Athletes Quarterly: Hope and Basketball

Hope and
Basketball
When Stephen Howard joined
a group of former NBA stars to bring a
basketball clinic to the Middle East,
it would change his life forever
By Stephen Howard
Top Left: The
sun sets over
Israel and the
Mediterranean
Sea. Over a
dozen former
NBA stars
traveled there to
serve as Global
Ambassadors.
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Right: Former
NBA player
Stephen Howard
takes a moment
to enjoy the
scenery.
photo credit
I was apprehensive about embarking on a trip
right into the heart of a Middle Eastern conflict that we hear about
every day. This wasn’t my first trip to the region. I was not only a
player for a Utah Jazz team that made it to the NBA Finals, I had
also played on teams in Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Israel. It
surprises most people when I tell l them that my most enjoyable
basketball experience outside of the NBA occurred in Israel. So this past summer, my colleagues and I put our concerns aside
and formed a 13-member delegation of former NBA players who
visited Israel as part of a seven-day educational seminar. This event
was hosted by AIEF (American Israel Education Foundation),
the charitable organization affiliated with AIPAC (American
Israel Public Affairs Committee) in collaboration with the NBRPA
(National Basketball Retired Players Association). The purpose of
Left: Israel’s
national
basketball
team plays in
a suburb of Tel
Aviv. Cleveland
Cavaliers
forward Omri
Casspi played
and spoke with
the group after
the game.
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Time as we know it stopped; hatred and all of its
manifestations were no more, and all that remained was
the love of basketball, the thrill of
competition and the bond that teamwork can bring.
the trip was to bring a group of highly successful
former NBA stars to Israel to learn more about the
US/Israel relationship and how that impacts the
political climate in the Middle East.
When I glanced at the itinerary for the trip, I
noticed that we would also be visiting many
historical sites that hold religious significance to
Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths. Additionally,
we would be visiting geographic areas such as
the Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Accompanying me on the trip were former NBA
players that I knew such as Danny Schayes, Willie
Burton, Cedric Ceballos, and former teammate
Dale Ellis, as well as my colleague with ESPN
Stephen Bardo. Ballers on the trip that I had not
met before were Joe Barry Carroll, Sedric Toney,
Dr. Dick Barnett, Spencer Haywood, Marvin
Roberts, Sam Vincent and Kenny Battle. Being
prominent former NBA players, we were acting
as Global Ambassadors. Of what, I don’t think we
would fully comprehend until the trip ended.
Our first couple of days in Israel was mostly
comprised of various meetings with policy makers
or high-level government figures in the Israeli or
US government in order to set the stage for the
days to follow and to open our minds to the various
levels of the Middle East conflict. I was impressed
when we were introduced to various speakers who
came from the US Embassy in Israel as well as the
Knesset, which is similar to the U.S. Congress.
On the third day of our trip, we were asked
to address the Israeli Knesset committee on
Education and Sports. I was honored to be one
of the speakers asked to address the Knesset,
especially when we were told that we were the first
group brought over by AIEF to have this honor. The
testimony was carried live on the equivalent of
Israeli C-Span and after Willie Burton, Dr. Dick
Barnett and I spoke, every one of the former NBA
players present was able to introduce themselves
to the Knesset. It was one of the most special
moments of my life.
We then joined forces with Peace Players
International and gave a basketball clinic to
Israeli Jews and Palestinians... together! You
could see the expanding smiles of our group of
former NBA players once the familiar sounds of the
hardwood mixed with basketballs could be heard
reverberating throughout the gym. If it weren’t
for the gigantic size of my NBA Alumni brethren,
you would be hard pressed to distinguish between
the campers and counselors as many of the former
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NBA greats engaged in one-on-one or shooting
contests with the overjoyed campers. To see smiles
and hear the laughter, but most importantly, to
feel the excitement that these Palestinians and
Israeli Jews showed while playing this great game
of basketball, was beyond awesome. Time as we know it stopped; hatred and all of its
manifestations were no more, and all that remained
was the love of basketball, the thrill of competition,
and the bond that teamwork and the participation
in sports can bring. Unfortunately, our time
together eventually ended and to the sadness of all
involved, we ran the last of the drills. As with most
practices throughout the world, we all met at center
court with our hands in the middle and with the
count of three, yelled “TEAMWORK” in unison.
Why couldn’t life be this easy? Why couldn’t life be
this much fun all the time? We ended the night by learning a little bit of
the Muslim culture when we broke fast with the
traditional Ramadan fast breaking meal of Iftar
with the Israeli Jews and Palestinian campers. The
significance of the meal with all the participants
really stood out to me.
One of the more somber moments of our trip
came when we visited Yad Vashem, which is the
Holocaust Memorial Museum. You could not escape
the passion mixed with pain of our tour guide while
she led us through the maze of pictures and artifacts
of the Holocaust. It wasn’t until we had left and I
was speaking to one of the members of AIPAC on
the trip with us that she mentioned to me that this
visit was the first time she had ever seen any of the
guards smile when they were taking pictures with
our group. I remembered the first question asked
when we landed. “Why are we here?” And I couldn’t
help but wonder if that was a small part. We all fancied ourselves as Ambassadors of
Goodwill or Ambassadors of Sport, but at the heart
of it all, for that brief moment we were Ambassadors
of Joy—the same joy we brought to millions as we
competed as NBA basketball players. Basketball
knows no religion, culture or creed. As a sport, it can
brings together all with that one common thread,
the love of the game. Regardless if you are playing or rooting for
a particular side, once the whistle is blown there
is only one heartbeat, one thought. If you win or
lose, you do that as a team, and the bond created in
pursuit of that goal lasts a lifetime. These are the
life lessons basketball taught to me. and these are
the life lessons I wish basketball could teach to all.
This wasn’t
Howard’s first
trip to the
Middle East. He
had previously
played pro ball in
Syria, Lebanon,
Israel and Saudi
Arabia.
A distant view
of the locals
enjoying a day at
the beach.
Jaffa Gate: a
16th century
Ottoman gate
that is the
entrance to
the Old City of
Jerusalem.
Outside a
4th Century
synagogue in
Capernaum.
Several of
the former
players could
not describe
the emotional
experience of
visiting the
Wailing Wall.
Traversing
the ancient
fortification of
Masada.
Howard wades
into the Sea of
Galilee, one
of the largest
bodies of fresh
water in Israel.
The players had
the opportunity
to visit several
excavations of
religious sites
as part of their
trip.
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