Basketball has been a part of Octavius Nunes’ life ever for the reason that Dorchester native picked the sport up as an 8-year-old at his neighborhood’s Boys & Girls Club, the place he now serves as athletic director.
On Friday, Nunes completed a primary: He beat an NBA participant in knockout. Not simply any participant, however champion Bruce Brown, a fellow Dorchester native who helped the Denver Nuggets win the Finals in June.
“The kids were really excited, a lot of them asking me how I beat an NBA player,” Nunes instructed the Herald. “Just to show them that everybody has a chance as long as they try hard they can do it, too.”
Brown, 26, stopped by the Colonel Daniel Marr Clubhouse on Friday, chatting with roughly 100 campers earlier than taking photos with them and signing his autograph on basketballs to be put in a trophy case on the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester.
Then got here the fun-filled, spirited spherical of knockout, the place a handful of campers, staffers and President and CEO Bob Scannell tried to outshoot Brown.
All in all, Brown fulfilled a promise he made after the Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat in June that he’d come again to the neighborhood he grew up in to encourage the subsequent era.
“The best part is coming back to you guys and letting you know that you could do it too,” stated Brown, who signed with the Indiana Pacers in free company this offseason. “I was sitting here listening to people talk to me, so if you have a goal and people say it’s too hard to reach, I’m sure you can do it. Because I’ve done it.”
Brown’s go to Friday got here after a membership board member noticed a tweet from Globe sports writer Gary Washburn shortly after the finals ended that talked about how Brown wished to come back again to Dorchester to encourage youngsters. That led to a social media marketing campaign that caught the eye of Brown, compelling him much more to satisfy his need, Scannell stated.
“It really breaks down a barrier where sometimes kids just stick to the streets in the neighborhood, to think outside the box about what they can accomplish,” Scannell instructed the Herald.
“Growing up in Dorchester put a chip on my shoulder,” Brown instructed campers, including not till center faculty did he understand he wished to develop into an NBA participant. He performed for Wakefield Memorial High School for 2 years earlier than transferring to boarding faculty Vermont Academy, which he stated he needed to qualify for.
“The tough thing for me was when I was in Wakefield I didn’t really take school seriously because I didn’t think being from Dorchester would lead me to play at the highest level,” Brown stated. … “I just didn’t see the vision everybody else saw for me. I had to leave that behind … I had to persevere and get the help I needed.”
Brown performed a key position within the Finals. He scored 21 factors in Game 4 which the Nuggets gained to take a commanding 3-1 sequence lead over Miami. That got here earlier than he put up 4 of Denver’s final six factors in a championship-clinching Game 5.
The scoreboard contained in the Colonel Daniel Marr Clubhouse, throughout Brown’s go to, learn 94 to 89 – the ultimate rating of Game 5.
“Up until recently, there was not a lot of inspiration coming from Dorchester,” Nunes stated. “There’s not a lot of people who have made it to the highest level, and to have somebody who has done that, and won the championship, and to come back and speak to our kids, it’s going to change lives.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”