THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 10, 1995 TAG: 9506100428
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHELE SNIPE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Bob Love may not be a name many students at Ruffner Middle School recognize, but that didn't stop them from giving him handshakes and high fives Friday morning.
The 6-foot-8 Love, a three-time NBA All-Star who starred for Chicago in the late 1960s and 1970s, towered over the eighth-graders in the auditorium, passing out Bulls stickers to eager, waving hands.
``If it is to be, it's up to me,'' said Nathaniel Hinton, 15, reciting Love's key message.
Love said those words motivated him to battle a severe and debilitating stutter.
``The real role models are not the sports stars. They are your parents and your teachers,'' Love told students during a 40-minute talk. ``Teachers create more professionals than anyone else in the world.''
The basketball great told students that for more than 40 years he dreamed of speaking freely to crowds. But stuttering kept him out of the media spotlight during his basketball career, and he worked as a dishwasher after he retired from the game in 1977.
``The one thing that kept me going was my dream of one day being able to stand up and speak in front of a crowd of young people just like you,'' Love said to loud applause.
In 1984, Nordstrom hired him as a busboy in its food services division in Seattle, then promoted him and offered speech therapy.
That ``was like learning my ABCs. I had to take it one step at a time,'' Love said later in a telephone interview. ``And now that I got it, I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world.''
Now, Love travels the country as the Bulls' community relations director, telling students how he made his dream come true and encouraging them to do the same.
Love asked the students to turn to the person next to them and say, ``I love you.'' Most hooted and gagged at the request but gave him a standing ovation.
Ruffner student Sharon Southaln, 15, said Love inspired her because ``he started from the bottom to get where he is now.''
Elizabeth City State and former Booker T. Washington coach Barry Hamler said: ``Love was here in December and did a fantastic job as a motivational speaker. And I thought it would be good for the public school students to hear him.''
Love was in Norfolk to participate in Hamler's Tidewater Golf Classic on Friday afternoon. As he headed to the driving range, he told students that his success ``never would have happened if I had played the victim in life.'' ILLUSTRATION: JIM WALKER
Staff
``The real role models are not the sports stars. They are your
parents and your teachers,'' Bob Love told Ruffner Middle School
students.
by CNB