Rick Carlisle, the head coach of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and a native of Ogdensburg, will be inducted into the Boys and Girls Club of America Alumni Hall of Fame today at the BGCA National Conference in Orlando, Fla.
Carlisle will be part of an induction class that includes World Wrestling Entertaiment’s Austin Watson and Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah; ABC News correspondent John Quinones; professional skateboarder Tony Alva; Marvin McIntyre, founder and CEO of Marvelous Enterprises; ESPN basketball analyst and author Vera Jones; Shayla Cowan, Chief of Staff of Will Packer Productions; and EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
Carlisle, a Lisbon Central School graduate, attended the Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club when it was the Ogdensburg Boys Club on State Street in the late 1960s and early 1970s and fondly recalls hanging out with friends, playing whatever was offered, including ping-pong and floor hockey upstairs, and attending Ogdensburg Free Academy on Saturday evenings for basketball and other activities.
After the OBGC’s current facility opened in 1975, he utilized the gym to work on his craft and for pick-up basketball games. When speaking about his experience at the club after coaching the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA Championship in 2011, Carlisle stated, “I doubt very much whether I could have ever fulfilled the dream of winning an NBA Championship as a player and a coach if the Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club had not been there for me growing up.”
As a player, Carlisle was a member of a Final Four team at the University of Virginia before being drafted by the Boston Celtics and winning an NBA title in 1986.
His NBA head coaching career has included stops in Detroit, Indiana, Dallas and back to Indiana, totalling 896 career wins as a coach, ranking him 14th on the all-time list.
“What a well-deserved honor for Rick and our club having a member inducted into the Boys and Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame. Rick and his family have made such an impact on our club with their donation for the beautiful Preston C. Carlisle Youth Athletic Center for our facility in honor of their dad Preston,” said Ogdensburg Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Tom Luckie, “The new gymnasium will serve youth for years to come. Through the years Rick has supported our club by doing clinics for our basketball leagues, monetary donations and assisting us whenever he can. He has also done a lot for ‘club kids’ across the country in his role as President of the NBA Coaches Association like providing tickets for club members in cities and donations from the Coaches Association to home clubs of coaches, assistant coaches and trainers. His message of ‘Dream Big’ with a picture of him with the NBA Championship trophy, proudly hangs in our game room and our kids get to see it and be inspired by it every day.”
The Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club has been in existence since 1964 serving youth from Ogdensburg and the surrounding communities.
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