{"id":7067,"date":"2016-07-21T20:39:10","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T20:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=7067"},"modified":"2023-01-24T15:20:59","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T15:20:59","slug":"devean-george","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2016\/07\/21\/devean-george\/","title":{"rendered":"From national champion to local hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Devean George \u201999 <\/strong>was the first NCAA Division III player ever selected in the first round of the NBA Draft\u2014and he played professionally for more than a decade. Now retired from basketball, he\u2019s gone back to his roots to help revitalize the Minneapolis neighborhood where he grew up.<\/em><\/p>\n

November 3, 1999. The Los Angeles Lakers are debuting in their brand new home, the Staples Center, with an unveiling ceremony followed by a game against the Vancouver Grizzlies. A crowd of 20,000 fans is packed inside, waiting for NBA stars Kobe Bryant or Shaquille O\u2019Neal to make opening remarks.<\/p>\n

But instead, the Lakers players decide to encourage their newest rookie to address the crowd. The lights go down, and all becomes still. In less than 30 seconds, it\u2019s go time.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, guys, don\u2019t make me do this! I don\u2019t know what to do,\u201d whispers a 22-year-old George<\/span>. But his pleas were met with laughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember shaking in my boots. There are tens of thousands of people here, and I\u2019m going to be out at center court\u2014all eyes on me,\u201d recalls George. \u201cSo I get out there, and it just clicked. It was easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

George credits his education in communication studies from Augsburg for helping to prepare him for that life-changing moment, as well as all of his public speaking engagements from that point forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an NBA player, you have a camera with that big, red light in front of your face every day,\u201d George said. \u201cYou have to know how to conduct yourself and communicate effectively. And all those communication classes I took at Augsburg come into play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"George
George played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1999 to 2006. In 2006, he signed with the Dallas Mavericks and played in Texas until 2009. He then joined the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, California, in 2009 until his retirement in 2010.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From 10,000 lakes to the Los Angeles Lakers<\/h2>\n

After high school, George enrolled at Augsburg assuming he would play basketball for the Auggies, earn a degree, and find a job in business. But his \u201choop dreams\u201d became a reality pretty early on in his Augsburg career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I recruited Devean, he was about 6’2″ and 170 pounds,\u201d said former Augsburg basketball coach Brian Ammann \u201985<\/span><\/strong>. \u201cFortunately for Devean, he grew about five inches and put on 50 pounds by his sophomore year. And his hard work paid off in big ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

George was the first NCAA Division III player ever selected in the first round of the NBA Draft. He was the 23rd overall pick in 1999, chosen by the Los Angeles Lakers\u2014one of the most storied franchises in NBA history.<\/p>\n

George is now retired from the NBA after playing 11 seasons and becoming only the seventh player in history to win a league championship in each of his first three seasons. He has since found a successful career in real estate development and a passion for giving back.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Devean-3\"<\/a>Building a firm foundation<\/h2>\n

George was raised by devoted, hardworking parents in the Willard-Hay neighborhood of north Minneapolis and still calls the Twin Cities home\u2009\u2014\u2009a place he loves for its friendly people and four seasons. His current work focuses on helping to improve his childhood community.<\/p>\n

After George joined the NBA, he started volunteering his time in schools and after-school programs. He noticed many of the children he visited didn\u2019t have stable housing, which significantly affected their security and education.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I decided helping kids and families would be the foundation of what I do,\u201d said George, who has two young sons. He founded Building Blocks, a nonprofit organization committed to providing quality housing, community development, and programming for youth and families.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t have stable housing, you\u2019re not going to care about schooling, safety, or eating healthy. If we get those families into stable housing, then they can focus on those other things,\u201d George said.<\/p>\n

A slam dunk<\/h2>\n

George\u2019s first affordable housing project opened this spring\u2014The Commons at Penn in north Minneapolis, an income-restricted, 47-unit workforce apartment building that also includes an on-site health and wellness facility, an after-school program, a fitness center, a toddler playground, and a grocery store.<\/p>\n

Long-term, George would like to help create a more family-friendly community in north Minneapolis\u2014a community that provides greater amenities for its residents. So far, The Commons at Penn has been a successful addition to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The] Commons at Penn achieves multiple city goals: creating new, high-quality, affordable housing options [and] increased residential density along a key commercial and transit corridor, and bringing in commercial activity and services,\u201d said Andrea Brennan, director of Housing Policy and Development for the City of Minneapolis. \u201cThis project sets us on a promising course to continue development at this important north Minneapolis node.\u201d<\/p>\n

George is planning phase two of The Commons at Penn, which will go up right across the street from the existing mixed-use building. He also is developing housing complexes in South Carolina and Louisiana, and has been contacted by fellow professional athletes who would like to see a change in the neighborhoods where they were raised.<\/p>\n

\"Workforce
Workforce housing offers reduced rent to people who are gainfully employed (and don\u2019t qualify as low-income), yet still struggle to afford market-rate housing. It\u2019s explained by the Urban Land Institute as housing that is \u201caffordable to families earning 60 to 100 percent of area median income.\u201d Workforce housing commonly is targeted for essential workers in a community, such as police officers, firefighters, teachers, social workers, and nurses.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Investing in our future<\/h2>\n

In addition to literally helping build a solid foundation for families through stable housing, George also helps build a strong foundation for young people through mentorship programs like Read to Achieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids think that [NBA players] are not human beings because we know how to play basketball,\u201d said George. \u201cIf I can tell a kid to go to school and not to do drugs, and just because I can play basketball he\u2019ll listen to me, I\u2019m going to try to use that to my advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

George is also busy instilling the values of compassion and service in his own two sons, ages 7 and 4. For starters, they learn to share by donating their toys to kids who otherwise wouldn\u2019t have any.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re still young, but I started teaching my boys early on a way of giving and understanding. I explain to them that this [lifestyle] isn\u2019t normal; they\u2019re in a blessed situation,\u201d George said. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to achieve a lot of things. But I know I\u2019ve had a lot of help along the way.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Devean George \u201999 was the first NCAA Division III player ever selected in the first round of the NBA Draft\u2014and he played professionally for more than a decade. Now retired from basketball, he\u2019s gone back to his roots to help revitalize the Minneapolis neighborhood where he grew up. November 3, 1999. The Los Angeles <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":7189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[81],"class_list":["post-7067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-summer-2016"],"wps_subtitle":"Three-time NBA champion Devean George \u201999 rebuilds community","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7067"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12333,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7067\/revisions\/12333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}