DeJuan Blair: Answering The Call http://0rz.tw/3iw01 by Ken Rodriguez, spurs.com exclusive DeJuan Blair: Answering The Call DeJuan Blair: 响‧应 A community is calling Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair. A community that mourned the slaying of his best friend. A community that watched asbestos-laden plaster shut down his high school. A community that is losing people and jobs and historical landmarks. DeJuan, will you come back and help? 部落呼唤着马刺新人Blair；部落需要你! DeJuan，你要回来帮助我们吗? There's no need to ask, really. Blair remains so emotionally connected to the Hill District in Pittsburgh it's as if he never left. His college basketball coach saw him at a University of Pittsburgh football game in September. Friends saw him back in the 'hood over the summer. Blair says he's planning a fundraiser in The Hill next year. 不必说了，真的。Blair仍是揪甘心地心系匹兹堡 Hill District，就好似他从未离 开一样。他的大学教练在9月时看到他在匹大的美足比赛。在暑假期间亲朋好友们看到 他回到这里。Blair说他计画明年暑假要在 Hill District举办慈善扑克牌大会。 Blair may have left The Hill when he signed to play in San Antonio. But The Hill never left him. "I want to give something back," he says, "and make a difference." Blair或许是到圣安东尼奥打球而离开了 Hill District，但他却从未忘了 Hill District。「我想要回馈乡里」他说，「带点改变」 The Hill gave Blair a childhood, a hoop and a dream. It gave him lots of friends and a future. It gave him a broken heart. Hill District给了Blair童年、篮球及梦想。它给了他许多朋友以及未来。它让他心 碎。 He remembers the phone call like it was yesterday. It startled him awake at 4 a.m. in Florida, where he was competing in an AAU tournament. His best friend, Antonio Hampton, had been fatally shot at a party. 往事历历，如同昨日发生一般。当他在佛罗里达参加全美业余体育运动联合会时，这 个噩梦於凌晨4点惊醒了他: 他最好的朋友Antonio Hampton不幸在一次派对中被枪杀。 "I was shocked," Blair recalls. "I cried all night. I cried all day." 「我很震惊」Blair回忆，「我哭了整夜。我哭了整天」 Hampton and Blair grew up together, a couple of houses apart, like brothers. They were inseparable until the shooting. "If he was alive," Blair says, "he'd living with me right now." Hampton与Blair一同长大，除了住的房子不同外，就像兄弟一样。他们形影不离， 直到那个事件发生。「假使他活着」Blair说，「他现在会与我住在一起」 The Hill was once a thriving community of culture, a gathering place for artists, writers and jazz musicians. Today it's an urban patchwork of public housing projects, vacant homes and shuttered businesses. The decay breeds crime, violence, drugs. Television writer and producer Steven Bochco based the police serial drama, "Hill Street Blues," on the neighborhood. Every episode contained a warning at police roll call: "Hey, let's be careful out there." Hill District昔日曾是个人文荟萃的社区，汇聚了许多艺术家、作家以及爵士乐家。 时至今日，它充斥着林立不齐的国民住宅、空屋以及歇业的商家。社区的衰败滋长出犯 罪、暴力，以及毒品。影视作家暨制作人Steven Bochco据此制作的治安连续剧 — Hill Street Blues — 於邻近地区播出。每一集都夹带着警告:「嘿! 在那边要小心点儿啊 」 Bochco included that line for a reason. "As far as tough neighborhoods go, it's the toughest in Pittsburgh," says University of Pittsburgh basketball coach Jamie Dixon. Bochco的影集并非空穴来风。「就这附近周遭的问题社区而言，此处是匹兹堡之最」 匹大篮球教练Jamie Dixon说。 The Hill claimed Blair's best friend and closed his school. It also provided inspiration. Before he arrived at the University of Pittsburgh -- just 600 yards away from his home -- Blair began lifting his community. As a senior, he led Schenley High to the state championship. He announced his decision to attend Pittsburgh at a recreation center in The Hill. After his first season at Pitt, Blair became larger than life on The Hill. Hill District夺去了Blair最好的朋友，并让他的学校关闭。同时也鼓舞他不断前进。 在他进匹兹堡大学之前 — 距他家仅仅六百码远 — Blair开始鼓舞他的社区。当他4年 级时，他率领Schenley高校得到州冠军。他在Hill District的育乐中心宣布了他要进入 Pittsburgh的决心。在他於匹大第一年之後，Blair成为Hill District的英雄人物。 (片: larger than life) He visited schools, hung out at the rec center and gave motivational speeches. Recalls Dixon, "His freshman year I said, 'Hey DeJuan, you are not going to be here for four years. What I want from you is to impact this city, I want you to be a person of stature because of the things you do beyond your playing career.'" 他拜访了学校，在育乐中心挂上球衣并进行激励人心的演说。Dixon回忆道:「在他新 人年时我说『嘿，DeJuan! 你不会在这儿待个四年。我想藉着你来影响这座城市。我要 你成为一个了不起的人，因为你的所作所为造成的影响会更甚於你的球员生涯』」 Blair took the charge seriously, so seriously he often showed up at schools without telling officials at Pittsburgh who arrange such events. Blair将此谨记於心，因此他常在未告知匹大安排活动人员们的情况下，正经地出席 参加学校所举办的活动。 "He'd go out and speak to a high school on his own," says Pittsburgh media relations director Greg Hotchkiss. "He'd go out and do community service on his own. 「他已步出校门并自行到高中演说」匹大媒体公关主任Greg Hotchkiss说，「他已 步出匹大并自行从事社区服务」 You'll see DeJuan reaching out to the San Antonio community and you'll love him there. He's a unique individual. We really enjoyed him here." 你将看到DeJuan深入到圣安东尼奥社区，而你将会喜欢上他。他是个独特的家伙。 我们十分高兴他来到这里。 Blair, it seems, will fit nicely into an organization with a history of outreach. Since 1988, The Spurs Foundation has donated more than $14 million to area charities. Every year, the Spurs family makes more than 1,000 community appearances. In 2003, the NBA renamed its Community Assist Award after Hall of Famer David Robinson, who spent $9 million to build a private school on the East Side. 看来Blair将很适合延续这个组织的历史传承。自1988年以来，马刺基金会捐赠了超 过一千四百万美元到地方上的慈善机构。每年马刺成员们造访了一千多个社区。在2003 年，NBA的社区援助奖重新以名人堂球星David Robinson命名之 — 在他花了九百万美 元在东区兴建私立学校之後。 Back East, Blair touts his neighborhood every chance he gets. In one YouTube video, he poses with his old high school principal. He takes some reporters to the Ammon Community Center. He takes others on a drive across The Hill. 回归到匹兹堡，Blair尽其所能地让他的故乡周遭得以曝光。在某个YouTube的影片 中，他假扮他高中的老校长。他带着记者们来到Ammon Community Center。他带着记 者深入整个 Hill District。 "He's a celebrity, the guy they look up to," says Hotchkiss, who once accompanied Blair and the media on a tour of The Hill. "But I think they respect him because of the person he is. A down-to-earth guy. Not real flashy." 「他是他们尊敬的名人」Hotchkiss说，他曾随同Blair到 Hill District巡礼报导。 「但我认为他们是因为他就是这麽样的人而尊敬他。一个朴实无华的人。而非华而不 实。」 How much influence does Blair wield? Blair有多大的影响力呢? "I've gotten calls from people who want DeJuan to protest for certain rights and causes," Hotchkiss says. "They're building a new hockey arena downtown in an area that borders The Hill District. People don't like the fact that it's getting built there. They organized and wanted DeJuan to show up and protest. He hasn't done much in politics. But he could get into that." 「我听过人们要DeJuan为了某些权利及理由挺身出来抗议」Hotchkiss说，「他们正 在比邻 Hill District的闹区建一座曲棍球馆。人们不愿在那建造球馆。他们组织起来 并要DeJuan出席抗议。他对政治牵涉不多。但他能够参与其中。」 Blair's popularity extends beyond The Hill. He rode in a car with the Pittsburgh Steelers during their Super Bowl parade, an appearance that blindsided the University of Pittsburgh media relations staff. "Oh my goodness, it's Blair," Hotchkiss recalls saying. "The parade stops, the players go to a podium to speak, and there was DeJuan on the stage." Blair的声望遍及 Hill District。在超级盃游行中他与匹兹堡钢铁人队共搭一车， 出奇不意地吓到匹大公关人员。「欧买尬～是Blair耶!」Hotchkiss回忆道。「游行车 队停下来後，球员们到台上演讲，而DeJuan也在那儿。」 Sometimes Blair hangs with Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes. Sometimes Blair hangs with kids from The Hill. He tells them to stay in school, to stay out of trouble, to follow their dreams. 有时Blair与超级盃MVP Santonio Holmes站在一起。有时Blair与 Hill District的 孩子们同在。他告诉他们待在学校，远离麻烦，去追逐他们的梦想。 The kids know Blair isn't the only one to make it out of The Hill. One success story grew up next door to him. Aaron Gray now plays for the New Orleans Hornets. 孩子们知道Blair不是 Hill District出身而有所成就的唯一一人。另一个成功的 故事就在他的近邻之中 — 现在在纽澳良黄蜂队打球的Aaron Gray。 There's a lot of history on The Hill. Lena Horne and George Benson used to perform at a jazz club. Former Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Willie Stargell owned a fried chicken store. Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and others used to play Negro League baseball. Now comes Blair, a young man who wants to lift The Hill as if it were a ball in his hand. Hill District有着许多历史的痕迹。Lena Horne和George Benson过去曾在一家爵士 俱乐部里头演奏。前匹兹堡海盗重炮Willie Stargell拥有一家炸鸡店。Satchel Paige、 Josh Gibson及其他球员们过去曾在黑人联盟中打球过。现在轮到Blair了，一个要让 Hill District如同他手中的篮球一般扬眉吐气的年轻人。 "I want to go back and have an 'Antonio Hampton Day' in May," Blair says. "I want to raise money for kids in the district." 「我要回到这儿，让这里每年五月都会有个"Antonio Hampton日"」Blair说，「我 要在这里为孩子们募款」 Some of those kids are aimless, fatherless, bereft of hope. Blair cannot repair the brokenness. But he can extend a hand, and lift those who are willing, one at a time. 这里的某些孩子们没有目标、没有父亲、没有希望。Blair无法弥补这些破碎的心， 但他可以伸出援助之手，振臂一呼，号召志愿者们，一步一步来做起。 --

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