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South Bend Native, Riley high school alumni and NBA star Blake Wesley made a couple of stops in South Bend on Friday. The South Bend Fire Department received the special visitor from the NBA player on Friday afternoon.
From Notre Dame to San Antonio, NBA star Blake Wesley returned back home to his roots in South Bend. Wesley hosted a free basketball youth clinic at his alma mater Riley High School. Yesterday, he coached over two hundred kids teaching them everything from nutrition, endurance, ballhandling, shooting and footwork skills. “I’ve been talking about hosting a camp even before I got to the NBA. I’m always going to give back to the community because I was once in their shoes. It's nice to give them knowledge,” Wesley said.
Connaughton has been constructing a second profession in actual property via his improvement firm, Seashore Home LLC, which is a household affair. His father, Len, is the vp, and Joe Stanton, a childhood good friend, is the director of undertaking administration. The corporate owns 4 properties and bought two others in Portland, Ore., the place Connaughton spent three seasons taking part in for the Path Blazers. Seashore Home additionally owns three properties and bought one other in South Bend, Ind., the place Connaughton was a two-sport star at Notre Dame. And in Milwaukee, he has two initiatives in the works, together with the house constructing close to the enviornment. Connaughton bought the property, which had been vacant for months, for $325,000, and he expects the rebuild to price a further $800,000.
To secure his financial future, he was careful with his money, but also started investing in real estate by creating Beach House LLC with his father and childhood friend Joseph Stanton. They went to work with small projects in Portland, as well as South Bend, Ind., where Connaughton attended the University of Notre Dame. They eventually moved onto bigger projects as Connaughton tried to use the connections he has made as an NBA player to their fullest potential. “When you’re in the NBA, that’s the greatest time that people want to meet you, they want to be around you, they want to know who you are,” Connaughton said. “For me, I’ve used that to get into rooms and develop relationships with millionaires and billionaires. I’m in rooms I should have no business being in and I use those people as mentors. I told these guys, ‘Look, everybody that sits courtside at NBA games wanted to be professional athletes at one point in time.’ As pro athletes, we make a ton of money, but we are not the wealthiest people in the world.”
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Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant will not follow his brother to the NBA draft and intends to return to South Bend. The 6-foot-4 Grant averaged 19 points in 12 games last season before withdrawing from school for an "academic matter" in late-December. "Jerian is not in the NBA draft," Irish coach Mike Brey told ESPN.com. "He's returning to Notre Dame in June for summer school and we look forward to having him next season." Grant's brother, Syracuse sophomore forward Jerami Grant, declared for the draft earlier in the month. Grant's father is former NBA big man Harvey Grant.
Mike McGraw: Kirk Hinrich (groin) called day-to-day. Can't imagine he'll play in Friday's preseason finale in South Bend. It would be pointless.
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