They are taking steps, but they are baby steps.
I always try to keep a pretty conservative demeanor on the court.
In a lot of areas of my life, particularly in my teenage years, I began to think about the world, and to think about the universe as being a part of my conscious everyday life.
And I continued to grow until I was 25 years old.
Many people think sports are totally physical, that you don't have to think, everything is done for you and you're catered to, I found that to be so far removed from the truth that it's almost a joke. The ones who become stars are the ones who have a head on their shoulders and know how to use it.
I am very proud to be featured, especially when you consider the outstanding champions who have had this honor. It is great company to be in.
And from the first time I picked up a basketball at age eight - I had a lot of difficulty when I first picked up a basketball, because I was a scrub - there were things that I liked about it.
I grabbed 19 rebounds in my first professional game, and somehow found a way to score 20 points. I felt real good about it. I felt that this was the beginning of something good.
One of the things in the back of my mind is that, after my sports experience, I never want to be, totally consumed by any one endeavor, other than my family life.
I think I was chosen by basketball, although I never really physically got drafted to any team that I played for.
My role models in the business were the older guys on my team when I first got there: Gray Scott, Adrian Smith, Roland Taylor. These were the guys who took me under their wing, and really schooled me in terms of what the business was about.
I started playing professional basketball in 1971, and I played professionally for five seasons before going to Philadelphia.
I think that my God-given physical attributes, big hands, and big feet, the way that I'm built, proportion-wise, just made basketball the most inviting sport for me to play.
I didn't want to become a reserve player, or a bench player, and it was time to move on and take on another challenge.
Teachers are sort of faced with a thankless task, because no matter how good they are, unless they find a way to personally rationalize the rewards of their effort, nobody else is really going to do it for them en masse.
Every team that I've played on, I've either been the captain or co-captain.
Being a typical Pisces, I might have experienced mood shifts, but I don't remember any depression, or needing to do anything, or to have someone bring me out of being depressed.
I pulled the plug on it at a time that I thought was right for me to exit.
At age 31, in 1981, I was voted the best player in basketball, and the most valuable player in the league.
One of the commitments that I personally have now is to a diverse approach to buying businesses, and the operation of those businesses.
When handling the ball, I always would look for daylight, wherever there was daylight.
So much of becoming a good athlete involves bringing other things to the table, other than physical skills. It involves intelligence, it involves many of the things that you learn during the process of being educated. How to analyze, how to assess, how to equate, how to reason.
The biggest thing that I felt basketball could do for me was help me get a good education.
