Oklahoma State's Mike Boynton and Big 12 Coaches Celebrate Hoops, Give Back at Rucker Park
Last week at the Big 12 Football Media Days you could tell that Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark was highly anticipating being back in New York and sharing the Big 12 with the young people at famed Rucker Park in New York and the heart of Brooklyn. Yormark will tell you his time as CEO of Brooklyn Sports Entertainment overseeing the Nets was intrumental in his career. The Big 12 brought some of it’s best basketball coaches, both men and women to the most famous public hoops courts in the world on July 18. That included one coach that could appreciate the impact they could have on the young people in that area. Oklahoma State basketball head coach Mike Boynton grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy) neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Boynton heading into his seventh season as head coach at Oklahoma State played basketball on New York City playgrounds growing up including Rucker Park. His upbringing and love of basketball along withhis ability sent him on to South Carolina to play college basketball. He knows what a little inspiration can do for a youngster.
Boynton along with Baylor head coach Scott Drew, TCU head coach Jamie Dixon, BYU‘s Mark Pope, Cincinnati‘s Wes Miller, and Kansas State‘s Jerome Tang all took part in the clinic and teaching as they were coaching different drills and spending time in with the youngster. There seemed to be 30-40 youngsters that took part in the event. Women’s coaches form the Big 12 like Amber Whiting from BYU, Katrina Merriweather from Cincinnati, Ron Hughey from Houston, Kansas State’s and Texas Tech head coach Krista Gerlich were involved as well.
“I enjoyed the opportunity to connect our league with the city I grew to love the game in,” Boynton text to Pokes Report. “The energy that New York City brings for basketball is unmatched and I thought it was a great idea by Commissioner Yormark to create some Big 12 buzz in the mecca of the sport.”
The kids also got a huge surprise as one of their own and an example, like Boynton, of what dreams can turn into was there as well. Former K-State standout Markis Nowell showed up to share with the kids.
The Big 12 supplied everything from the coaches to the shirts to the basketballs. It was a great day and in the end it was close who enjoyed and gained more from the experience, the coaches and players or the kids they came to teach.
“I hope the kids enjoyed themselves and were able to leave a little more inspired because of our presence,” Boyton added.
Congratulations to the Big 12 for a project that should become a tradition and will benefit a lot of youngsters.