Jackson State Legend and Former NBA player Purvis Short at the NBPA HBCU Top 50 Camp
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00:00 again, same question. What does this campaign putting together?
00:03 Well, it means a couple of things. Number one, you know, gives us an
00:07 opportunity, particularly myself as a HBCU alum to give back, you know, to
00:13 these young men. Justus folks gave to us. We had a lot of people, you know,
00:18 that poured into us, helped us along the way. So we're just trying to do the
00:22 same. Secondly, you know, we're trying to create an environmental structure
00:27 camp whereby we could bring in student HBCU athletes and give them a lot of
00:35 the resources, training, techniques, all the things that they may otherwise not
00:41 have gotten. And we're trying to fit it all into our top 100.
00:45 So the next question
00:48 in terms of having, you know,
00:51 course,
00:52 so
00:57 it's
00:57 no,
01:01 partake
01:02 I don't think like, you know, multiple levels of development.
01:09 Well, you know, we have over 30 years of experience as it relates to building a
01:21 comprehensive camp. You know, anybody can can sit out and do a basketball.
01:26 You know, what our focus is on is that it's not just basketball that's gonna
01:32 make you
01:32 professional athlete. So what are those other components? Well, you know,
01:40 there's life skill development. You know, there's, uh, you know, the
01:44 characteristics of discipline, leadership, all of those things. So
01:48 what we try to do here in our top 50, you know, basketball is a hook. You
01:53 know, we get the kids in here, but it's about foundation building. You know,
01:57 number one, you know, we want to make sure that these kids number one
02:02 understand the history.
02:03 You know, we all are standing on the shoulders of others, you know, and so
02:08 HBCU means something, you know, it doesn't matter what HBCU school you
02:13 went to. It doesn't matter what the resources that you have, you know, and
02:18 HBCU
02:19 school university that you did these kids go to. That matters, man. That's
02:27 significant, you know? And so our first meeting, the orientation that we deal
02:32 with these kids at the African Hall
02:35 right down the street here, right?
02:38 Being in that place, understand the significance to history that's
02:45 associated with it. So I'm saying all of that to say that, you know,
02:49 professionalism, character development, leadership, time management, being
02:54 disciplined, learning how to communicate and interact with others. Those are a
02:58 lot of things that we try to teach with these kids. And then we try to create
03:02 environments where look, we all have struggles. You know, you know, nobody's
03:07 life is perfect. You're gonna encounter stumbling blocks. You're gonna
03:10 encounter whatever you may come from a family of whatever, you know, none of
03:16 that matters. I mean, it matters. But my point is, is that there are ways to
03:21 overcome all of this. So if you're gonna succeed on this, you gotta succeed on
03:26 this. And that's what we try to do at top 50.
03:29 Clear about your attention.
03:31 To go back, you know, even before his event, his first year, I think about
03:36 20 18. What? What were the steps to make that passion and drive into a
03:42 physical event that takes place every year? Well, strength is always in
03:46 numbers. So what happened was the commissioners of the S. I. A. C.
03:52 Commissioners of Swag and the N. B. P. A. Got together and talked about, you
03:58 know, what are some of the things that we could do to enhance the visibility
04:03 to put these guys in a better position to play the game of basketball to
04:07 succeed in life. And so the concept of camp came in. We have a camp that we
04:12 called Top 100. We've been doing it for the last 30 years. The top camp in the
04:18 country. So we're modeling top 50 off of that. And so that was the initial
04:24 step. So then it was just not only conversation, but devising a plan on how
04:30 we were gonna move and trying to get this thing started. You know, we had to
04:34 have dialogue with both conference commissioners. We had to have dialogue
04:40 with the N. C. Double A. We have to take into consideration all the things
04:44 where we could and couldn't do, you know, and so from there, but behind all
04:49 of this was a commitment. And with that commitment comes dry, you know, and so
04:54 we're able to pull it together. It's not perfect. We only get the kids for 48
04:58 hours, you know, but we're not gonna complain about, you know, we don't have
05:02 this or we can't do this. We're gonna take whatever the opportunity we have
05:07 with these kids and we're gonna make the most of
05:09 you spoke about
05:11 it.
05:12 We're on the campus of
05:15 expected.
05:18 So what is it like
05:22 bringing?
05:24 Yeah.
05:24 Yeah.
05:26 It's workplace.
05:29 You know, so campus such as this is a place of
05:34 black.
05:37 You know, when you talk about HBCU history,
05:45 what better place to launch an HBCU partnership on top on the camp?
05:54 Then to be on the hell of grounds, Morehouse University of Clark, Atlanta
05:58 to be, you know, within this space. There's so much history here. And so,
06:03 uh, as a HBCU alum
06:06 representing HBCU,
06:09 that history is important. You know, see anybody that went to an HBCU, you
06:15 know, you're representing not just a university, but you're representing all
06:19 the struggles of all the people that came before us. You know, all of the
06:23 trials and tribulations that they went to all of the things that they put in
06:27 place so that we could succeed,
06:28 you know, and so for us to be able to be here
06:32 at Morehouse College, man, that's phenomenal. We couldn't. We can't ask
06:40 anything better than that.
06:41 Five years
06:44 just
06:48 players. How do you see this?
06:50 Well,
06:54 I'm answer that like this. We've grown. We've taken baby steps. You know, I
07:03 want to see it
07:04 a larger steps, right? And what I mean is that
07:08 when you look in the gym now, you know, we get the kids for 48 hours. Right now,
07:15 we're not positioned to have the N. C. Double A
07:18 folks come in to, you know, be able to scout and look at these kids. We want
07:22 G League scouts. We want NBA scouts. You know, so
07:26 we've been sustaining, but you know, our ultimate goal is position this thing.
07:32 Number one, you always gotta have a foundation. So we've got to make sure
07:36 that our foundation is secure.
07:38 And then from there, you know, all of the things that I just mentioned, we
07:44 want to build for that. And then from an educational standpoint, you know, if
07:48 we can increase the hours that we have the kids,
07:51 we want to expand what we're doing education wise. You know, we want to do
07:57 a lot more
07:58 life skills, trainings and different things of that nature. So that's our
08:03 goal. Thank you so much. Thank you.