By T. Scott Boatright
It takes a lot to build a championship team.
And it all starts with strong roots.
Justin Holiday, a guard last season for the Denver Nuggets who won an NBA championship as a member of the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors, has also delivered many other winning performances as a champion for the Boys & Girls Clubs of North Louisiana.
And on Saturday, Holiday was in Ruston to conduct the eighth annual Justin Holiday camp with Boys & Girls Clubs of North Louisiana Director Eldonta Osbourne saying it was the biggest camp ever.
Holiday lived in Ruston from 1995-99, when he first crossed paths with the local Boys and Girls Club.
“I actually didn’t go to the Boys and Girls Club here, but my wife (Shekinah Siegmund, daughter of Ruston City Councilman Bruce Siegmund) did,” Holiday said. “I was part of the Boys and Girls Club in Pasadena (California, where Holiday spent much of his youth). That is where I first really got to know and understand the importance of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.”
But it was in Ruston where Holiday first crossed paths with Boys & Girls Clubs of North Louisiana board member Lucius McGehee.
“When (the Holiday family) moved to Ruston in 1995, they started attending the same church my family did and we became best friends,” McGehee said. “Their father, Shawn, and I played a lot of pick-up basketball together. So, when (Shawn) would come play, his sons Justin and Jrue (who just won his second NBA title as a guard for the Boston Celtics) would come with him. They were like 7, 8, 9 years old.
“I can still remember being at Bobby James Gym, getting on a fast break, and those two — Justin and Jrue — playing on the other end and yelling at them to get out of the way so that we could finish our fast break. And now they are both NBA champions. And now Jrue’s the first player to win NBA championships for two different teams the first season he was on those teams.”
McGehee said it was evident early on that the Holidays were special, both on the court and off.
“The way their parents raised them and brought them up, exposing them to a number of different sports, taught them to want to be successful in everything they did,” McGehee said. “But, following in the footsteps of both parents, they always wanted to play basketball.”
Shawn Holiday and his wife Toya both played basketball at Arizona State University.
McGehee said the Holiday Basketball Camps have been a boon for the Boys & Girls Clubs of North Louisiana.
“The thing about Justin having these roots here, with the Siegmund family, our family and the community, makes him realize what his doing this means,” McGehee said. “Shawn worked for Franke here for a while, so there is a strong connection he and Justin both have here. Shekinah and Justin were both Boys and Girls Club kids, so I made a request to see if this was something he might be interested in, and here we are today, raising $170,000 today.
“Justin’s youngest brother Aaron (who was a guard this past season for the NBA’s Houston Rockets) is here to help with the camp, and Aaron is the only of the Holiday kids who was born in Ruston. It is a very sweet, loving family that we’re pretty proud of. Not only does Justin not charge for being here, but he also contributes money to the Boys and Girls Club. He cares that much.”
Holiday said championing the Boys & Girls Clubs of North Louisiana is something easy for him.
“I didn’t start going to the Boys and Girls Club until I was older, but my wife was a part of the program here,” Holiday said. “So, Ruston’s always been a special place for me, and I love doing this here.
“Seeing the kids that keep coming back makes me feel I’m doing something right — something good. We have more volunteers than ever before, so this is something I’m very thankful for. Small places don’t always offer – cannot always offer – opportunities like this where an NBA can give that. I’ve been blessed with a great family. I’ve been blessed to be able to live my dream and play in the NBA. I’ve been blessed with this opportunity to give back to a community that I lived in while growing up. Those are some big blessings I must take advantage of.”
Osborne knows the Boys & Girls Clubs of North Louisiana has also been blessed by the Holiday Basketball Camp.
“I think for these kids to see someone who grew up in this community and did a lot of the things these kids are doing when they were their age and are now successful not only athletically but in their professional lives, is huge for the kids attending these camps,” Osborne said. “It tells these kids the same thing is possible for them, and that is what I love about it.
“These volunteers are here because this is something people did for them at some point in their lives. So, they know how important this is. This is just something where everybody wins.”
