Anthony Davis Gives Back to His High School, Has Jersey Retired

The New Orleans Pelicans star made an appearance in Chicago last week to help unveil the new basketball court at his former high school

When you think about it, Anthony Davis had all of the odds stacked against him in his rise to basketball fame. But none of those odds are more glaring than the fact that a kid who won a National Championship at Kentucky, a gold medal with Team USA and was the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, went to a high school that didn’t even have its own basketball court.

But the New Orleans Pelicans superstar, along with a little help from Boost Mobile, gave back to the students of the Perspectives Charter Schools-Joselin campus where Davis attended since he was in the sixth grade, when he helped unveil the new “Anthony Davis Court” during a ceremony at the school last Friday.

“It meant a lot to come back to my community and my school to dedicate the court to them, and then to have them retire my jersey,” Davis told Outside Shot during an afternoon promotional appearance. "It was a humbling experience."

The NBA star was on hand to take pictures, sign autographs and promote Boost Mobile’s NBA Game Time app that basketball fans will be able to use to follow their favorite teams and players for the upcoming 2013-14 NBA season.

“The basketball court gives the kids at Perspectives an opportunity to play basketball, something that I didn’t have,” Davis explained. “It’s a nice court and that’s the best thing about it, knowing that I didn’t have that. It felt good to give something like that back to my school.”

And despite the surprise Davis had for the kids at Perspectives in the form of a new court, the school had a surprise for him as well. As a result of all that he has accomplished in his basketball career thus far, Perspectives honored him by retiring his No. 23 jersey for good.

“It’s crazy. I never thought that something like that would happen to me,” Davis said. “It really surprised me because I never imagined that a day in my life. That’s a cool thing to know that every time I walk in Perspectives, I’m going to see my jersey up there.” 

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