Game has always had a passion for basketball. As a teenager, he played his way into Cerritos and Harbor colleges before life as a rapper pulled him in another direction. Nevertheless, years after he left the court this Compton native still shows passion for his namesake. More recently, Game has gotten involved with L.A.’s Drew League, a youth basketball program.
The Drew League was established in 1973 by Alvin Willis. It was designed to keep young girls and boys off the streets of South Compton and on the courts at Charles Drew Junior High School. The league takes NBA players and mixes them with local kids to create teams that compete amongst each other throughout the summer season. Along with a yearly championship game, the league offers scholarships, MVP awards and a Player of the Week that gets mentioned on the league’s website.
But the Drew League is about more than just basketball. Similar to New York’s Rucker Basketball program, current director Dino Smiley aims to teach life lessons and keep the kids out of the area’s violent gang culture. Profanity—both in the half-time music and amongst his players—is not allowed, and he also enforces a zero-tolerance policy for violence at the games. Game was able to recently create a Drew League team he dubbed No Ham. The rapper also brought some big names along for the ride, with Carmelo Anthony (Knicks), Ron Artest (Lakers), J.R. Smith (Nuggets) and more joining the street players, high school students and college athletes. Other big names who can say they’ve seen a Drew Crew game: Snoop Dogg, Baron Davis (Cavaliers) and Matt Barnes (Lakers). (Janet Martin)
www.drewleague.com.
