46 DIGS.NET | 10.16.2015
BIG-TIME
LOVE
This past August Scott kicked off the inaugural year of his new youth
basketball camp, which helps boys and girls ages 8 to 17 hone the
fundamentals of the game, from handling and passing to footwork and
rebounding. "The kids were great," reports Scott. "Just being in the
gym for me is heaven, and the thing that I love most is interaction with
the young people, being able to talk to them on a day to day basis, and
for them to get to know me a little bit. At the end of the day, they see
this guy on TV and now they can relate to him a little bit more because
they've spent a week with him, and they know he's more than just a
basketball coach."
It's a youth-focused endeavor in a long stretch of them for Scott, who
started the Byron Scott Children's Foundation in 1986 (now the Byron
Scott Children's Fund), fueled by a desire to help children with cancer.
"A young man named Marshall Brady, his family sent me a letter
when he was 3 years old and in the hospital in remission," says Scott.
"I went to visit him, fell in love with the family and decided right then
and there we had to do something for kids."
Scott reports that Brady subsequently kicked cancer and went on to
graduate from USC, where he played in the band. Meanwhile Scott's
organization, with its longtime focus on children's health and cancer
research, has been undergoing a shape shift. "I still have a big-time
love for children," he says. "Now I am looking for different avenues to
try to reach the kids."
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