Knicks Legend Patrick Ewing To Lead Basketball Camp In South Africa
NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) — Former Knicks centerpiece Patrick Ewing will travel to South Africa next month for a Basketball without Borders camp.
Joining him will be fellow NBA All-Stars and Georgetown centers Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.
"Basketball afforded me a great life," Ewing told the New York Post. "All we're doing is trying to teach these kids something we love, grew up playing it, dreaming it. This is giving back and helping others reach their potential in hopes of a better life."
Coaches Lionel Hollins of Memphis and Monty Williams of New Orleans also are part of the group working the Sept. 1-4 camp, the eighth held in South Africa.
With the NBA in a lockout, current players can't attend the camps, which gather young players from the region for on-court instruction while also providing them with life skills.
It's the first trip to Africa together for Ewing, Mourning and Mutombo since they were part of a group that gave clinics in Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa in 1994.
"When they first asked me to come, I jumped at it -- I'm there," Ewing said, according to the The Post. "It was a great experience for me. South Africa has a strong history, fought their way to equal rights and to come back there and see the motherland, and grow the game of basketball. It's a great opportunity."
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