Kenny Anderson: Good For Him

ABM · May 13, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/sports/basketball/13vecsey.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Education of a Point Guard Comes Full Circle
By GEORGE VECSEY
Published: May 12, 2010

After the child support and the squandered millions, Kenny Anderson was the one who registered for college, who mastered the digital classroom, who studied in his spare time.

“My son sees me with books in my knapsack and he says, ‘You’re 39 years old, you’re still going to school?’ ” Anderson said of his son Ken Jr., 9.

The payoff will come Saturday at St. Thomas University in Miami, when Anderson will don his cap and gown and graduate, 19 years after leaving Georgia Tech.

The degree is a statement that his life did not end after 14 years in the N.B.A., after the tangled relationships with his seven children with five women — much better now, he said — and the vanished salary, somewhere above $60 million. He did that himself, too.

•

“Kenny was a little too generous,” said Jack Curran, 79, the longtime coach at Archbishop Molloy in Queens, acknowledging that Anderson was a soft touch in the old neighborhood. Then there were all the cars and the night life and the rest, a common story among pro athletes.

As a freshman at Molloy, Anderson sat out the first quarter of every game because it was good for him, Curran thought. It probably was: Anderson became the only New York player to be named all-city for four straight years — “the best high school backcourt player I’ve ever seen,” said Tom Konchalski, who runs the HSBI Report, a scouting service, and has been following the sport for half a century.

Curran said he always saw the disciplined side of Anderson, who went to a remedial program at St. John’s University for two summers. After being admitted to Molloy, he would seek out science and math teachers to keep on track, Curran said.

“He was always persistent to get what he wanted,” Curran said, adding that Anderson is also thoughtful, calling on Curran’s birthday and holidays, more than any other former player.

Anderson is proud of the 37 credits he was able to transfer from Georgia Tech — proof he was not ducking the work, he said. He helped Georgia Tech reach the Final Four as a freshman and then did not perform the one-and-done shuffle so common today among talented freshmen.

“He had to leave,” Bobby Cremins, his coach at Georgia Tech, now at the College of Charleston, said Wednesday, explaining why Anderson turned pro after his sophomore year to support his mother, Joan.

Promising he would go back to school someday, Anderson bought his mother a home on Long Island after signing with the Nets, a franchise as transient and appealing as a turnpike rest stop. He soon became a vagabond, a good pro player but not a great one. When the Los Angeles Clippers released him in 2005, he was broke, and his mother died a few months afterward.

Anderson settled in Pembroke Pines, Fla., and watched his third wife, Natasha, work as a clinical social worker in a hospital. He made contact with all of his children, gained custody of Ken Jr. and realized he needed a degree to get a job.

“I didn’t know if I could handle it,” he said. “I didn’t use my brain for 20 years.”

•

A neighbor told him about the Institute for Professional Studies at St. Thomas, so he enrolled for his online program by himself — without a cadre of helpers hovering over him. He began working with an adviser, Jennifer Booker, who is a professor.

“What surprised me,” Booker said, “was the way he was willing to give credit to people who helped him, like a former trainer.” She watched him handle the online classes, but from the other side of the electronic connection she could not gauge the terror of a star who had once performed in arenas and now had to produce a paper.

“I’d ask people for help,” Anderson said. “This wasn’t like college. They’d say, ‘I’ll give you an idea, but you have to do the work yourself.’ ” He almost quit a few times but found a comfortable routine, helping get Ken Jr. and his wife’s daughter, Tiana, also 9, off to school. Then he would take off to Starbucks and study.

“People would recognize me and congratulate me on what I was doing,” Anderson said.

His mornings usually begin with a call from the Rev. Al Taylor of the Infinity Mennonite Church in Harlem, a childhood friend who married Kenny and Natasha.

“The message fluctuates,” Taylor said, adding that he often talks about children, helping Anderson grow as a parent.

Now that he has earned his bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership, Anderson is pursuing his next career. He gives private basketball lessons to young players but would like something more structured.

Curran said he thought Anderson would be an excellent coach in pro ball (“he’s been through the mill”) but would also be good in high school (“he’s great with kids.”).

Why not aim for the Molloy job? “Coach ain’t goin’ nowhere,” Anderson said with a laugh, using gym grammar to make his point. There will be a job somewhere, now that Kenny Anderson has earned his degree.
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EL PRESIDENTE · May 13, 2010

He got screwed by Portland.

Can't believe he went out and got the rose tattoo..then blammo...traded for Demon Sodamizer.

fucking hated that.

OSUBlazerfan · May 13, 2010

Loved Kenny

EL PRESIDENTE · May 13, 2010

me too.

EL PRESIDENTE · May 13, 2010

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...XQVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gOsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6758,4389512

damn!

BlazerCaravan · May 13, 2010

OSUBlazerfan said: ↑

Loved Kenny
Click to expand...

Same here. Loved his stability and great play after Circus Shot Ramblin' Rod.

Natebishop3 · May 13, 2010

Truly embraced the city. Great guy.

jlprk · May 14, 2010

BlazerCaravan said: ↑

Same here. Loved his stability and great play after Circus Shot Ramblin' Rod.
Click to expand...

I, uh, don't mean to praise Bill Fitch all the time, but you do know who Anderson's Nets coach had been before he came here...

TripTango · May 14, 2010

jlprk said: ↑

I, uh, don't mean to praise Bill Fitch all the time, but you do know who Anderson's Nets coach had been before he came here...
Click to expand...

I'm going to go out on a huge, rickety limb and say... Bill Fitch? Or maybe Bob Whitsitt? No, definitely sticking with Bill Fitch.

hasoos · May 14, 2010

My question is, how the fuck do you just blow 63 million dollars? So many NBA players are just total fuckups it's amazing.

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Kenny Anderson: Good For Him

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Kenny Anderson: Good For Him

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ABM Happily Married In Music City, USA!

EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

OSUBlazerfan Writing Team

EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

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Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

jlprk The ESPN mod is insane.

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