Former NBA star Love delivers inspirational message

Perhaps it was his last name or his gentle demeanor, or maybe it was that he has met President-elect Barack Obama and Michael Jordan on numerous occasions, but when former NBA All-Star Bob Love finished his motivational speech to ninth graders Wednesday at Naples High, an auditorium filled with teenagers rushed forward to hug him.

The kids Love was addressing — about staying in school and choosing friends wisely — are growing up in a different reality than the former Chicago Bulls great, who was born in the Jim Crow South (Baston, La.) in 1942.

Two girls — one white, one black, one with dreadlocks, one with red ribbons in her hair — sat side by side, holding hands as Love told his story. Both had “OBAMA” written on their arms in marker.

“God bless America,” Love said again and again.

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Because of his stutter, Love found life after basketball difficult. At one point, unable to find gainful employment because of his stutter, Love took a job as a busboy and dishwasher making $4.45 an hour.

“Those were some of the most embarrassing, most humiliating days of my life,” Love said. “It took me about a year and a half of speech therapy before I could speak a whole sentence. Still, every morning I get up and look in the mirror and practice what I learned. I never want to go back to where I came from.

“All those honors I received when I was playing, I would give back in a minute to be able to give these kids some words of inspiration.”

Love, who does nearly 200 speaking engagements a year, played against some of the game’s true legends.

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