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What stands out most in Gordon’s already one-of-a-kind warehouse gym home are the celebrity icons from different genres. Many are no longer with us. Gordon chose each specifically for daily motivation. A young Obama smoking marijuana. Einstein. Athletes including Serena Williams, Muhammad Ali, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Tony Hawk, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Pele, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Jackie Robinson. Dancer Josephine Baker. Actor and martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Musicians Billie Holliday, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Miles Davis, Bob Marley, Jimmy Hendrix, B.B. King, Notorious B.I.G., Nipsey Hussle, Michael Jackson and Mac Miller. Olympic activists John Carlos and Tommie Smith. Comedian Richard Pryor. Actor Heath Ledger. Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Civil rights activist and Muslim minister Malcolm X. Filmmaker Spike Lee. Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Antiapartheid activist Nelson Mandela. Legendary sports journalist Stuart Scott. Poet Maya Angelou. “I got everybody there from Muhammad Ali to Bruce Lee,” Aaron Gordon said. “You have greatness looking at you. You can’t be [joking around]. It makes you want to not bulls—.”
You saw him when you woke up in the morning before going to work or school. You saw him right before you went to bed. There were some days when you saw him more than your actual family members and friends if you really loved sports that much. This is how many people came to experience the phenomenon who was Stuart Scott. Here was this Black man whose appearance was televised to millions of people who watched him at home or elsewhere. He was front and center, stationed at an anchor’s desk wearing a dark suit or rocking a tan suit like few could at that time.
“As a young kid, it was the impact he had on people. When we did get cable, I’d watch him on a semi-daily basis. That is when I said, ‘I want to do this. I want to be him,'” Seattle Kraken radio play-by-play broadcaster Everett Fitzhugh said. “It was the way he carried himself. Even the way he would sit on the desk with his crisscrossed hands and a pen sticking out. I remember being in school trying to do that same thing. I wanted to be Stuart Scott. I am not even bullshitting. I didn’t know how I was going to even be a broadcaster or how I was going to be on ESPN. But I knew I wanted to go work with Stuart Scott and that I wanted to be Stuart Scott.”
For many, Scott was more than catchphrases or someone who could bring them closer to the game from the comfort of home. He was a trailblazer who changed the way Black people were viewed in sports journalism while also proving that there could be something new about, well, the news. Scott was 49 when he died in 2015 following a bout with cancer, an illness he lived with for years. His impact, however, lives on — whether it’s through those who saw him as a beacon or those who came before him who’d never seen anyone or anything quite like him.
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He mentioned how Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, were there on the stage celebrating the franchise's 16th and last championship, recalled that Lakers owner Jerry Buss, NBA commissioner David Stern, Lakers assistant coach Frank Hamblen and ESPN’s Stuart Scott were all there. All of them now dead. “I got emotional too, especially towards the end and hearing Kobe speak when he got the MVP trophy and how he acknowledged me,” Gasol recalled. “With him being gone, I got really emotional. It just really meant a lot to me. It’s one of those things with time that you learn to appreciate things and value things more, what you have gone through, what you have achieved, people you have had in your life, people you have shared special things with.”
Gasol paused and collected his thoughts, then recalled the moment the Lakers were on the podium inside Staples Center receiving the championship trophy. He talked about how Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, were there on the stage celebrating the title, how Lakers owner Jerry Buss, NBA Commissioner David Stern, Lakers assistant coach Frank Hamblen and ESPN’s Stuart Scott were also there on that magical night. Gasol sighed, then slowly remarked that they had all died. “All those people … now 10 years later they are not here with us,” Gasol said during an interview with The Times. “Obviously Kobe and Gigi, which breaks my heart every time I think about it, and seeing Vanessa and the kids. It was a lot. That’s why I got emotional and I think about it. I still do.”
Ernie Johnson sure is a class act. On Tuesday night at the Sports Emmys, the TNT host gave his award for 'Best Studio Host' to the daughters of late ESPN anchor Stuart Scott, who lost his battle with cancer in January. TNT's Johnson knows a thing or two about fighting cancer. In 2006, he took a leave of absence during his battle with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He later returned as host of the Emmy-winning show "NBA on TNT" opposite Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.
San Antonio Spurs star Danny Green has been given the green light to rock a special pair of sneakers dedicated to Stuart Scott for TONIGHT'S GAME ... the NBA tells TMZ Sports. Green had approached custom shoe designer Jake Danklefs and ordered up a special pair to pay tribute to his fellow North Carolina Tar Heel ... and was only waiting tor permission from the league.
Well, we spoke with Tim Frank -- Senior V.P. of Communications for the NBA -- and asked if everything was a go for tonight and here's what Tim said: "He is ... Danny was asked and given permission to wear them for one game. Unlike some reports you might have read, he was never told 'No.'"
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Danny Green’s tribute to Stuart Scott, the popular ESPN anchor who died on Jan. 14 after a lengthy battle with cancer, likely will come in Thursday’s nationally televised game at Chicago. Green was well acquainted with Scott, a fellow North Carolina graduate and dedicated Tar Heels supporter.
Charlie Villanueva: PS—Wanna say RIP Stuart Scott. I got a few chances to meet the man and he was full of life and passion. My brother, Rob C., actually worked with him at ESPN and he told me that the night I scored 48 points my rookie year Stu said, “Your brother can’t get 2 more? FIFTY sounds better on TV”. LOL. One of my close friends is also close with Stu and all he says is how genuine and golden the man was. RIP my man. Your legacy in sports and your fight will live forever, Boo-yah!
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