文章来源： http://newsok.com/thunders-kevin-martin-remains-a-hometown-hero/article/3746197 短网址： http://ppt.cc/IAEI Thunder's Kevin Martin remains a hometown hero 转战雷霆的Martin仍然是家乡的英雄 The basketball coach and the athletic trainer sat in an office at Zanesville High School going through next season's roster. In a central Ohio town where hoops are a big deal, they went kid by kid, talking about positives and negatives. When they got to their wiry sophomore guard, the trainer had an idea. “We ought to make him a manager,” he said. The trainer just wasn't sure the kid who always needed treatment could hack it. Maybe it was the kid's grades or his family or his work ethic, but the coach thought otherwise. Zanesville高中的办公室里，篮球教练跟训练员正在一起讨论下一季的成员名单。 在这个位居俄亥俄州中心的小镇，篮球是一件大事，他们逐一检视孩子们，讨论他们的优 缺点。当时他们需要一个坚韧的高二後卫，教练组有个想法。 「我们应该让他当队长」 教练组其实并不确定这总是需要治疗的孩子能否胜任队长一职。 或许这个孩子的成绩、他的家庭或他为人处事总是相当得体，但教练仍有不同的考量。 Later that summer, the trainer watched the kid stand flat-footed under the basket, jump and dunk a basketball two-handed. “He went from a boy who could barely walk to that,” said Doug Smith, the trainer, telling the story on himself and laughing now a decade-plus later. Kevin Martin made believers out of both men. They weren't the only ones in Zanesville, Ohio. 那个夏天的尾声，教练组才见到这孩子杀至篮下，跳跃并完成双手扣篮。 「他从那个几乎不可能做到（灌篮）的男孩完全蜕变了。」教练组的Doug Smith娓娓道来 这个故事，笑得很开心。 Martin让整个教练组信服。 而他们不是整个俄亥俄州Zanesville小镇唯一信服Martin的人（译注：全镇都是Martin的 粉丝，快让整个OKC也沉醉在你打球的魅力中吧！最重要的是→客场战时带着你的手感哪 ！）。 Long before Martin became the Thunder's first man off the bench and another one of Oklahoma City's good-guy players, he had a network of support in his hometown. The hardworking, blue-collar community about the size of Ardmore sits on the banks of the Muskingum and Licking rivers. It is known more for its pottery than its sports stars. But in Martin, people in Zanesville saw a youngster who was fighting the odds just as hard as they were. “You kind of pull for each other in that town,” he said. Now, Martin is the one doing the pulling. He started giving back to his hometown the minute he had something to give. He's helped when no one was looking and in the most dire of circumstances, and he has no intention to stop. 早在Martin成为雷霆板凳上的第一把交椅前，他就成立了一个家乡的援助网络。那里是个 绝大多数人都辛勤工作，却领着蓝领阶级薪水的小镇，而且当地的陶瓷场远比它的运动明 星还要为人所知。 但在Martin身上，这些身处Zanesville的人们看见一个和他们一样努力，为机会而奋战不 懈的年轻人。 「这个城镇的大家相互扶持」他说。 现在，Martin正在发挥影响力。他开始回馈他的家乡，此时此刻他正在付出。他帮助那些 无人关注、陷入急迫及悲惨环境下的人们，而且没有丝毫停止援助的意思。 Kevin Martin was born and raised in Zanesville. He and his brother, Jonathon, grew up in the same tiny three-bedroom house where their father was born. The family, like most everyone in town, had modest means. Kevin Sr. worked in construction and did landscaping on the weekends. Marilyn worked as a welfare social worker. “We struggled with a lot,” Kevin Sr. said. “We both had jobs, but it wasn't like we were making good money.” *** Martin是土生土长的Zanesville人。他和他的兄弟Jonathon，成长在他父亲出生时就存在 的，那只有小小三个房间的房子。 和镇上大多数的家庭一样，Martin家境普通。Martin爸从事建筑，在周末时兼职景观美化 工作。他的母亲则从事社福工作。 「我们很努力打拼，」Martin爸说，「我们是双薪家庭，但我们赚的钱还是不够」 They still found a way to get the boys involved in sports. Baseball. Football. Basketball. It wasn't long before Kevin started gravitating toward basketball. Because his parents were working, he spent a lot of time down the street at his grandparents' house. They lived just across the street from a park. The basketball courts there became the place Kevin always wanted to go. He had a dream — to be like Mike. Kevin idolized Michael Jordan, plastering his bedroom walls with Jordan posters and pictures, asking for Jordan shirts and shorts and shoes. “Man, look,” his dad would say, “we can't really afford to get you these Jordan shoes all the time.” He'd tell Kevin to save his allowance and his lunch money. Lessons like that stuck with Kevin. “It definitely molded me into a young man who knows you have to sacrifice,” he said of his childhood. Good thing. Basketball has been demanding of Martin Martin的父母还是找到了让他们兄弟俩接触运动的方法，像是棒球、美式足球和篮球。 很快地，Martin就完全被篮球给吸引了。因为父母都要工作，他有很多时间是在祖父母的 家，那里离公园很近。篮球场就变成Martin最想去的地方。 Martin有个梦想—能像Jordan一样。 Martin的偶像是MJ，他的房间贴满了MJ的海报和照片，渴望着MJ的衣服、球裤和球鞋。 Martin爸告诉他：「我们买不起MJ的鞋啊！」 这让Martin开始存零用钱和午餐费（译注：所以才单薄地像竹竿吗？囧）。 Martin在此时上了一课。 「definitely，我在很小的的时候就学会牺牲」Martin在谈论童年生活时这麽说。 很幸运。至少Martin已经怀抱着篮球梦了。 *** Kevin Martin was a toothpick. He weighed less than a hundred pounds as a high school freshman. But after he made that miraculous jump between his sophomore and junior years, he started to emerge as one of Ohio's best prepsters. He was fourth in the voting for Mr. Ohio Basketball as a senior, finishing behind the first sophomore winner in the award's history, LeBron James. Martin曾经像根牙签般瘦弱。 他高一的时候体重不到100磅。但在他高二到高三左右完成奇蹟般的弹跳後，他开始崭露 头角了。到了高四的时候，他更是在俄亥俄州的最佳高中球员票选的第四名，那年的冠军 是历史上以高二的年纪获此殊荣的LBJ。（译注：Martin跟LBJ，多麽让人惊奇的组合， amazing!!!） Still, scholarship offers were limited for the wiry kid who shot 3-pointers from the hip. Western Carolina, Ohio and Buffalo offered scholarships, but almost everyone else wanted him to attend prep school first. His coaches and teachers scratched their heads, unable to understand how so few teams would take a chance on a kid with good test scores, great grades and obvious talent. 尽管Martin的3分球很神，但几乎没有学校愿意提供奖学金。Western Carolina, Ohio和 Buffalo愿意提供奖学金，但几乎每所学校都要求他先就读预备学校（译注：prep school 通常是指私立且高收费，为了进入大学前专办的特种中学）。 他的教练和老师为此相当头痛，无法理解怎麽会仅有如此少数的学校愿意提供给这个成绩 优异、才华出众的孩子奖学金。 His parents and grandparents stayed positive, but they didn't get it either. “Just hang in there, keep your head up, and don't let anyone tell you can't do what you know you can do,” his folks told him. “Keep giving it all you got.” 他的父母和祖父母只能保持积极，但他们也无能为力。 「只要坚持下去，别垂头丧气，别让其他人决定你所能达到的高度」Martin的家人这麽告 诉他。「努力会有回报。」 Kevin chose tiny Western Carolina, and three years later — after averaging more than 22 points and being one of the nation's top scorers every season — he declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft. The Sacramento Kings selected him in the first round. He left for the West Coast, the NBA, the big time, but he didn't forget the place that helped him get there. He didn't forget Zanesville. Martin最後选择就读Western Carolina，而且三年後—场均超过22分，并成为整个联盟顶 尖的得分利器—宣布他将投入NBA选秀。国王队在第一轮挑中了Martin。 他来到了西岸，进入了NBA，这个重大的时候他仍然没有忘记那个帮助他终能进入NBA的家 乡。 他没有忘记Zanesville。 *** Kevin Martin was only a few months into his rookie season when he decided to do an adopt-a-child program back in Zanesville during the holidays. It was only the start. 早在Martin菜鸟球季的时候，他就决定要回馈家乡Zanesville，他在假期间开办了一个儿 童收养方案。 这仅仅是个开始。 Less than a decade later, the fingerprints of his generosity are all over Zanesville. He does summer basketball camps. Gives to the schools. Helps local scholarship funds. Donates shoes and jerseys to local fundraisers. Provides for local groups such as Christ's Table, Eastside Community Ministry and Tools for Schools. He even buys a hog each summer at the county fair and donates it to a local youth center. 不到十年，Martin的善行足迹已经遍及全Zanesville。他举办夏季篮球营。协助当地奖学 金基金会。捐出鞋子和衣物给当地的资金筹募组织。提供当地团体，例如：学校所需的 Christ's Table、Eastside Community Ministry以及各样的工具。 他甚至每年夏天都会在市集买只猪，然後把它捐献给当地的青年中心。 “Everybody in town thinks they're related to him,” said Jeff Moore, one of Martin's high school coaches. “Everybody in this town think they're Kevin Martin's cousin. I don't care if they're white, black, Chinese, whatever — they're related to Kevin. “That's what he means to this community.” 「镇上的每个人都觉得他们和Martin认识，」Jeff Moore，Martin的高中教练这麽说，「 镇上的每个人都觉得他们是Martin的亲戚。无论他们是白人、黑人或是华人，无论是谁— 他们都跟Martin有关。」 「这就是他对於我们小镇的意义」 The past two years around Christmas, Martin has done the Hometown Holiday Giveaway. He asks people to submit a short essay explaining what kind of impact they could have on Zanesville around the holidays if they had a thousand dollars. His favorite entry: a dance troupe of little girls who wanted to brighten the town with their dance. 两年前的耶诞节，Martin举办了Hometown Holiday Giveaway。他让大家提供一个简短提 案，内容是如果他们有一千元的话，这个耶诞节他们想在Zanesville做些什麽活动。 他最喜欢的点子：请一群跳舞的小女孩，用她们的舞蹈点亮整个小镇。 “It was cute,” Martin said. He smiled, then turned serious. “I think it's important to always help people in different situations,” he said. “It doesn't necessarily have to be a bad situation. “I think we forget to really actually care about how somebody's feeling.” 「这真的很可爱」Martin说。 他微笑着，随後认真了起来。 「我认为时时刻刻在不同情况下帮助别人是很重要的，」他说，「并不一定要在很艰难的 时候才伸出援手。」 「我觉得我们很容易忘记要去体谅他人的心情」 *** Kevin was on his way to the gym one spring morning two years ago when he started getting texts from folks in Zanesville. There'd been a bad bus crash. He called his grandma to get the story. 两年前的春天，Martin在前往体育馆的路上，从家乡的亲人那听到了些消息。 发生了一起严重的公车事故。 他立刻打电话给他奶奶询问这件事。 Bus No. 26 had been on its way to a nearby school when it ran off the road and hit a light pole. The impact caused the bus to roll over, and when it did, it killed Kasey King-Thomas. He was only 6. “It was such a tragedy,” Martin said quietly. Kasey was from a family of 10 kids. He was one of five foster kids who had been adopted by Randi and Joe Thomas. Kevin knew he had to help them. 一辆26号公车在送学生上学的路上突然失控撞向了路灯。公车翻覆，而且导致Kasey King-Thomas身亡。 他只有6岁。 「这真是场悲剧。」Martin轻声地说。 Kasey的原生家庭有10个孩子。（大概是因为贫困）其中5个孩子被Randi和Joe Thomas家 领养，Kasey是其中之一。 Martin知道他必须做些什麽帮助他们。 “I just didn't want them to have to worry about any expenses because they took on a lot taking in kids,” he said. “Just trying to let them focus on the other kids and their grieving ... and not worry about the rest.” Kevin paid for all of the funeral expenses and then some. One of Kasey's grandmothers lived in Florida and didn't travel well. Kevin paid for her and a companion to get to Ohio. Kasey's family wanted to let ESPN know about all that this NBA player had done for them. Kevin said thanks but no thanks. 「我只是不想让他们为了钱烦恼，为了养活孩子他们已经付出太多」他说。「我只是想让 他们可以专心照顾其他的孩子，抚平他们的伤口，然後不用担心其他的事情。」 Martin支付了丧礼和其他相关的费用。而Kasey住在Florida的祖母行动不便，Martin则为 她支付了费用聘请一个随行看护，好让Kasey的祖母能到俄亥俄来。 Kasey的家人想让ESPN知道这位NBA球星为他们所做的一切 Martin很感谢，但婉拒了他们的心意。 A week later, Kasey's mom wrote a letter of thanks to the community that appeared in the Zanesville paper. She said a special thank you to Kevin. “Kevin, thank God both of us came from this little piece of the world,” she wrote. “Because of you and a little 6-year-old boy, you both have shown me that a little piece of heaven does exist down here in our community.” Kevin still sends gift cards to the family around the holidays, and they always send him thank yous. Cards. Notes. It's the kind of thing that happens often when he helps someone back home. “I give to them, and they make me feel appreciated,” Kevin said. “You just want to keep on giving.” 一个星期後，Kasey的妈妈写了封感谢信，刊登在Zanesville当地的报纸上。她想向 Martin致上最深的谢意。 「Kevin, thank God both of us came from this little piece of the world （ Martin，感谢上帝让我们共同生活在这个地方）」她写道，「Because of you and a little 6-year-old boy, you both have shown me that a little piece of heaven does exist down here in our community（因为你和这个6岁的小男孩，让我觉得我们生 活的地方就是一小片天堂）」 直到现在Martin都会在特殊节日寄送礼物卡给这个家庭，而他们则会回寄感谢卡。 这样的故事常常发生。 「我帮助他们，而他们让我充满感激，」Martin说，「你只是想继续这麽做。」 *** Kevin Martin isn't just giving back to his hometown. He is giving back to his home. Martin不仅是回馈家乡而已。 他也回馈他的家。 Zanesville is where he lives during the offseason. He doesn't go to the beach. He doesn't hang in a big city. He goes to the place that's always been home. He'll call his dad during the season and tell him that he can't wait to be back there. 休赛季的时候，Martin会回到Zanesville。他不会去海边，也不会在大城市里流连忘返。 他总是回那个永远的家。 在球季中，他常打电话给他的爸爸，告诉爸爸他迫不及待地想回去 “My family, everybody's there,” he explained. “They never moved out to Columbus or Cincinnati or Cleveland. They just always stayed there, so I felt like I needed to stay there, too.” Not only stay but also impact. 「我的家人，大家都在这」Martin解释着。「他们不曾搬迁到Columbus、Cincinnati 或 Cleveland。他们总是待在这，所以我觉得我也要待在这。」 但不仅是留下，更多的是影响。 He knows what struggle looks like. He saw it as a kid when he was growing up, and when he looks around his blue-collar, one-zip-code hometown and sees it now, he can't help but want to do something. 他深知奋斗的滋味。他从小就知道，而当他回望这个大家都领着蓝领薪水的家乡，即使他 不能做什麽他也要尽力去做。 He didn't divorce himself from his hometown like some athletes do. He dug in and loved it even more. 他并不像某些运动员一样和家乡切割。 他投入并且爱得更深。 “Just give the city hope,” Martin said. “I don't put too much pressure on myself, but I really do feel like I carry the city on my back.” 「只是给这个城市希望」Martin说，「我不想给自己太多的压力，但我真的觉得我把这个 城市扛在自己的肩背上了。」 翻完整篇文章超感动 觉得Martin整个人跟OKC球团的文化紧密镶嵌 总管应该很喜欢这个孩子吧！！！ Martin加油，接着还要连打4场客场恶战= = Thunder Up --

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