<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Wallace's contract is done. His wife delivered their daughter, Bailee, four weeks ago, and the Wallaces are back in town for the rest of the summer. So, yesterday, Wallace invited 120 campers to an afternoon of bowling, food and drink at the AMF Schrader Lanes. Seventy-eight young players, plus parents and staff members, rolled in. Wallace made his presence felt by signing blank sheets of paper, magazine covers, basketballs, the cast on one young man's arm, bowling pins and, literally, the shirt off one young man's back. He posed for pictures. He shook hands. At the end of the afternoon, he had accomplished his goal. "I wanted to let them know I appreciated that they came to the camp and made it a success," Wallace said. Every child attends the Ben Wallace Skills Basketball Camp free of charge. It's been that way for the five years the camp has operated. Early on, Wallace paid all the bills. Now, he has help from a variety of sponsors. The idea of the camp is to offer at-risk children an outlet during the summer. Wallace's staff works with group homes and social-service organizations to identify boys and girls who might benefit from four days of instruction in basketball, sportsmanship, work ethic and life skills. It would seem that children and parents should thank Wallace for this type of opportunity instead of him thanking them. Wallace does not operate that way. His contract with the Bulls is lucrative -- four years for $60 million. Not all of that money stays in Wallace's pocket. He provides the funds for a basketball scholarship in the men's program at Virginia Union. He paid for the basketball goals at the Ashe Center. He'll admit to these things when asked, but he will not volunteer information on other donations. "I do a couple of things, but it's nothing," he said. "It's all a part of giving back. "When I was coming up, I had people help me out, and now I'm trying to return the favor. If you can reach one or two kids, give them motivation to do something positive with their lives, I think you've done a great job." Wallace does quite a job in the NBA. During the past season, he ranked fourth in rebounding (11.3 per game), ninth in blocked shots (2.2) and 10th in steals (1.78). He was the only player in the league to be in the top 10 in all three categories. Wallace is such a rebounding and defensive force that he earned his new contract even though his career scoring average is just 6.6 points. He has come a long way his from entry into the league as an undrafted player by the then-Washington Bullets in 1996. He has become a franchise player, who is expected to make every player around him more effective. "I dreamed of being in this situation," Wallace said. "You never think it will happen. Now it has, and I try to live in the moment and enjoy every minute." And, along the way, if he can help some young people enjoy their lives a bit more, Wallace is fine with that too. Source </div> Good read, he seems really nice. Pistons fans should read this and realize he isn't greedy and all for the money after all.
^Didn`t he leave because he wasn`t fitting into Flip`s system anymore. Such a nice thing by Big Ben though.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting The Soft Parade:</div><div class="quote_post">^Didn`t he leave because he wasn`t fitting into Flip`s system anymore. Such a nice thing by Big Ben though.</div> Yeah but a lot of Piston fans(including on this board) thought he primarily left for the bigger offer.
