Former Boilermaker Moore shares journey, basketball with kids at camp
EAST CHICAGO, Ind. — E'Twaun Moore settled in at the base of the stage in East Chicago Central High School's auditorium Thursday, ready to speak to a group of kids attending his basketball camp.
He took a minute to let them get quiet — that was an ongoing challenge with the younger group — and then said, loud enough for his voice to carry, "It's me again."
Moore was back in his hometown, at his old high school, hosting his sixth basketball camp after skipping last year, but that just made him even more excited to get in front of local youth this week. The two-day camp started Thursday and wraps Friday, and Moore is hosting a record number of campers this year.
They must have missed him.
Online registrations doubled from the last camp and 153 kids were in attendance Thursday, so many that there weren’t any walk-ups allowed, which has been a staple of the camp over the years.
"It just shows the passion for basketball in our city and the type of person that E’Twaun is and his character," said Ezell Moore Jr., E'Twaun's older brother and a pivotal piece of organizing the camp. "People know he’s doing something, so they want to come out and support any events we’re a part of.
"That’s the cool thing about it. It’s not about money. We don’t make any money off it. It’s just coming back home, being in front of the kids, coming to our high school, seeing our old coach, our old teachers. It’s just something we enjoy doing."
The lure, of course, is Moore.
Not only is he coming off his seventh season in the NBA — and a career-best year, at that, helping the New Orleans Pelicans win a playoff series — but he’s a local hero, too. He led ECC to a state championship and blossomed while playing for Purdue, becoming an All-American not just on the court but academically as well. The latter is a feat he considers one of his proudest accomplishments — and he made sure to tell the campers that when he brought them into the auditorium Thursday.
Every year at the camp, he shares his story. Because it's quite an impressive one to tell.
Started playing basketball at 4, largely because Ezell Jr. was playing, and he idolized Ezell. Wore rubberbands on his wrists because Ezell did. Wore one sock high, one sock low because Ezell did.
And then Moore asks how many kids are big brothers or big sisters?
Then he weaves in one of the "life" points: He challenged the kids to be a role model, to become that older sibling that can be looked up to, the one who does things right. Like Ezell, nine years older, did for him.
He told them how embarrassed he was in middle school that his grades kept him from playing ball, so he made sure that wouldn’t happen again and locked in with his schoolwork. Told them it’s cool to be smart and play basketball.
Told them when he realized he could be really good at basketball — he'd gotten scholarship offers from Iowa and Purdue, early on — he wanted to keep adding more to the list. So he got to the high school at 6 a.m. every day to shoot jump shots before school started. He wanted to emphasize the importance of hard work.
Told them to find something they can be passionate about — “it may not be basketball” — and to “set your mind to it, set goals and work.”
Told them how he got to play on national TV while he at Purdue, how the team was ranked in the Top 25, how much the Boilermakers won.
Told them about getting drafted by the Celtics — his dad's favorite team — and playing in Orlando and Chicago and now New Orleans.
Told them why he wears No. 55.
Then he wrapped it, succinctly, saying, "That way my journey."
He shares because he knows how impactful each piece of it can be.
"It’s a pretty cool story," he said. "Every kid, all ages, they all can relate to it and they can relate to it today. It’s pretty interesting for them to hear it. Out of 200 kids, they’ll be 10-20 that remember the story from beginning to the end. Hopefully, it’ll inspire them and help them be successful.
"My main message is to motivate them. Let them know I was a kid just like them, same shoes, same background. They can achieve whatever dreams they want to come. It’s not all about basketball. It’s preparing for life outside of basketball."
For as much of a draw the basketball is at Moore’s camps — and the drills, five-on-five games and instruction are significant and impressive — it’s really not the show.
Moore is.
His allure is his everyman nature, the way he relates to all the kids who attend his camp. He gets on their level — literally Thursday, dropping to the floor to do push-ups across one kid during a conditioning station — and makes sure to slap fives, pat heads or offer advice at every turn. He’s there, really, to encourage.
Because he understands the challenges growing up in the area. He understands the doubts the kids may have about their future. He understands there are kids who need to see him — as an example of what they can achieve.
"There are definitely some kids who need somebody to look up, who need someone to check in on them, who need some guidance," Moore said. "If I’m available, I’m more than happy to be that person. That’s why I try to make sure I go around and talk to all the kids, just try to see where their heads are at, try to motivate them and give them some advice. Doesn't have to be basketball. Sometimes we talk about school, other things. It’s pretty cool."
It's cool for Moore to be home, too.
He only gets back a couple times a year these days — with New Orleans being his professional home but Orlando the place he lives in the offseason. So his camp almost is like a reunion. His dad, mom, sister and brother help every year, but this year, he had family in from East St. Louis and Milwaukee, too. He got constantly stopped Thursday by folks who just wanted to say hello or give him a quick hug — the bro-hug and "regular" hug variety.
"It’s like an event," E'Twaun Moore said, "because there are people I may not have seen in five years, one year, not in a while. It’s pretty cool, too. People I grew up with. It’s crazy, even the janitors who work here, they used to be the ones who let me in the gym early in the morning, late at night. If it weren’t for that, you never know. I might not have been able to work as hard as I worked.
"When I look back, when I do things like this, come back here, and see how far I’ve come, I’m like, ‘Wow.’ I can remember being in this high school gym shooting jumpers and not knowing I was going to make it to the NBA. So these moments like this are kind of surreal for me."
And though the interruptions are OK — Moore truly appreciates all the support he gets from his hometown — these two days still come down to the kids.
That’s why he jumps in a dribbling drill to work alongside them and then pops out to trail one kid into the line — specifically to offer tips on how to be more effective with a certain dribble, animatedly showing the camper what to do. It’s why he bounces from the main gym downstairs to upstairs where the littler kids are being put through the paces. So he can offer instruction on defensive positioning, passing or, even, just allow himself to be taken aback by some fancy dribbling by kids whose camp T-shirts are so big, they overwhelm the shorts underneath.
“Every time I talk to them, most of the kids, I’ll see right away they’ll try to do (what was suggested),” he said. “They want to prove to me they can do it. Anytime you have somebody you look up to or want to impress, it’s a good thing because it makes you want to do well.”
And, maybe, even more kids will get the chance soon.
Moore is considering altering the format next year. Maybe if he broke it into two sessions, one of the younger kids, one for the older, he said, he could spend more time with both groups. Maybe he’d even push the camp to three days.
Because the record number of kids may have been good, but Moore didn’t like having to turn others away who may have showed up on Thursday.
“We have more and more kids every year,” he said. “Hope to keep growing and keep getting better.”
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