Children’s Hospital a speedy recovery
• helped dedicate a Reading & Learning Center in Beijing, China
• fulfilled the dreams of a Make-a-Wish youth
• fed over 400 Bay Area families in need with Feed The Children
• hosted a Get Fit Hoops & Health Clinic during NBA FIT Live Healthy Week for over 250 youth
• participated in this year’s 2014 NBA Cares Day of Service in New Orleans, LA
• donated 15 tickets to underserved youth and made it a point to connect with fans at every Warriors home game

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