Gleason: Laettner's generosity hits home
Christian Laettner is still adjusting to life without professional basketball but perhaps more accurately his family is still adjusting to him. His oldest of three children is 12 years old now. He's become a soccer dad while carting around the kids in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., where he settled after a life of fame and fortune.
It's hard to believe, but Laettner recently turned 40. It seems like yesterday when he hit the last-second shot to beat Kentucky in the 1992 NCAA Tournament. He owns a real estate development business near Duke with Brian Davis, his former teammate and close friend. He plays pickup ball at a local YMCA to get out of the house and yearns for competitiveness at the highest level.
Laettner was one of the greatest college players in history and still lives a wonderful life by any measure. If there's one thing missing, it's that feeling of total serenity he'll experience Friday when he snakes through the streets toward his native Angola. That's when he'll know he's truly home.
"It's such a feeling of that," Laettner said Wednesday. "The other feeling is my stomach is empty and I want to eat every possible food item that I can find in Buffalo. Elmwood Taco & Sub, the chicken wings I eat everywhere, the Texas red hots. Every time I'm up there, I eat like a glutton. I love going up there."
Buffalo appreciates him, too. Laettner was our link to big-time college basketball and winning. He played in four Final Fours. He won two NCAA titles and led some of the great teams in history. He was the only college player selected for the Dream Team in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, over Shaquille O'Neal.
He was drafted third overall, spent 13 years in the NBA and made some $60 million before retiring in 2005. And he never forgot his roots.
Last week, when old friend Mike Taylor sent a mass e-mail looking for support for his "Build a Bridge" golf tournament at Tri-County Country Club, Laettner was the first to respond. They had lost touch and hadn't spoken in 2 1/2 years before Laettner called him. Soon after, an autographed basketball and jerseys were in the mail. He made himself available to be auctioned off in a foursome. It's being held on eBay until 7:30 tonight.
"He was my bestest childhood friend," Laettner said. "I saw the e-mail and said it was definitely something I needed to do. I just wanted to help because it was a good cause and an excuse for me to come to Buffalo. I was more than happy to do it."
Laettner wasn't throwing himself behind a major cause, so much as a cause that was important to a friend. Taylor is president at Tri-County CC. The money is going to help pay for damage caused in the Aug. 10 flood that reached the club, which is in Forestville.
Nobody would have blamed him had he ignored the e-mail. He played there once in his life. He could have helped in a cursory way, such as writing a check. Instead, he's taking the time and making the effort to assist people who matter in his life. It's funny how this selfless act comes from a so-called villain who supposedly was spoiled by success.
Of course, people forget that Laettner donated $1 million to Nichols School for students who couldn't afford the tuition or that he and Davis dropped $2 million on Duke's basketball program or that he enriched NBA communities when nobody was looking.
On Sunday, he'll be giving his time and getting plenty back in return. He'll spend a day golfing with old friends and making new ones. He'll enjoy the comfort that only exists when coming home.
And it will be priceless.
"I'm so proud of Buffalo," Laettner said. "I love Buffalo. I love being from Buffalo. It's just a great life to look back on, appreciate everything that's going on and get back home."
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