Rick Fox Speaks at YMCA Community Support Campaign
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jennifer [email protected]
Fox spoke Friday night at the Orthopaedic Capital Center in Winona Lake during the Kosciusko Community YMCA’s Community Support Campaign Tip Off.
Dr. Dane Miller, Biomet co-founder, and Jim Kessler, Grace College men’s basketball coach, introduced Fox.
Fox played basketball at Warsaw Community High School from 1984 to 1986. He went on to play professional basketball for the NBA’s Boston Celtics from 1991 to 1997, and then for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1997 to 2004. With the Lakers, he won three NBA championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and played in the 2004 NBA finals. Also an actor and producer, Fox has appeared in a number of film and television projects.
Fox said his journey to becoming a pro basketball player started when he left his home in the Bahamas at age 14, and went to WCHS to play for coach Al Rhodes after being scouted by Kessler.
An invite by Kessler to come to his summer basketball camp at Grace College landed Fox in Warsaw in summer 1984.
“Coach Kessler guided me into a transformative experience that Warsaw would become for me,” Fox said.
Fox discussed the first day he walked into coach Rhodes’ office.
“I walked into coach Rhodes’ office and looked him in the eye and told him I wanted to play basketball for him, get a scholarship to North Carolina, and play in the pros, and as divine intervention would have it that’s what happened,” Fox said.
Fox said he is often asked his secret to success, and he joked it is being 6 foot 7.
He said with great success comes great sacrifices.
He said Rhodes told him he could give him the tools to play basketball, but what he did with them was up to him.
“Without hesitation coach Rhodes and I went onto the court, and like the Karate Kid’s wax on and wax off, I did drop step after drop step,” Fox said.
Fox recalled the first game he played against Tippecanoe Valley and the opposing team chanted “U.S.A.,” reminding him he was from the Bahamas.
“As a foreign kid in a foreign land I knew my teammates and coach Rhodes had my back and the community began chanting R-I-C-K in the USA,” Fox said.
He said Warsaw from day one has wrapped its arms around him, and that has been his fuel for his American dream.
Fox described the influences his parents in the Bahamas had on him.
He said his father was his biggest fan, and his mother, an Olympic high jumper, was thankfully his biggest critic.
He said at age 14 his parents allowed him to leave the Bahamas and live with Gene and Virginia Gossman, who became his guardians while he played basketball at WCHS.
“Not only did the Gossmans open their home to me, but they made sure I received an education and nurtured me,” Fox said.
He said he remembers Gene driving him to Chapel Hill, N.C., to play for the University of North Carolina and they shared tears of him leaving Warsaw.
The drive also reminded Fox of the first time he left the Bahamas to play basketball in Warsaw, and saw his father crying, sad that Fox was leaving for the United States.
“That was the first time I ever saw my father cry,” Fox said.
Fox discussed his experiences of playing pro basketball, and described himself as competitive and said he still is.
“I competed like it was life or death and learned competition is the best fuel toward heading for a destination and it worked for me,” Fox said.
Fox said he and his son, Kyle, who was 6 at the time, were going to celebrate a third championship win with the Lakers at the Staples Center with Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal.
Fox said he and his son were going to have a father-and-son photo taken after the win.
Bryant came up to Fox’s son and told him he would make a good basketball player.
Fox said his son screamed, “Why is everyone pressuring me to want to be a basketball player, I want to be a paleontologist.”
“I moved into fatherhood and told him he could be anything he wanted to be,” Fox said. “When you have a son you can hope he falls in love with what you love and carries your legacy.”
Fox said his son still dislikes sports, but has a passion for writing and psychology.
Fox said a loss that hit him the hardest was the death of his teammate, Reggie Lewis, who played with him for the Boston Celtics. Lewis died after suffering a heart ailment.
“Loss is inevitable and every day I’m asked how retirement from basketball is, but it does not compare to the loss of Reggie who introduced me to gratitude,” Fox said.
He said as a professional athlete he was used to looking at a box score.
“So much of my life was defined by winning and losing, and I miss looking at that box score that fed me the competitive edge, reassurance and confirmation of my progress,” Fox said.
He now lives and works in Hollywood behind and in front of the camera.
He said his box score is now being a father, son, businessman and friend, and said some days he loses and some days he wins, but said everyday is an opportunity to be a champion in life.
He lives in Los Angeles and continues to act and develop his own film and television projects for his production company, 1744 Entertainment.
“I retired from the NBA, but am not retired from life because I am an actor, producer, writer, dancer but mostly a student of life,” Fox said.[[In-content Ad]]
Fox spoke Friday night at the Orthopaedic Capital Center in Winona Lake during the Kosciusko Community YMCA’s Community Support Campaign Tip Off.
Dr. Dane Miller, Biomet co-founder, and Jim Kessler, Grace College men’s basketball coach, introduced Fox.
Fox played basketball at Warsaw Community High School from 1984 to 1986. He went on to play professional basketball for the NBA’s Boston Celtics from 1991 to 1997, and then for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1997 to 2004. With the Lakers, he won three NBA championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and played in the 2004 NBA finals. Also an actor and producer, Fox has appeared in a number of film and television projects.
Fox said his journey to becoming a pro basketball player started when he left his home in the Bahamas at age 14, and went to WCHS to play for coach Al Rhodes after being scouted by Kessler.
An invite by Kessler to come to his summer basketball camp at Grace College landed Fox in Warsaw in summer 1984.
“Coach Kessler guided me into a transformative experience that Warsaw would become for me,” Fox said.
Fox discussed the first day he walked into coach Rhodes’ office.
“I walked into coach Rhodes’ office and looked him in the eye and told him I wanted to play basketball for him, get a scholarship to North Carolina, and play in the pros, and as divine intervention would have it that’s what happened,” Fox said.
Fox said he is often asked his secret to success, and he joked it is being 6 foot 7.
He said with great success comes great sacrifices.
He said Rhodes told him he could give him the tools to play basketball, but what he did with them was up to him.
“Without hesitation coach Rhodes and I went onto the court, and like the Karate Kid’s wax on and wax off, I did drop step after drop step,” Fox said.
Fox recalled the first game he played against Tippecanoe Valley and the opposing team chanted “U.S.A.,” reminding him he was from the Bahamas.
“As a foreign kid in a foreign land I knew my teammates and coach Rhodes had my back and the community began chanting R-I-C-K in the USA,” Fox said.
He said Warsaw from day one has wrapped its arms around him, and that has been his fuel for his American dream.
Fox described the influences his parents in the Bahamas had on him.
He said his father was his biggest fan, and his mother, an Olympic high jumper, was thankfully his biggest critic.
He said at age 14 his parents allowed him to leave the Bahamas and live with Gene and Virginia Gossman, who became his guardians while he played basketball at WCHS.
“Not only did the Gossmans open their home to me, but they made sure I received an education and nurtured me,” Fox said.
He said he remembers Gene driving him to Chapel Hill, N.C., to play for the University of North Carolina and they shared tears of him leaving Warsaw.
The drive also reminded Fox of the first time he left the Bahamas to play basketball in Warsaw, and saw his father crying, sad that Fox was leaving for the United States.
“That was the first time I ever saw my father cry,” Fox said.
Fox discussed his experiences of playing pro basketball, and described himself as competitive and said he still is.
“I competed like it was life or death and learned competition is the best fuel toward heading for a destination and it worked for me,” Fox said.
Fox said he and his son, Kyle, who was 6 at the time, were going to celebrate a third championship win with the Lakers at the Staples Center with Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal.
Fox said he and his son were going to have a father-and-son photo taken after the win.
Bryant came up to Fox’s son and told him he would make a good basketball player.
Fox said his son screamed, “Why is everyone pressuring me to want to be a basketball player, I want to be a paleontologist.”
“I moved into fatherhood and told him he could be anything he wanted to be,” Fox said. “When you have a son you can hope he falls in love with what you love and carries your legacy.”
Fox said his son still dislikes sports, but has a passion for writing and psychology.
Fox said a loss that hit him the hardest was the death of his teammate, Reggie Lewis, who played with him for the Boston Celtics. Lewis died after suffering a heart ailment.
“Loss is inevitable and every day I’m asked how retirement from basketball is, but it does not compare to the loss of Reggie who introduced me to gratitude,” Fox said.
He said as a professional athlete he was used to looking at a box score.
“So much of my life was defined by winning and losing, and I miss looking at that box score that fed me the competitive edge, reassurance and confirmation of my progress,” Fox said.
He now lives and works in Hollywood behind and in front of the camera.
He said his box score is now being a father, son, businessman and friend, and said some days he loses and some days he wins, but said everyday is an opportunity to be a champion in life.
He lives in Los Angeles and continues to act and develop his own film and television projects for his production company, 1744 Entertainment.
“I retired from the NBA, but am not retired from life because I am an actor, producer, writer, dancer but mostly a student of life,” Fox said.[[In-content Ad]]
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