Darrick Martin, an NBA veteran of more than a decade, took to the free-throw line in an exhibition game three summers ago in Arizona. Waiting for the referee to toss him the ball, Martin saw the opposing player next to him lean in and whisper:
“You owe me some shoes.”
Understandably, Martin was confused.
“You don’t remember me,” the player smiled. Martin shook his head, no. “I was in your basketball camp when I was a kid. You still owe me some shoes.”
The camp in question is Books & Basketball, a five-day basketball and education camp that Martin has been hosting in his native LA-area for ten years now. The event has been hosted at Long Beach’s St. Anthony’s High School for the past two summers, and traditionally, each camper gets a free pair of shoes. All except for one, apparently.
“Well, I just took my shoes off right as soon as the game ended and handed them to him,” Martin chuckles, more delighted to see the young man succeeding than anything else. He caught up to speed with his former camper on the court – glad to see him playing a high level of basketball, but ecstatic to hear that he was enrolled in a junior college and aspired to continue pursuing education, and that the camp was a major factor in his life choice. It was a perfect example of the power of Martin’s idea.
“We wanted it to be a unique camp in the sense that it wasn’t just about sports,” he says. “We wanted to teach the kids what it takes to maybe become a lawyer, a doctor or a teacher. Sports aren’t everything.”
They’re the least important part of the camp, which features mandatory, daily classroom sessions. You go to class, you get to play. It’s a state of mind instilled in Martin since his early years by someone who was never impressed with his athletic achievements:
His mother.
Pamela Martin stressed to her son from an early age that nothing was more important than a college degree, which Darrick earned from UCLA on a basketball scholarship in 1992. Having successfully groomed her own children into adulthood, Pamela joins her husband and five children in organizing and running Books & Basketball every year.
“My emphasis is always on the education component, so I also favor the classroom time,” she said, not surprisingly, in an e-mail. “Each camper must attend the scheduled classes to be able to get time on the basketball floor. Classes offered this year included Study Skills, Following your Dream, Path to College, Related Sports Careers. We also took tours of the Museum of Latin American Art – I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and I think the campers did also. We try to add something new each year.”
A museum tour at a basketball camp is certainly something new. Also unique is the way the camp operates. There is no fee for campers, as most of them come from difficult conditions that would not allow them the opportunity if money was involved. Darrick fronts all of the costs himself, and employs his mother, father, two brothers and two sisters to run the camp. Lunches and snacks are provided every day, the campers receive high-level basketball training and attend the aforementioned classes, and Darrick is present at all times. NBA stars Mark Jackson, Andre Miller and Baron Davis have made appearances in the past, while Compton high star and UCS-bound guard Demar DeRozan stopped by the camp this past summer. Martin knows that seeing and hearing their favorite stars keeps the kids motivated to achieve.
“The kids have such a great experience, and at the end of the day they just don’t want to leave,” he says. “That’s exciting to me. I’ve always wanted to give back to my community and to kids.”
So he gives and gives, whether it’s lunch, advice, or a simple game of one-on-one, which he plays with every single camper – about 150 of them – on the first day of camp. First one to score three wins, and if you beat Darrick, you get a t-shirt or jersey. He admits to giving away about 15 of them this year, but knows that the memory and the advice is what will help the kids most.
“I always tell them, whatever you want to accomplish in life, do not let others determine it for you,” he says. “You can accomplish anything you want. I had a tough senior year [at UCLA] that I wouldn’t wish on anybody, but look at what I was able to do in 13 years.”
He’s played for six NBA teams in those thirteen years, the last of which ended when Martin was released from the Toronto Raptors in March. But he’s still keeping in shape and waiting on a team to call, gearing up for a 14th and final year in the League. Even with that track record, and more than 500 NBA games under his belt, Martin’s legacy will be cemented by Books & Basketball.
“My feelings about the camp run the gamut – pride in my son’s character and dedication, pride in how every family member gives 100% effort to make the camp a success for the campers, excitement anticipating the daily interaction with the campers and their parents, enthusiasm for the classes and events we offer during camp,” Pamela says. “It is definitely a warm and fuzzy feeling with lots of hugs, sticky fingers, a few boo boos, hard playing campers, hard working volunteer counselors and classroom teachers, enthusiastic parents volunteering to help with lunches. It doesn’t get any better than this.”