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Scottie Pippen, Common Share Secrets of Success With Chicago Kids

By Sam Cholke | August 15, 2014 6:14pm | Updated on August 18, 2014 8:28am

SOUTH SHORE — Former Bulls star Scottie Pippen, rapper Common and others came down to South Shore Friday to equip kids with the tools they used to achieve greatness.

“I always dreamed of playing the NBA, but along the way, the road got a little cloudy,” said Pippen, the former Chicago Bulls forward and U.S. Olympic team member.

Pippen told about 500 kids at the South Shore Cultural Center about feeling mired in defeat after not making the Olympic basketball team in college, something he said he thought at the time was a mandatory way station on the way to the NBA.

“Somehow my dream came back around,” Pippen said.

By the 1990s when Pippen was chasing the first of three NBA championships with the Bulls, the United States team was dropping college players in favor of professionals. He went on to win a gold medal in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992 and a second in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996.

“Now that I look back at it, it was all part of my journey,” the basketball Hall of Famer said.

The loudest screams came when Common came on stage to tell the kids to push for greatness.

“We came from the struggle and create greatness in everything we do, that’s just who we are,” Common said. “I want you all to stand on my shoulders and go higher than I ever could go.”

Filmmakers Coodie and Chike, who directed Kanye West videos and the “Benji” documentary about Chicago basketball legend Ben Wilson, talked about fighting through fear to make difficult choices in life.

Activist Angela Davis asked the kids to finish the sentence, “I am …,” and to define their own identity.

The event was hosted by Nike, which will make videos of the speakers and the materials available to Chicago Public Schools to use in classrooms.

The event, called Chi-Talk, is part of he World Basketball Festival being held at 63rd Street Beach.
 

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