ANAHEIM, Calif.–A man who has become nearly as famous for his works in education and the community as for his accomplishments in the NBA has two words of advice for credit unions: plant seeds.
Seeds must be planted to grow into the kinds of initiatives that make differences in people’s lives and the communities in which they live, according to David Robinson, the NBA Hall of Famer who won two championships and a pair of Olympic medals during his career and who was named one of the Top 50 Players in NBA History following his playing days with the San Antonio Spurs.
In passionate remarks before the NACUSO Annual Meeting here, the man nicknamed “the Admiral” for his college career and service in the Navy, spoke of what has guided him in his life and how it has changed, about his career in professional basketball, but especially about his post-NBA efforts in raising hundreds of millions of dollars for schools and education.
“To me, education is a passion,” said the 7’1” Robinson. “I was very fortunate my mother and father made sure I was focused on my education. My father used to make me read the dictionary every day and he used to quiz me every day. I used to ask, ‘Is anyone else doing this, dad? This doesn’t seem fun.’ But it really taught me how important it was to have a solid base in education.”
After graduating from the Naval Academy and being the number-one pick in the NBA draft–Robinson still had two years of service before arriving in San Antonio–Robinson said he soon discovered a reality and world he didn’t know much about, and faced questions for which he didn’t really have good answers.
'It Really Hit Me'
“I would go to high schools around DC and talk to kids and tell them ‘stay in school’ and ‘say no to drugs,’ and it was frustrating, because afterward they would come and say, ‘That’s easy for you to say, you’re going to the NBA and making a lot of money. For us selling drugs is how we make money.’ One kid showed me the money he had stacked in the trunk of his car. It really hit me how hard it is to make it when you are out there in the streets. I wanted to get the message through to those kids to get the education. I wanted to tell them it may seem like the easy path, but look at the damage you are doing to your life, to others’ lives. But I didn’t have anything at that point to offer them, any way to impact their lives.”
Robinson has found the way to impact lives through what are formerly known as the Carver Idea Public Schools, often referred to more informally as the Carver Academies. Robinson has been instrumental in launching what began as a single Christian private school into a multi-state effort with a goal of more than 100,000 students enrolled over the next few years.
According to Robinson, there is a “list of cities begging us to come,” and Florida has even passed laws to make it easier for the charter schools to take root. To open an IDEA Carver school requires between $20 million and $25 million in start-up capital, after which the school is operated using public school funds. Robinson said the schools are typically paid about 80% of what the public school spends per student.
He added the IDEA Carver schools are the fastest-growing charter schools in the country and the third-highest performing, and that students get as much as 78 days of extra learning as compared to a public school.
‘The Lord Spoke to Me’
“I asked myself, how do I get these kids on the right track?” said Robinson. “The Lord really spoke to me and said ‘You can’t change them. But through two words you can change a nation: Plant seeds. Plant seeds in their hearts and heads and let them take control of their destinies.”
Robinson joined with his wife, Valerie, in starting the school and naming it after George Washington Carver, who rose from being a slave to becoming a widely respected botanist, inventor and professor.
“This was a guy who was a slave who had nothing,” said Robinson. “We tell kids you don’t know what struggling is. This guy was in a way-worse situation than you but he made something of it and was never satisfied. Carver said, ‘Start where you are.’ We started with pre-K through second grade and we focused on getting kids prepared for college. Last year, the first class of the original kids who graduated. That was exciting.”
Robinson added, “Excellence has become my expectation. We have to be excellent in order to have the platform to do the things we want to do.”
Promise Made, Promise Kept
In 1990, Robinson promised a group of fifth-graders at San Antonio’s Gates Elementary School that if they graduated from high school he would put $2,000 toward each of their college education costs, which he has since done.
“I get to tell kids the low-hanging fruit isn’t the drugs, it’s the education,” said Robinson.
Since that one initial school, Carver Idea Public Schools has built 20 new charter schools in San Antonio, raised more than $50 million just in that city, and has 12,000 kids on its waiting list. In all, Carver Idea now runs 61 schools across Texas with 40,000 students enrolled. The goal by 2022 is to have 100,000 kids in its schools “and if we meet our goal we will send everyone on to college.”
“You look at a place like Texas, with a large Hispanic population, that is fast growing but also poorest and least educated so for us to put them in a position where they can succeed is vital to all of our futures,” continued Robinson. “What does Texas look like in 30 years if we don’t educate these kids? This year, we’ve raised over $200 million to open new schools. Opening the schools is the easy part, building that and doing it on a larger scale is the challenge.’’
Investment Fund Generates Donations
Some of the fundraising is taking place as a byproduct of Admiral Capital Group, which Robinson launched in conjunction with a contact from Goldman Sachs early in his career. Admiral Capital Group operates two funds of more than $200 million in total and does value-add investments in real estate by purchasing commercial and residential properties, making improvements and reselling them. The company takes 10% of its profits and puts it back into its communities.
Throughout his remarks Robinson, who said he was “saved” in 1991 in his second year in the NBA, touched on his strong Christian faith.
“Faith is an important part of who I am. I have had to use faith as my foundation. It’s how I lead. My style of leadership is to help you grow as a man, as a group. We built that culture in San Antonio in the locker room with guys trusting one another. All of the things guys worry about, playing time or money, went to the wayside, and guys started caring about one another and we became a unit. I noticed no unity when I came to San Antonio. We had to get some uniformity throughout the system. We were able to build that over the past 25 years. It has been a joy to be a part of the team and the group.”
The Q&A
Here are some of the other issues discussed by Robinson, including responding to attendees’ questions:
Q: What’s it like to work with people who are different from you, like Dennis Rodman?
Robinson: There are always people who are different from you. That’s what’s beautiful about our country, we’re different. We have to figure out ways to come together and put people in positions to become successful. Dennis was a freakish athlete, but he could go months without saying a word to anyone in the locker room. People were afraid of him. But I just love people, I loved Dennis. He was like the little kid whose parents never told him no, so he lives in his own little world. I saw him just a s guy who needed encouragement, needed a big brother.
Q: Let’s say you have a young professional who might see you and your success, but they don’t see themselves transitioning to your success. What do you tell them?
Robinson: I tell them what George Washington Carver said: Start where you are. People think there is some sort of straight-line path. There is no straight-line path. Just start working.
That’s why I love working with kids. They are naïve enough to believe you, but they start working and they are shocked when they find out how far they get.
At the Carver schools, we have Advanced Placement for all. We have every single child taking a full course-load of AP courses. By the time they graduate they have taken an average of 10 AP classes. When they come to us they are usually behind. We have to get them on track and then get them believing. Get your feet moving and you will be surprised how fast you can get to where you need to get. The kids know its attainable, they just don’t know how to get there. You just have to light the path for them.
Q: What do you think about paying college athletes?
Robinson: I personally don’t believe in paying college athletes cash. I believe in supporting these kids’ opportunities in education. I do believe the schools should not put the kids in a position where they don’t feel like they belong. Mentally, many kids don’t feel like they belong at a Vanderbilt or a Harvard or a Stanford. So, a big part of it is getting them to believe they do belong. It’s embarrassing when you can’t buy the things other kids can, and can’t go to a football game.
I think the narrative has been wrong. That education is so valuable to those kids if the schools take it seriously. We know that if you get your degree over your lifetime you will make a million dollars more. Coming to college opens up worlds they would have never seen.
(Robinson noted one survey found 72% of Division I basketball players thought they were going to be professionals, and 52% of Division II players expressed the same opinion. “There is a mass delusion out there. The opportunity is the education.”
Q: How can you change a community?
Robinson: You have to seem sincere about it. Anyone can say anything. We have to discern who’s real and who’s not. What have you actually done? Do you have any actual experience? What has happened around you that tells me you are actually someone I should listen to? With social media, everyone’s talking. Who cares? Who should I listen to, because a lot of this is noise? A community is built by caring and the things you do to back up what you say.