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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2009 > June > 23 > Entry
Daequan Cook : “It’s important to give back to your community”
As his basketball talents took him from one glorious pinnacle to the next — from state title at Dunbar High to Ohio State to a first round pick in the NBA — Daequan Cook said his mom continually reminded him of one thing:
“Don’t forget where you came from. It’s important to give back to your community and when that moment comes, step up.”
Sad as it was, that moment came when he heard that DaQuan Sales — a 12-year old Dayton boy who idolized him, a kid who used to pretend he was Cook every time he played basketball and continually asked his aunt if he looked like his hero — was killed by a car while riding his bicycle, June 13.
“You always get a sign from somewhere and I felt this was my sign,” said Cook, who already was returning to Dayton for his youth camp which opened Monday and continues today at Dunbar — a camp DaQuan had signed up for and according to his 76-year-old great granddad, Garfield Sales, “had been counting down the days to until that terrible day.”
Cook said he’d help pay for the funeral, would dedicate the annual scholarship he plans to start in Dayton in DaQuan’s name and invited the Sales family to his camp.
Monday DaQuan’s mom, sister, little brother, aunt and his wheelchair-bound great grandfather took him up on the offer and — in as touching of a meeting as you can imagine — Cook spent nearly an hour with them.
“I’ll be up ‘til all hours of the night telling my wife about all that happened,” Garfield said. “Daequan really cared. You could see it in his eyes, in his face. My grandson picked the perfect role model and now I’m in awe just like he was.”
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By margo
June 23, 2009 10:09 AM | Link to this
Excellent story on the front page today, Tom. Cook is a class act.