PEORIA — Shaun Livingston took heart stage Saturday and talked about his household, the affect his late grandfather had on him as a child, and the impression rising up with Guide and Central basketball had on him.
The 36-year-old Peoria native talked a couple of life price celebrating, constructed within the time between approach again when and his induction Saturday into the Better Peoria Sports activities Corridor of Fame.
And one thing else.
“A legacy,” Livingston stated. “This induction tonight is vital to me as a result of it is about constructing a legacy for my children to see, and leaving a path for others to comply with. The time that all of us have is proscribed. Our biggest useful resource is the youthful generations. Hopefully they’ve extra time, extra potential than we have now.
“So that you attempt to present these alternatives for them the place you’ll be able to. And hopefully, present some inspiration and a few hope they’ll do nice issues themselves.”
Associated:NBA’s Shaun Livingston leads Better Peoria Sports activities Corridor of Fame class for 2021
The three-time NBA champion and Peoria Excessive College graduate was the headliner on the GPSHOF induction banquet on the Peoria Civic Middle ballroom.
He was joined by fellow inductees Jerry Rashid, Eric “Sheik” Monti, Rick LeHew, Zach Glavash, Jeff Simons and Fred Miller. Workforce inductees included 1975 Princeville soccer, 1983 Washington soccer and 1985 Limestone softball.
Additionally honored had been Shawn Stever (Neve Harms Award for Meritorious Service to Sports activities), Lauren Doerr (Feminine Athlete of the Yr), Seth Glatz (Male Athlete of the Yr), Lindsey Lox (Feminine Coach of the Yr) and Brett Charlton (Male Coach of the Yr).
“It is about household and all of the individuals right here tonight, it will likely be enjoyable,” Livingston stated forward of a banquet during which he drew a standing ovation from about 400 spectators. “For me, being inducted is extra about my household, individuals who helped me get right here in my journey. We do not all the time assume this fashion, however no one will get to the place they’re at by themselves. It is simply unimaginable. It is a particular night time for my household, for all my family members.”
Remembering his late grandfather
Livingston was there along with his spouse, Joanna, and his youngsters Tyson, 5, and Jonah, 3. His father, Reggie, was readily available, too.
His grandfather, Frank, died in December, however left an enduring impression on Livingston.
“My grandfather was a Marine and the pillar of our household,” Livingston stated. “Someone who was rock strong that I might depend on. He stored me grounded. He was strong and unbiased, which is difficult to do.
“He all the time had these one-liners he’d take from individuals he examine — he preferred to learn rather a lot — and he had one that actually caught with me: ‘You do not know what you do not know.’
“The neatest individuals I’ve met perceive that.”
Frank Livingston was one thing else, too: Trustworthy along with his grandson, and unfazed by his rising success and fame.
“He was there to assist me, by no means bought caught up within the hype and all of the glory and fame … the lights,” Livingston stated. “He handled me with respect and I all the time revered him as a result of he simply by no means bought caught up within the whirlwind. I might depend on him to be trustworthy and provides me the reality.
“His legacy and one-liners and our talks and conversations proceed to stay on, his ideas stay on with me and I will do the identical to instill them with my children.”
Extra protection:Why NBA champion and Peoria native Shaun Livingston cherishes his annual basketball camp
The expansion of a champion
Livingston, in the meantime, knew at a younger age what path he needed to comply with. He drew inspiration and steering from coaches, academics and teammates. He sang within the Trinity Lutheran Church choir, performed basketball pick-up video games with the church elders and inherited a cross from the church’s Rev. Gerald Freudenburg after his demise.
And he was riveted by Guide and Central basketball groups.
“In my dad’s period that they had some hoopers, Tony Wysinger, a playground legend named GG, Kenny Drummond who they referred to as ‘The Fox,’ ” Livingston stated. “In my period, Howard Nathan, extensively thought of the best participant to come back out of Peoria, if not the best and somebody all of us appeared as much as. Willie Coleman, Ivan Watson, Frank Williams, Sergio McClain, AJ Guyton, Mike Hughes, Chris Reynolds, all these nice Central and Guide groups and the pleasure and coronary heart and energy that they had, the talent.
“These had been legacy groups, they rubbed off on a technology after them. They actually created a fertile basketball floor for Peoria.
“And it drew me into the sport.”
Livingston went on star at Peoria Excessive College, and went proper to the NBA because the fourth total choose of the Los Angeles Clippers in 2004. He performed 833 NBA video games over elements of 14 seasons, overcame a brutal knee damage, and was a part of the Golden State Warriors championships in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
The generosity of a champion
All of the whereas, Livingston by no means forgot the place he got here from.
He shaped the Shaun Livingston Basis, a non-profit group he says is his ardour.
He supplied the load room at his highschool alma mater and donated $1 million to a capital fund that constructed Concordia’s fitness center.
He gives free basketball camps to over 300 youth within the space each summer time. He additionally awards scholarships for much less privileged minority college students to attend Concordia, the place he went to high school.
Livingston has teamed with the Peoria African-American Police League to sponsor a bicycle journey to encourage optimistic police interplay. He gives Thanksgiving meals and Christmas presents to deserving households.
“I inform individuals in all places I am going how proud Peorians are of what they accomplish right here and supply for his or her households,” Livingston stated. “Taking part in on the Warriors, being within the NBA on the whole, I all the time preferred coming again residence and letting children see me, method me, look me within the eyes and have a dialog. It feels extra actual. It is about offering a platform for them from which they’ll obtain nice issues.
“It is vital. It means rather a lot. It is much less about me and extra about them. I am so honored to enter this Corridor of Fame. However it’s a chance for me to thank everybody and acknowledge them. I really feel like one of many fortunate ones to have the ability to determine it is about service to others.
“That is the largest impression we are able to have.”
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports activities columnist, and covers Bradley males’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports activities column for pjstar.com. Attain him at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Observe him on Twitter @icetimecleve.