<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">They dropped off their kid at school this week, and they went through the parental mix of emotions. They were proud and they were sad, and there they were, a thousand miles from San Antonio, hearing the words they feared. Goodbye Dad, goodbye Mom. The words carried a lot of weight ? coming from a tall, young man who is not their son. R.C. Buford and his wife, Beth, will tell you this is not the end of anything. They accompanied Alexis Mang-Ikri Wangmene to Blair Academy in New Jersey, but the one they call Lex will be coming back to Texas in a year. Last week he committed to play for Rick Barnes in Austin. "I anticipate," the Spurs' general manager said, "that Lex will be part of our family forever." That's something, since they met just two years ago when Buford coached at a camp in South Africa sponsored by the NBA's Basketball without Borders. Buford gives his time to these programs, and he sponsors two other high school players (one from the Dominican Republic, the other from Puerto Rico). Buford has seen what opportunities can do, and that's why this has become his form of charity. He rings up frequent-flier miles to make this happen. Buford was in South Africa again last weekend, at another Basketball without Borders event, before flying back to New York to join his wife and Lex for the trip to prep school. But, in 2004, Buford did more than coach or sponsor. This time the NBA, in effect, came up with its own foreign-exchange program. It began with Buford's scouting instincts. Buford took one look at a 15-year-old from Cameroon and thought: He's good enough to play Division I basketball. Lex spoke only French and his native African dialect at the time. "We couldn't communicate verbally," Buford said. "But there was a lot of contact established in his eyes and smile. I see that in almost every encounter he has with people." Buford lined up Lex for a tour with an African all-star team, and the group came through San Antonio. Then Buford got a better view of this special kid, and how he got along with his son and daughter, and this is the aspect that clinched the decision. Why not have him live with the family? For Lex, this was like hitting the (draft) lottery. It's not often that a basketball prospect gets an NBA executive for a legal guardian. Lex likely would have remained in Cameroon had he never met Buford, and that wouldn't have been all bad. He wants to be a doctor and, considering his stable family, that would have been possible. But Buford offered more, beginning with basic logistics. Whereas contacts on the ground in Nigeria and Senegal help prospects relocate, Cameroon is less organized. Buford's international experience ? and persistence ? solved a six-week visa maze. Buford lined up Lex at Central Catholic, and he also offered a course in American hoops. Buford's son Chase, a college prospect in his own right, showed Lex the art of playful trash talking. Buford says that's the dynamic that made this work. Chase and Lex hit it off, and Lex went to the events of C.C., Buford's daughter, as much as Chase did. "It was sensational for all of us," Buford said. Lex's basketball was as sensational. Now 17, he's grown another inch, to 6-foot-81/2, and added another 20 pounds. Then there's his wingspan, at 7-5, which is just one inch shorter than Yao Ming's. </div> Source
