For Spurs fans growing up in San Antonio, it’s almost as if the name Gervin was learned during early childhood at the same time kids learn colors and shapes.
If you didn’t grow up watching former Spur George Gervin, you heard all about him from older siblings or relatives.
But when several young basketball players in Sioux Falls last weekend first saw the gray-haired Gervin arrive at Washington High School, they likely didn’t give him a second look.
Gervin was there giving a talk to several kids at a Legends clinic. Unfortunately for the kids at the clinic, they never got to see Gervin’s sweet finger-roll or watch him dominate and put up 63 points to win the scoring title in 1978.
But Gervin was there to recount it all while stressing the importance of education.
“My concern for these kids developed based on my own childhood,” Gervin said. “My mom raised six of us alone – four boys and two girls – and she kept us in programs all the time. So I’m a product of that, and I know it works.”
“Obviously, we want all our kids to be from a two-parent family, but sometimes it doesn’t work out,” Gervin said. “But you can still be successful – you just have to work hard and get your education. If you do those things, your future is whatever you want it to be. That’s why I do what I do.”
Gervin is no stranger to working with kids. He founded and runs the George Gervin Youth Center, George Gervin Academy and George Gervin Technology Center in San Antonio.
(Photo: ArgusLeader.com)
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