MACON, Ga. — An NBA great is in town this week to deliver an equally great message to student athletes in Bibb County.
For all the hours that Mike Glenn has spent on the basketball court over the years, he's spent even more time giving back. And that's exactly what brings the former Atlanta Hawk here to Southwest High School and many other Bibb County public schools this week in Macon.
Glenn's book titled My Next Shot Goes In was recently adopted as a learning tool at Bibb County Schools.
Its message: making your shots on and off the court
“I want them to know they can do anything they can be anything,” Glenn said. “And these are some guidelines that a lot of people that have succeeded at the highest level, how they have succeeded, and it can help these students.”
Southwest's student athletes arrived in the school auditorium Tuesday morning with book in hand, ready to pick the brain of an NBA great, and maybe even snag an autograph.
“Any time you're able to write your goals down, see some goals of successful people, you're able to use those as a guide to become successful,” Southwest High School athletic director Joseph Dupree said. “It's very effective and our kids have been talking about it already and they're very excited about it, and just glad to see Mike Glenn.”
“The Stinger” played for the Hawks from 1981 to 1985, when he began his philanthropic efforts. For more than 40 years, his basketball camp for the deaf and hard of hearing is the most successful of its kind. Regardless of ability, the same lessons taught forty years later still apply.
“The message works for anyone,” Glenn said. “It has worked really well for a lot of my deaf students and players. Some that went on to play major college basketball, and referee in the state tournament here in Georgia today, so it has worked, it will work, and it does work. It's about impacting the lives of people so they can have a better life.”
It's also a message that means that much more for a school that has overcome its share of challenges.
“We have so much negativity here and just the aspiration that he brings and just try to get them motivated to do good things in society is just a blessing for us because they deserve it,” Dupree said. “They're just like any other normal kid. And when they see stories like this it's very motivational to them.”
It will be a busy next couple of days for Glenn who will make stops at Central, Rutland, Westside, Howard, and Northeast High Schools to round out his time in Central Georgia.