Elite high school athletes primed to become great college athletes and potentially great professional athletes are often viewed to the general public as celebrities. The exposure to these players is massive, they continually have fans and professionals praising them to the point of stardom.
In these cases, we often forget that these athletes are simply kids and more importantly human beings. Human beings that, just like the rest of us, have compassion and love for fellow human beings. We’re often shown this by what they try to do for their communities. One athlete in particular from New Jersey went far and beyond for his.
Scottie Lewis, a top ten high school basketball recruit in the class of 2019, gave the story of how a homeless family begging for food inspired him to do good by his community. The five star small forward recruit hosted a “Hoop for the Homeless” event to help raise money for charity.
“I saw a man, his wife and their three children asking people for food and money, I witnessed them ask a man passing and he replied ““No I have more important people to take care of”“. After watching that I couldn’t eat my food knowing they probably wouldn’t eat, so I gave them my food it wasn’t enough for all of them but I wanted them to know someone cared and for the rest of the night it was all I could think about.” Scottie Lewis said in a press release for the event.
The “Hoop for the Homeless” event which was hosted by Scottie Lewis invited some of New Jersey’s best basketball talent to take part in a day long event that consisted of a three point and dunk contest, a Girl’s All Star Game and a Boy’s All Star Game. All profits and money made from the event was donated to charity to help homeless people.
Highlights from the All Star Game showcased what makes Scottie Lewis such a good basketball player. He and his high school teammate Bryan Antoine, another top 15 ranked recruit in 2019, had plenty to show in terms of their game.
Of course it was less about the games themselves, but more about the character of these young men doing all that they can to help those that need it the most. That is the pure beauty of sports, and nobody can question the character and heart of Scottie Lewis after this noble act.
