Ray Allen may have officially retired from the NBA, but that doesn’t mean he can’t use his perfectionist attitude and determination to do good elsewhere.
He will have a chance to do that as he was named to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council by President Obama:
Allen has spoken before about his connection to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum before, as featured in an interview on the museum’s website (h/t Dane Carbaugh of Pro Basketball Talk):
My first visit to the Holocaust Museum, I had just gotten to the NBA. And I heard about it. I’ve always been, you know, a guy that’s gone to museums. My coach in college was very much into taking us places and teaching us things while we traveled throughout the course of the season. And so, I just picked up that. When I traveled, I always went to places, cities. I’d try to figure out what different cities had to offer. And I just remember the first time I went there, it being so profound. And it’s a lesson for everybody. That’s something that stayed true to me. And I’ve been four or five times. And every time I go, I see something different. And when I come back, I always take somebody different.
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You take any person through the Museum, based on their experiences and their life, they’re going to see different things. And they’re going to talk about the things they want to talk about. But I think the most important thing is communication. That’s a powerful, powerful tool, just talking about it and trying to understand it, and learn from it, and grow.
Allen has also been a firm participant in other philanthropic efforts including as a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and with his own “Ray of Hope” foundation.
We are entering an age in which more and more prominent athletes are willing to speak up about important real-world topics including political and social issues. Ray Allen is joining that movement in a way by contributing to an important memorial of one of the darkest events in world history.
