Recap: Knicks' Allan Houston Proves Why "Fathers Know Best"
Allan Houston is taking his talents to Brooklyn... and he's teaching more than just basketball.
Houston, alongside Jay Sugarman, CEO of iStar, took their interactive basketball tour to Brooklyn and used it to further promote stronger family relationships, education, human rights and the fight against poverty. "Father Knows Best," now in its ninth year, found participants and sponsors of the iStar Charity Shooutout enjoying the opportunity to take to the court and mentor the young minds of the future.
Although the former New York Knicks guard retired from the NBA years ago, the father of seven has made being a role model for young adolescence a priority. VIBE Pop Culture had the pleasure to attend the festivities at the Pratt Institute and you can see the highlights after the jump.
Make sure to follow @VIBEMagazine on Twitter!
Houston, alongside Jay Sugarman, CEO of iStar, took their interactive basketball tour to Brooklyn and used it to further promote stronger family relationships, education, human rights and the fight against poverty. "Father Knows Best," now in its ninth year, found participants and sponsors of the iStar Charity Shooutout enjoying the opportunity to take to the court and mentor the young minds of the future.
Although the former New York Knicks guard retired from the NBA years ago, the father of seven has made being a role model for young adolescence a priority. VIBE Pop Culture had the pleasure to attend the festivities at the Pratt Institute and you can see the highlights after the jump.
Make sure to follow @VIBEMagazine on Twitter!
Allan Houston, the engine behind the "Father Knows Best" event, got the spark from his father, Wade. The young Knickerbocker played under his coach during his college years at the University of Tennessee where Allan kept a close eye on his father and learned lessons about developing a strong work ethic and the proper treatment of the people around him. Those valuable lessons helped Houston excel once he became a professional NBA star.
"Basketball is a tool," the former Knickerbocker tells a gym full of eager athletes. "It can be used to get a lot of people out of unfortunate situations. The same way as music and art does. For us, we're using basketball to paint a bigger picture. That bigger picture is letting people know that there are men who are fathers, coaches and teachers that are really trying to be out there for your kids," Houston said.
Allan Houston's "Father Knows Best" program, which heads its way out to all five boroughs in New York City, continually devotes itself to improving the lives of New Yorkers by helping families, young athletes, and interested mentors to strengthen relationships and educate many upon the importance of being excellent.
Throughout the afternoon, heading late into the evening, kids flooded the courts with an abundance of energy. Whether it was showing off their young Blake Griffin-esque bungees in the dunk contest, or being able to showcase their ferocious defense during intense fundamentals training, fun was ubiquitously disseminated throughout the gymnasium. While outsiders would simply label this as a basketball camp, it is clear that the message Houston and co. were trying to convey was way deeper than just X's and O's.
